Advancing Change: Museums, Libraries, and Communities Diversity Summit

The Saint Louis Art Museum launched Advancing Change, a free annual summit devoted to addressing best practices for nurturing diverse talent within museums and cultural institutions in 2021. The Museum’s yearly diversity summit is inspired by over 30 years of history of the Museum’s Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellowship, one of the nation’s longest-running post-graduate training opportunities for museum professionals from historically underrepresented populations. The fellowship boasts a 96 percent rate of alums still working in the arts and cultural sector. Advancing Change provides an opportunity to hear from Bearden alums and how they continue to be change-makers in their fields!

Min Jung Kim, the Barbara B. Taylor Director of the Saint Louis Art Museum welcomed participants to the third annual Diversity Summit and Renée Brummell Franklin provided a brief overview of the Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellowship, celebrating its 30th anniversary. Dr. Carla Hayden, director of the Library of Congress, will bring us virtual greetings from Washington, DC.

Dr. Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress on September 14, 2016. Nominated to the position by President Barack Obama, she was the first woman and African American to lead the national library. She previously served as CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland. She was also nominated by President Obama to be a member of the National Museum and Library Services Board in 2010. Prior to joining the Pratt Library, she served as deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library; assistant professor for Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh; library services coordinator for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago; and president of the American Library Association. She began her career with the Chicago Public Library as the young adult services coordinator and as a library associate and children’s librarian. In 1995, she was the first African American to receive Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year Award in recognition of her outreach services at the Pratt Library. She received a bachelor’s degree from Roosevelt University and master’s degree and doctorate from the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago.

Beyond Museum Walls: Community and Alternative Art Spaces

Community is everywhere there are people with passion and a dream. This panel dives into how these leaders construct a place for everyone to engage outside museum walls. Join Jordia Benjamin, executive director of Indigo Arts Alliance; Danielle Burns Wilson, curator and programs director at Project Row Houses; Victoria McCraven, doctoral student in art history at Princeton University; and Asmaa Walton, founder of the Black Art Library, as they discuss how they have crafted space to support art and artists.

Community Collaborations: Modeling New Narratives

Old narratives portray museums as unengaged and unchanging places outside their communities. Join four arts professionals who are re-envisioning how museums and libraries are changing the narratives. Timothy P. Brown, director of the IA&A at Hillyer; Rochelle Caruthers, director of the Missouri Historical Society’s African American History Initiative; Charlie Farrell, 2022-2024 Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow at the Saint Louis Art Museum; and Sherri Williams, educator in charge for public programs and engagement at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, share how their organizations work with communities to build trust and craft new models for true collaboration.