ARLINGTON, VA — Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art has been selected by the American Alliance of Museums ( AAM ) to participate in "Facing Change: Advancing Museum Board Diversity & Inclusion." This unprecedented national initiative to diversify museum boards and leadership is taking place across five U.S. cities and includes a cross-section of museums of all types and sizes.
Backed by $4 million in grants from three foundations ( The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Alice L. Walton Foundation, and Ford Foundation ), Facing Change: Advancing Museum Board Diversity & Inclusion will provide the framework, training and resources for museum leaders to build inclusive cultures within their institutions that more accurately reflect the communities they serve.
"Building a more inclusive museum field is achievable only with museum trustees and leaders committed to long-term change and improvement," said Laura Lott, president and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums. "Museum boards, in particular, set the tone for their institutions and are well positioned to be agents of change. We commend the museum directors and trustees who have committed to this program for investing in their own operations and serving as models for all museums."
"The entire Intuit team-board, staff and volunteers-is excited to be recognized with this extraordinary opportunity," said Intuit Executive Director Debra Kerr. "Because the artwork exhibited here comes-not from a white, male Eurocentric mainstream, but from artists of all colors, from varying socioeconomic situations and from a range of life experiences-it's essential to Intuit that we reflect the perspectives of the communities we serve."
Earlier this year, as part of the Facing Change initiative, AAM announced an Excellence in DEAI Task Force charged with developing recommendations to embed diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion more deeply into AAM's excellence programs. AAM named 10 DEAI fellows who will work with AAM to implement trainings and support the museum boards in developing sustainable and measurable inclusion plans.
THE NEED FOR ACTION
AAM's field-wide diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion ( DEAI ) initiative responds to extensive and multi-year research that underscores the need and desire for change. In 2017, AAM and BoardSource examined museum board leadership and found a disconnect in the area of diversity and inclusion. The survey revealed that nearly half ( 46 percent ) of museum boards are entirely white, and 77 percent of museum directors believe expanding the racial and ethnic diversity of their boards is important to advancing their missions, but only 10 percent of museum boards have developed a plan of action to become more inclusive.
A recent survey by the Mellon Foundation demonstrated that employment in the U.S. museum sector does not reflect the makeup of the communities these institutions serve, despite decades of local and national efforts.
ABOUT THE AMERICAN ALLIANCE OF MUSEUMS
The American Alliance of Museums has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community. Representing more than 35,000 individual museum professionals and volunteers, institutions, and corporate partners serving the museum field, the Alliance stands for the broad scope of the museum community. For more information, visit www.aam-us.org .
For more recent news from Intuit, visit our press room: http://www.art.org/press-room/
ABOUT INTUIT
Established in 1991, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art is one of the premier museums of outsider and self-taught art in the world, offering exhibitions; resources for scholars and students; a permanent collection of more than 1,200 works of art; the Henry Darger Room Collection; the Robert A. Roth Study Center, a non-circulating collection with a primary focus in the fields of outsider and contemporary self-taught art; and educational programming for people of all interest levels and backgrounds.
Intuit is open to the public Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m.; and Monday school holidays. More information at www.art.org .
Intuit is generously supported by the following organizations: Alphawood Foundation Chicago, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, The Crown Family, the Field Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency, the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Polk Bros Foundation, Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, Prince Charitable Trust, the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation.
—From a press release
