Since 2014, Ithaka S+R has undertaken a series of projects to quantify with demographic data an issue that has been of increasing concern within and beyond the arts community: the lack of representative diversity in professional museum roles. While our analysis found there were structural barriers to entry in these positions for people of color, we have also uncovered through qualitative research cases where museums have taken meaningful steps to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion within their organizations and in relation to the communities they serve.
Demographic surveys
Working with key partners, Ithaka S+R has developed a three-part questionnaire designed to measure diversity within cultural organizations. The questionnaire includes:
- A spreadsheet to record the demographic categories of all staff within an organization
- A survey questionnaire targeted at HR directors focused on diversity programs within the organization
- A survey questionnaire targeted at museum directors, which focused on board member diversity and policy issues.
In collaboration with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), and the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), we fielded this questionnaire in 2014, and again in 2018. The second report, Art Museum Staff Demographic Survey 2018, was published in January 2019.
In 2015, with the help of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (known as DCLA) and generous funding from the Mertz Gilmore and Rockefeller Brothers foundations, we surveyed the cultural organizations that receive support from DCLA. The resulting report, Diversity in the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Community, has led to several concrete initiatives to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion within the city’s cultural organizations.
— Mariët Westermann, Executive Vice President for Programs and Research at Mellon
Case studies
Following the initial demographic survey of art museums, many museum leaders expressed interest in taking action to address these barriers to professional advancement for members of historically underrepresented communities, but not all were equally prepared to address issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and outreach more broadly. So, we again partnered with the Mellon Foundation and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) to examine how some art museums have been successful in these areas, hoping that this would allow others to learn from peers and adopt practices that would reduce their own structural barriers not only with respect to staffing but towards achieving equity more broadly.
The series profiles the following museums:
- The Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh)
- Brooklyn Museum
- Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
- Detroit Institute of Arts
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
- Spelman College Museum (Atlanta)
- Studio Museum in Harlem
We hope that by providing insight into the operations, strategies, and climates of these museums, the case studies will help leaders in the field approach inclusion, diversity, and equity issues with fresh perspectives. As a final capstone to this project, we published a synthesis of what can be learned reading across these eight institutional case studies.
Selected media coverage
- Sara Aridi “Museums Have Grown More Diverse, New Study Says,” The New York Times, January 28, 2019
- Lisa Peet, “Ithaka Report Offers Equity Best Practices,” Library Journal, October 10, 2018
- Robin Pogrebin, “With New Urgency, Museums Aim to Cultivate Curators of Color,” New York Times, August 8, 2018
- Liam Sweeney, “How Do We Fix the Museum Diversity Problem?,” New York Observer, February 1, 2018
- Celeste Headlee and Sean Powers, “High Museum Of Art Triples Non-White Visitors,” with Rand Suffolk, director of the High Museum, and Mariët Westermann, EVP of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, GBP News, January 8, 2018
- Andrea Shea, “Museum Visitors, And Employees, Are Mostly White. The MFA Is Trying To Change That,” WBUR, June 6, 2017
- Ruth McCambridge, “Museums So White: Survey Reveals Deep Lack of Diversity,” Nonprofit Quarterly, May 9, 2017
- Brian Boucher, “Mellon Foundation Study Reveals Uncomfortable Lack of Diversity in American Museums,” artnet news, August 4, 2015
- David Ng, “Women dominate art museum staffs, but minorities are much smaller part, study says,” Los Angeles Times, August 4, 2015
- Claire Voon, “The Diversity Problem at American Museums Gets a Report,” Hyperallergic, August 3, 2015