RARE Creatives: Museum Curators of Color

Welcome to Street Lights, a weekly dose of leadership insight that doesn’t dismiss or shy away from discussing power, identity, or belonging. Created by Aiko Bethea and the RARE Coaching & Consulting team, this is the place to disrupt your default thinking and status quo approach to leadership. This is also where we like to say the quiet parts out loud. Everyone’s invited to the party — just bring your curiosity and generosity with you! Now, let’s dive in.

We’re glad to keep the conversation going with you! Know that we don’t take your presence and engagement for granted.?

Last week , we closed our conversation on toxic productivity and perfectionism with guidance on agitating embedded processes and traditional ways of thinking.? In the workplace, people managers (and others) benefit from identifying and overcoming the default tendency to focus on speedy task completion over a focus on impact.

What’s on Tap

It’s time to highlight RARE Creatives. Each month, we dedicate one newsletter to creativity and imagination. We know that this is a path to breaking free from societal constructs and expectations — which often diminishes Us and our mental and emotional freedom. We need to be immersed in creativity and imagination in order to live the life that may only exist in our imaginations — or to create the world we hope for.

This week, we’re tipping our hats to museum curators of color. These remarkable and often overlooked creatives play a critical role in bringing new images and ideals to life and agitating and disrupting single-dimension framing of people, history, ideals ….

The role of the cultural worker is to make the revolution irresistible. ~ Toni Cade Bambara

Countless Contributions

Museum curators of color bring much-needed diversity to a historically white-European institution. Curation is a position of authority and influence that quite literally shapes the culture of art: what audiences are exposed to and what images they find value in. By welcoming diverse folx into these positions, we reshape the public’s perception of creativity, actively creating a more equitable world.

Here are a number of concrete ways we can experience the impact of this inclusion:

Underrepresented (in museums and the classic “higher art” )Artists: Curators of color can advocate for artists and artworks from less visible cultural backgrounds. Their presence helps challenge historical biases and colonial perspectives that dominate the mainstream art narrative. Curators of color are more likely to seek out and champion artists from their own communities and other less visible and historically oppressed groups. This provides emerging artists with opportunities for exposure, recognition, and career growth that they might not have received otherwise.

Diverse Art Curation: Curators of color bring unique perspectives and experiences to the curation process. They have insights into cultural nuances and historical contexts that enrich our understanding and interpretation of artworks from a range of communities and cultures. This approach to curation encourages museum visitors to explore different traditions and fosters cross-cultural appreciation.

Breaking Biases: The presence of curators of color challenges stereotypes? in the art world and society at large. They demonstrate that creativity and expertise are not limited by race or ethnicity. This can inspire other aspiring arts professionals to pursue their passions without apology.

Cultural Exchange: Curators of color often engage in an active dialogue between their own cultural heritage and the broader art world. This fosters greater understanding and respect of different artistic expressions and traditions.? Through exhibitions and programs, these curators can facilitate meaningful cultural exchange that promotes empathy, unfiltered education, deeper reflection, and appreciation.

Inclusive Institutions: Having folx of color at the curatorial level is essential for creating inclusive museum spaces. Museum curators of color can advocate for more inclusive hiring practices, representation in collections, and programming that caters to diversity within the communities they serve. This, in turn, attracts a more diverse audience and makes museums welcoming places for everyone, expanding the reach (and righteousness) of this tradition and bringing it into a contemporary context.

NOTE: This is a blessing and a curse. To be the only who is out here fighting the good fight within a sector and institutions that have never “seen” nor “appreciated” you is a toil. It SHOULD NOT be the responsibility of curators of color to bring the inertia when our very existence in a space subjects us to the grind.?

Acknowledging Two Amazing Curators of Color

Thelma Golden, Studio Museum, Harlem

Thelma Golden , Director and Chief Curator of Harlem’s Studio Museum stands out to me. Like me, she is a Smith graduate. I remember learning about her when she was at the Whitney. Her short stature, dark complexion, and wicked-assed smarts in a field I didn’t think was “for me” rocked my world. The Studio Museum was founded in the late 1960s in a time of rapid social change with the goal of supporting artists of African descent who had not been afforded the recognition they deserved.?

Golden pushes the museum’s mission into the future by facilitating a move to a new building on125th Street, designed by David Adjaye . In an interview with Sotheby’s, Golden explained how the building’s design was inspired by “three characteristic spaces” in Harlem: its churches, its brownstones, and its bustling streets.

“Adjaye’s design concept fits perfectly with the Studio Museum’s mission,” she explained. “We are a place of inspiration…We are a place of gathering…And we are a part of the vivid everyday life of our neighborhood…Most importantly, the building is a place where our mission will be put into action, building on the amazing activity that has taken place in our current space since the great architect J. Max Bond, Jr. created it for us in 1982: families will engage with art and each other, artists will make work, and works of art will provoke profound conversations about art and society.”

Marcella Guerrero, Whitney Museum, Manhattan

In February, the much more entrenched Whitney Museum took on its first Latinx Senior Curator, Marcella Guerrero. Another first for the museum: Guerrero has committed their space to specializing in works by artists from Cuba, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

“It shows a deeper and more intense commitment to Latinx art,” Guerrero told The New York Times . “It’s groundbreaking that someone with my expertise is at this level, making sure Latinx art is part of the fabric of the museum — not a one-off exhibition here or there.”

Already, in her five years as Assistant and then Associate Curator at the Whitney, Guerrero shook up the art world by focusing on Puerto Rican art in the wake of Hurricane Maria, by facilitating bilingual wall text and catalogs, by expanding marketing efforts to reach diverse audiences, and by acquiring and exhibiting more Latinx art and artists. Before that, at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, she helped foster a 2017 exhibition honoring “Radical Women” in Latin American Art.

The Whitney’s Chief Curator has acknowledged: “She’s had a truly transformative impact on the museum in terms of the program, how we think about Latinx, around translations, around audience, around our partnerships, and around who we consider our community to be.”

Flickering Lights

1. When you think about museums and museum spaces, do you think about people of color? Why or why not??
2. How are you supporting artists of color? Do you buy prints, follow their social media, subscribe to their newsletters, repost their work, visit museums that focus on Our artists and Our history?
3. What are YOU creating? Do you notice anything different about your being when you take time to create, or immerse yourself in creations by others?
4. Challenge: Reach out to at least one museum and either: ask about their upcoming exhibits by an artist of color or give them a shout out for having art leadership of color, be it a curator on staff or their DEI leader.?

Shout Outs to a Few of My Faves

Sandra Jackson-Dumont : When I first moved to Seattle with two little Black boys in tow — she reached out and invited us to a Seattle Art Museum event for kiddos. I showed up and she had this cute bag of gifts and personally welcomed us. I was struggling at the time — dealing with postpartum and all of the things. Her warmth meant so very much to me. Then bringing us into the space was all love.?

Priya Frank : If you all follow my posts, you’ll note that Priya moderated RARE’s fireside chat. I’ve watched her lean into her gifts and continue to champion community and challenge the status quo of colonial museum culture. See the book she co-edited, From Small Wins to Sweeping Change .

Lavita McMath Turner : The first Chief Diversity Officer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She’s fierce, filled with smarts and boldness. Even still, she leans into learning, self-assessing, and challenging the status quo. And what’s rare in a leader, she doesn’t shy away from asking for support when she needs it, challenging her own perspectives, and speaking truth. Despite there being little space for Black folx to exhibit this degree of vulnerability (asking for help and challenging white spaces when you are “granted access”), she does.??

Heads Up

In our next edition of Street Lights, we’ll revisit our struggle with systemic norms by exploring the impact of toxic positivity on our voices and our mental health.

Community Connection

In the comments, please share with us something about your favorite visual artist. Why are they a favorite? What will you do to promote and uplift lesser-known artists in your community?

Until the next episode…

RARE Coaching & Consulting works with organizations and individuals who are ready to push past their limiting beliefs and remove barriers to equity and inclusion. RARE helps executives and teams to become innovators and leaders in their workplace and industry. Discover how to work with RARE for executive coaching, team development, workshops, speaking engagements, and more.