The Inclusive Museum

Описание: This program was the first in a four part series entitled "Social Justice in Museums" presented by the Illinois State Museum. Director Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko discusses issues of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI) in museums with panelists Ben Garcia, Deputy Executive Director & Chief Learning Officer at the Ohio History Connection, Ashley Rogers, Executive Director at the Whitney Plantation, and Noelle Trent, Director of Interpretation, Collections and Education at the National Civil Rights Museum.

The discussion took place virtually over Zoom. The introduction by Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko was accidentally not included in the recording. You can read it below from her script.


"As we start, from my location today in Springfield, Illinois, I want to acknowledge that I am on Peoria and Kickapoo ancestral lands. With respect to the people of the past and present, I would also like to acknowledge the Indigenous communities who lived here during forced removal. There are more than 100,000 Indigenous people living in the state of Illinois today. I encourage each of us to take time and research the Indigenous history and present of any location where you may live and work.

"When I joined the Illinois State Museum, it was in great part because of their stated commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion and to adopting decolonizing museum practice. This intention is demonstrated in the Museum's strategic plan and was shared by the wonderful folks who welcomed me to this new role.

"Together, we are learning and growing as we assess, understand, and adopt inclusive museum practice. We have a long road ahead and a deep history that will need to be examined and reconciled. I was and still am excited to be part of the ISM story as the first permanent director since its shut down in 2015 and at a time when museums around the globe are either responding to calls to action or resisting. There’s very little in between right now, and certainly, however it moves, museums are undergoing significant change. With this four-part series that begins tonight, we’re looking at social justice in museums. What does it look like? Act like? Why is it needed?

"My intention with this series is to share with you what the ISM team is talking about, learning, thinking as we chart our future. I’ve learned along the way that the more transparent we can be as an institution, the better we will be. I am really looking forward to this conversation tonight and the questions and ideas that will evolve from here. As such, at the end of our conversation, the last 10-15 minutes or so, we’ll open up for questions from our attendees which are numbering in the 100s, across Illinois and U.S.

"I also want to acknowledge that we were unable to secure closed captioning for tonight. My sincere apologies. As an alternative for this session, we will be preparing a transcript of this presentation that we can email you directly. Please send a request to Elizabeth Bazan, that’s Elizabeth.Bazan[at]IllinoisStateMuseum[dot]org. She is our Director of Audience Engagement and she can send it to you. ... We are working to secure closed captioning for the rest of the series. This presentation will appear soon on YouTube and we will make sure that it is properly captioned there."