The legacies of colonial and racialized violence, and white supremacy broadly, express themselves in myriad ways in contemporary museum practice. Internal and external transformation is required for shifting systems of power; interrupting the cycle of abusive museum culture; and healing from traumatic histories.

Yet, despite decades of advocacy, we keep repeating the same patterns. Why? What keeps us from taking necessary actions?

We must face individual and institutional unwillingness in museums to self-educate and the resistance to embed racial equity. We must name the lack of transparency, accountability, and serious commitment to making this work foundational. We must move our field away from performative, so-called DEAI measures that center whiteness towards models that break historical patterns of inequity and harm. We are calling for a radical reimagining of possibilities around what a museum can be for its publics when racial justice is at its center.

Call for proposals closes April 16, 2021. Selections will be confirmed by May 1, 2021.

This Coalition represents the change-making movements @museumsandrace, @MuseumAction, @MuseumWorkersSpeak, @theincluseum, #MuseumsAreNotNeutral, #TheEmpatheticMuseum, @VisitorsofColor, and @DeathtoMuseums.

Collectively, we believe there is inherent inequity in the existing systems alive in our institutions, and that we must address this foundationally through the lens of racial justice and anti-white supremacy. We are committed to effecting real, substantive, and transformative change in the museum field and seeing the manifestations of this work happen in our lifetime. Contact MuseumsRace [@] gmail.com for more information.

The Empathetic Museum. [@empatheticmuseum] (April 12, 2021). “The legacies of colonial and racialized violence, and white supremacy broadly, express themselves in myriad ways in contemporary museum practice. Internal and external transformation is required for shifting systems of power” [Image]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/empatheticmuseum/p/CNlbSRPhX7t/