At the Brooklyn Museum, we are committed to growing diversity, inclusion, and accessibility at every level of our organization in order to cultivate equitable experiences for our community and contribute to the work of systemic change. Despite our best intentions, we may make mistakes along the way; however, we aim to build accountability, leading to more empathetic and just decision-making. We are committed to examining our own role in upholding systemic inequities and to building a new path forward. Ultimately, our goal is to create an anti-oppressive culture for visitors, staff, and everyone our institution interacts with.
Creation of plan
In 2019, the Brooklyn Museum developed a five-year plan to advance its institutional commitment to DEIA. With this plan, we sought to address structural issues that undermine our DEIA values, while refining our operations through an equity lens.
Members of our staff and Trustee groups have, through highly organized efforts, challenged us to engage in difficult conversations about our past and present practices while asking the questions: In what ways does our work across the Museum reflect our institutional values? How are these values felt by staff, interns, Trustees, artists, and visitors?
As a result of the work of these dynamic groups, the current plan focuses on internal efforts to ensure that commitments to equity are not only reflected in our public engagement offerings but also have lasting impact by being rooted in the Museum’s governance, workplace policies, and culture.
To develop the plan, the Museum:
Worked with the Diversity Committee of the Board of Trustees and executive leadership to identify institutional goals and set milestones for making the Museum a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible museum;
Collaborated with the staff-led DEIA Staff Committee to research, identify, and incorporate into this plan anti-racist values that propel the Museum toward culturally equitable standards based on initiatives taken by peer organizations nationwide; and
Invited staff and interns to contribute ideas, resources, and feedback, participating in focus groups and surveys that informed this plan.
Our guiding principles
We are committed to giving attention to our goals as well as why and how we aim to reach them. Giving equal attention to our processes, motivations, and outcomes is essential to building accountability and integrity in our work. We have developed a set of guiding principles to align our DEIA Plan with our core values. Based on findings from discussions with internal and external stakeholders, we implement our plan with the following principles in mind:
COMMUNITY-BUILDING by deepening communication among all stakeholders in the plan; building trust, respect, and kindness among individuals and groups of people working across the institution; and strengthening our sense of belonging and appreciation for one another.
COLLECTIVE PURPOSE builds commitment and creates motivation to drive our DEIA work.
COMMUNICATION should be clear, consistent, and respectful across the institution.
CARE requires each person to be aware of, and responsive to, the needs and feelings of our colleagues, visitors, local community, stakeholders, and selves. Care requires self-awareness and an ability to receive what others are trying to express despite how much we agree or disagree. In doing so, we uphold a spirit of generosity rooted in the understanding that each individual is called to educate, listen, and share for the collective good, and that we are each deserving of care and actively extending care to one another.
COURAGE is an essential tool for each of our community members as they step outside of their comfort zone and confront their biases and blind spots within conversations on identity, diversity, equity inclusion, and access. Similarly, courage helps us use productive methods when confronting the prejudices presented by others. By leaning on courage, we will build trust in ourselves and one another to do the hard, and necessary, work of shaping a museum of the future.
CONSISTENCY in our approaches to discussing, visioning, and practicing inclusion and equity, at every level of decision-making within the institution, is essential for a workplace culture that thinks beyond diversity and embeds inclusiveness and equity in all aspects of the work.
JOY must be centered in our efforts if we are to sustain these initiatives over time in the face of societal challenges. By finding joy in this work, we offer opportunities to reinvigorate ourselves with the laughter, patience, solidarity, and positivity necessary for a healthy community and organizational culture.
Goals
1. Advance cultural competence among staff, interns, fellows, and Board of Trustees
It is essential that people affiliated with and employed by the Museum have the cultural skills and competencies to welcome and engage with our entire community. As Brooklyn continues to be one of the most diverse cities in the country, our own teams should be reflective of and informed by the diversity of countries across the world. The Museum hosts regular cultural competency trainings to ensure our employees and affiliates are able to meet this goal.
We strive to steward our collections with representation of cultures past, present, and future—and to make sure that our cultural preservation work is not just about objects but about the people who create and use them.
2. Advance inclusion by strengthening ties among staff, interns, volunteers, and Trustees
Our teams are part of the broader community we serve, and the Museum has established opportunities for staff, Trustees, interns, and volunteers to learn about each other’s work and discuss issues relevant to inclusion and community-building. We aim to nurture belonging for our staff and create an internal culture of care. After all, how can we invite others to belong in the Museum if our own team members don’t feel belonging themselves?
3. Make improvement to accessibility for visitors and staff
Museums should be spaces for everyone, and we’re working to make sure the Brooklyn Museum is accessible for anyone who wants to visit. No matter what body you’re in, what mind you have, or what background and cultural perspective you come from, the Museum aims to welcome everyone. We can’t invite the full community to enjoy the Museum if people can’t access the building, artwork, or language. By increasing accessibility, we’re building a better museum for everyone who visits.