Elevating Unpopular Opinions Panel Discussion

On August 26, June Ahn, Rose Cannon, and Emma Turner-Trujillo; Co-Founders of Death to Museums, Jobie Hill; Preservation Architect and Founder of Saving Slave Houses, Bonnie McDonald; President & CEO of Landmarks Illinois, Zulmilena Then; Founder of Preserving East New York, and Liz Waytkus, Executive Director of Docomomo US came together to discuss strategies to elevate unpopular opinions. Click the video above to view a recording of the conversation.

Abandoned architecture along a backroad in Oregon.

I was delighted to organize this panel discussion as a part of the #DismantlePreservation: Let’s Keep Talking discussion series and would like to give a special thank you to Northwest Vernacular Historic Preservation Consulting for sponsoring this event.

To help you feel confident advocating for change, I worked with the speakers to create a resource guide! You’ll find organizations, articles, podcasts, and more below. This list is meant to be a living document, so feel free to email me@sarahmarsom.com if you have any suggestions.

Resources 

Organizations (in alphabetical order): 

• Asian & Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation - “APIAHiP’s mission is to protect historic places and cultural resources significant to Asian and Pacific Islander Americans through historic preservation and heritage conservation by: (1) creating an information-sharing network which can provide support for established and emerging historic preservation programs, and also to define issues; (2) establishing educational programs for raising public awareness and impacting historic preservation policy on local, state, and national levels; and (3) increasing public and private resources for building historic preservation capacity. The term "historic preservation” and “heritage conservation" are meant to include educational and community development activities involving the preservation, conservation, and protection of tangible and intangible historic and cultural resources.”

• Death to Museums-  “Death to Museums asks why save museums at all? The idea to “destroy” museums comes not from a place of hate. As museum workers, we see the untapped potential in museum collections and programs to challenge engrained ideologies rather than maintain them. However, we question the efficacy of changing museums from within when inequity is built into their core identity. As Tunde Wey, a New Orleans-based activist and artist, writes, “Can you renovate a burning house? Can you renovate a single room in a burning house?”” 

• Latinos in Heritage Conservation - “Founded in 2014, LHC is the leading organization for the preservation of Latina/o places, stories, and cultural heritage in the United States. We are a diverse network of intergenerational advocates conserving Latina/o sites and living cultures in the fabric of American society, affirming the value of our history in the hemispheric struggle for social justice.”

• Museum Hue - “Museum Hue is the leading organization dedicated to advancing Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color in the cultural field.”

• #MuseumWorkersSpeak - “#MuseumWorkersSpeak is an action-oriented platform for social change at the intersection of labor, access, and inclusion. [They] are a collective of activist museum workers interrogating the relationship between museums’ stated commitments to social value and their internal labor practices.” To date, their Museum Workers Relief Fund has granted $500 gifts to $100 museum workers who have been furloughed or laid off by large institutions. 

• National Organization of Minority Architects - NOMA’s mission, rooted in a rich legacy of activism, is to empower our local chapters and membership to foster justice and equity in communities of color through outreach, community advocacy, professional development and design excellence.

• Rainbow Heritage Network - The Rainbow Heritage Network (RHN) is a national organization for the recognition and preservation of sites, history, and heritage associated with sexual and gender minorities in the United States. This includes, but is not limited to, those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ). 

• Seize the Museums - “For full public control of all museums, libraries, archives, parks, and educational institutions”.

• Society of Black Archeologists - “The vision of the Society of Black Archaeologists (SBA) is to create a strong network of archaeologists that advocates to ensure the proper treatment of African and African diaspora material culture, promotes more people of African descent to enter the field of archaeology, ensures community collaborations, raises and addresses concerns related to African peoples worldwide, and highlights the past and present achievements and contributions people of African descent have made to the field of archaeology.”

• We Here - “We Here seeks to provide a safe and supportive community for Black and Indigenous folks, and People of Color (BIPOC) in library and information science (LIS) professions and educational programs, and to recognize, discuss, and intervene in systemic social issues that have plagued these professions both historically and continue through present time.”

Social Media Accounts You Should Follow: 

• AAM Accountable - “ Holding the @AkronArtMuseum accountable to the public trust for unchecked discrimination and toxic work environment.”

• Change the Museum - “Pressuring US museums to move beyond lip service proclamations by amplifying tales of unchecked racism.”

• Decolonize the Art World - Anti-colonial art school for dreamers. 

• Design As Protest - “Mobilizing our collective power to confront the violence and injustices of architecture, design, and urban planning practices.”

• Equity By Design - “Repositioning Architecture by Equitable Practice - Equity is Everyone's Issue. Minimizing Barriers to Maximize Our Potential for Success”

• For the Culture 2020 - “A coalition of current/former Black & Brown employees & allies united together to call out systemic racism in Museums & other cultural institutions.”

• Indigenous Archeology Collective -  “The Indigenous Archaeology Collective is a network of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars within archaeology and related fields.” 

• MCAccountable - A coalition of workers of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago demanding accountability from their leadership.

• No Neutral Alliance - A coalition of Black artists fighting against censorship and anti-Blackness at SFMOMA.

• Parlour - “Parlour: gender, equity, architecture. Bringing together research, resources & informed opinion.”

• Visitors of Color - “Blog documenting the experiences of marginalized people with museums. “

• VMFA Reform - “The purpose of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Reform Committee is to hold museum administration accountable for their complicity in systemic racism 365 days a year.”

• xSFM0MA - A coalition working against racism at SFMOMA.

Toolkits/Articles/Database:

• OF/BY/FOR/ALL - has free toolkits, articles, and a self-assessment.  

• The Dreamspace Project: A Workbook and Toolkit For Critical Praxis in the American Art Museum, created by Alyssa Machida.

• The Incluseum - “a project based in Seattle, Washington that advances new ways of being a museum through critical dialogue, community building and collaborative practice related to inclusion in museums.”

• Women Also Know History - A crowdsourced database of women and non-binary individuals whose primary occupation is historical work

• The Guide to Managing Up and Across (Harvard Business Review) - A guide to how to present unpopular opinions to your supervisor and making change within institutions.

Books/Podcasts: 

• Cultura Conscious - Paula Santos hosts conversations “with other museum and cultural workers, educators, artists, activists, and leaders about how we work with our communities and the public at large.”

• FWD: Museums - A yearly journal produced by graduate students at the University of Illinois at Chicago that “strives to create a space for challenging, critiquing, and providing alternative modes of thinking and production within and outside of museums.”

• Opening up the Museum - A TEDxSanta Cruz Talk by former director Nina Simon of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History talking about engaging the diverse community around the museum and being okay with losing established donors and board members in the process. Also read her book, “The Art of Relevance”.