Readying the Museum seeks to correct racist structures in the arts
In recent years, activists, social media attention, and the press have forced museum institutions to be more accountable to the communities they serve. Welcoming more diverse exhibits and board members provides temporary solutions for larger issues. Readying the Museum (RTM) has a solution-based agenda to remove entrenched cycles of racism and white supremacy in those environments. Formed in January 2021 by a cohort of artists and museum directors, this organization aims to dismantle colonialism, patriarchy, and anti-Blackness practices in museums and other arts-related institutions.
The unlawful killings of Black and Brown people throughout the history of the United States, especially during COVID-19, were the inspiration for RTM. "Museums had no ability to reckon with what was happening A) on the walls and B) from the artists and arts workers who were demanding that the museum look at itself," said Xaviera Simmons, cohort member and co-leader of RTM, who has depicted tragedies linked to concerns in her artworks, as well as fundamental problems of the U.S..
As an artist and now a co-leader of an institution, Simmons strongly believes museums have no accountability because they are tax-exempt. "The only accountability they have is to the IRS or to their boards of trustees," she said.
Brenika Banks photo
According to RTM's website, "few systems and structures of accountability exist to ensure museums are serving the most marginalized members of the community." Simmons now understands the amount of pressure needed for necessary changes in museums. "People have been pressing them, just not in mass," she said, "and most people who do press them don't have resources."
RTM was funded by the Ford Foundation and endowments from the Mellon Foundation. RTM's collective thinking led to their methodology, which is available publicly on their website. With their September 2024 launch, they intend to implement this methodology and hope other museums adopt it for the betterment of other institutions. "We cannot force people to do this work," said Simmons. "Institutions must decide they want to do it—(if) they want to find solutions, then they have to get into that framework."
This framework is not viewed as just another item on a checklist: RTM's goal is to achieve internal changes for permanent solutions. Lori Fogarty, RTM cohort member and director of the Oakland Museum of California , questions institutions about what resolutions they provide beyond surface-level social media postings. She believes white leadership in museums will greatly benefit from adopting RTM's methodology, and said the blueprint of community members, artists, and other art workers in a cohort with museum directors is the most effective approach, not only with directors. "If I really think about who am I most accountable to in my community, how would I not create projects that center the Black community?" Fogarty said. This is especially true when considering the history of the Black Panthers and other Black figures in Oakland.
Fogarty also noted the significance of the RTM cohort not using the phrase "DEIA [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility] work." They frown on superficial reformative actions from other museums attempting to diversify exhibitions and making occasional token hires. "We're offering [and stressing that] if you really want to counter oppression, racism, patriarchy, and white supremacy in museums, it's going to take more than exhibitions," said Fogarty. As a white woman, she boldly criticizes institutions for their shallow solutions. "What they don't do is get to the internal work that's necessary, especially from the white leaders," said Fogarty.
Internal work using RTM's methodology has the potential to be a game changer during this generational shift, according to Miki Garcia, director of the Arizona State University Art Museum , who experienced pain in witnessing Black people's mistreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said this new generation of artists and workers aren't tolerating the harm and violence from previous times: "We have people now who have much more access to technology and information so they're more critical and dubious of institutions."
Art lovers en masse have started questioning the foundation of museums more and more, according to Garcia. "Now it's become a generational situation where, because of technology, we know where dollars are coming from," she said. "We know about investments, we know about data, who's being left out and who is not being represented."
Garcia pointed out that museums are based on an 18th-century model that has remained unchanged for the majority of its existence. She also mentioned leaders like herself and Fogarty, who benefit from the current system yet are still on board for societal improvements. Garcia agreed that museum leaders should pair with creatives and other art workers to combine and create an effective new space. "If more directors and artists actually came together to sit at the table in a healthy respect and mutual respect, then we might find a way forward."
A significant part of this combination of artists and museum directors is . That is the foundational principle for Cruz Ortiz, artist and cohort member of RTM, who recalled thinking, "...'How can I these museum people?'" As a Texas native with a political activist background, his priorities are registering people to vote and painting. Trusting and engaging in personal work with museum directors is important to him, as is the mission of combating eurocentricity and patriarchy. "Looking at patriarchy as a disease—that's hard work [for some] to do," said Ortiz. "Our methodology can be placed in boardrooms and school districts."
RTM provides its blueprint framework as a solution to stop the cycle of suppression and unhappy artists as well as unhappy community members, and looks forward to seeing the bigger institutions implement that framework.
