By Lori Wood, Lucas Artists Residency Manager
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In December, Bay Area arts magazine Art Practical reached out to arts leaders in the South Bay and invited them to a specially-curated dinner on December 11 at the Lucas Artists Program at Montalvo. Their invitation: “Build community. Share resources. Discuss methods and experiences that you or your institution has had in creating visibility, forming leadership opportunities, and engaging audiences to advance cultural equity in the arts.” Arts leaders from a number of South Bay arts organizations arrived, ready to share experiences, including leaders from the San Jose Museum of Art, the deSaisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Art Practical, Montalvo, and ICA San Jose. Prior to dinner, guests met in the LAP library and were given cards with questions drawn from curator Christian L. Frock’s Prompts for Inclusion . Frock begins her incisive article by framing questions in this way:
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Whiteness, straightness, binary genders, and able bodies are centralized privileges in most public language—these identifiers form the systemic bias encoded in every aspect of public life. This bias is inscribed in public institutions, and we are all participants, whether wittingly or not; here “you” and “your organization” are one entity. A culture of inclusion necessitates decentering biased frameworks, both individually and institutionally. This work requires an awareness of difference and a willingness to engage cultural sensitivity beyond our individual needs. It is a never-ending work in progress, and it starts by questioning everything.
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Photos above by Tina Case . Click on the images to view them in larger format.
Some of the questions drawn that night included: Do you prioritize making space for people to speak from their own experiences? Does your organizational history consider the social-political context of its origins? Does the makeup of your paid organizational team reflect the population of your region? Does access to your organization rely on technological literary or access to cellphones, tablets or other costly devices?
The conversation took these questions as a starting point, and participants shared their experiences and the challenges their organizations face as they seek to surface and address inequities. The conversations continued around the table that night over a dinner of cider-braised brisket, with mashed sweet potatoes and roasted turnips, prepared by Montalvo Culinary Artist Andrea Blum.
Art Practical encouraged us to continue using Christian Frock’s piece as a tool to engage and open up conversations with staff, board, artists, students, and visitors in the ongoing work of creating a culture of inclusion.
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These were the six cards used from Christian L. Frock’s Prompts for Inclusion at the South Bay Equity Dinner. Please click on the images to view them in larger format.