Cultura Conscious

What is the responsibility of museums in the wake of the Capitol Insurrection? Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell, a DC-based cultural equity strategist, joins us to talk about how critical museums are in the struggle to dismantle white supremacy. We originally spoke with Kayleigh about her practice in late 2020 and planned to release that conversation on January 6, 2021. Instead, she graciously joined us for a new recording to process the violent images of that day, the care museum workers deserve from their institutions, and reflect on the power of collective action in this moment.  Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell is a cultural equity and audience engagement strategist with over 10 years of museum and nonprofit experience at the intersections of social justice and racial equity. As Head of Public Programs with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery she is responsible for leading new outreach and inclusion initiatives towards developing new audiences and cultivating public engagement. In the wake of Covid-19 she leads an internal task force towards reopening planning and strategies. She received her Bachelor of Art in Art History from the University of Maryland, College Park and Master of Art in Museum Studies from George Washington University. She is an alum of the Claremont University Museum Leadership Institute, formerly the Getty. Follow Kayleigh on Twitter and Instagram @KayleighBinDC. Learn more about Kayleigh’s work at curatorally.com. Show Notes Museum Workers Speak https://www.instagram.com/museumworkersspeak/?hl=en Museums and Race https://museumsandrace.org/2021/01/08/questions-in-the-face-of-sedition/ Museums as Sites for Social Action (MASS Action) https://www.museumaction.org/

In community organizing work, there are no shortcuts or gimmicks, only relationships built on trust and continued investment. The Lawndale Pop-Up Spot is a community-led museum located in a shipping container at the Spaulding Memorial Garden, a community garden in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. Chelsea Ridley and Jonathan Kelley, the museum’s founders, trace the evolution of this project from an idea seeded in the classroom to a living space rooted in a collective vision. Along the way, they highlight moments of uncertainty, talk about forging authentic partnerships, and offer thoughts on museums of the future. Learn more at lawndalepopupspot.org or reach out to them at lawndalepopupspot@gmail.com. Follow Lawndale Pop-Up Spot on Twitter @lawndalepopup, Instagram @lawndalepopupspot, and on Facebook. Follow Chelsea on Twitter @ckridley and Jonathan @jk_museums Show Notes The Museum As Soup Kitchen: a paper about Museums, Responsiveness to Community Need and Social Service by Elaine Heumann Gurian http://www.egurian.com/omnium-gatherum/museum-issues/community/the-museum-as-soup-kitchen-a-paper-about-museums-responsiven Museu de Favela https://www.museudefavela.org/ Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project https://p-nap.org/ Gardeneers https://gardeneers.org/ Men Making a Difference https://www.austinweeklynews.com/News/Articles/2-6-2018/N.-Lawndale-group-reclaims-lots-and-lives-/ National Alliance for the Empowerment of the Formerly Incarcerated https://naefimentor.wixsite.com/naefi  

In this mini-episode, Paula talks with Gwendolyn Fernandez, a recovering museum educator and fellow Museum Workers Speak organizer, about embracing collaboration and breaking up with your career. Gwen will be joining the Cultura Conscious team to produce a series of new episodes featuring inspiring museum and culture workers. Look for fresh conversations on the first Wednesday of every month.  Gwen has a long fascination with what goes on behind the scenes to transform ideas into experiences that enrich our lives. As a museum educator, she focuses on developing programs, designing interpretive strategies, and fostering diverse teams to serve audiences of all ages and abilities. In 2020, she began organizing with Museum Workers Speak and collaborating with Paula. Gwen holds a B.A. in Art History and French from Hollins University and an M.A. in Museum Studies from The George Washington University. She has held positions at the Supreme Court of the United States, the National Gallery of Art, and Phoenix Art Museum. Gwen fuels her podcast obsession with distance running, gardening, and walks with her three dogs around Phoenix, Arizona.

Loss has been a constant over the past few weeks. Writer, educator and theatermaker Diane Exavier joins me to talk about personal and collective grief during a pandemic. We talk about how coping in our current moment requires some of the resiliency we’ve built through other experiences of loss, and yet those well-trodden maps still fall short of helping us navigate the present. Diane discusses how she’s processing being a writer right now, especially since she defines poetry as being about the encounter and being obsessed with the truth. Plus we finally get to talk about 90 Day Fiance, the best show on television.  Diane Exavier creates performances, public programs, and games that challenge and invite audiences to participate in an active theater that rejects passive reception. Her work has been presented at The Lark, No Longer Empty, Bushwick Starr, Haiti Cultural Exchange, Westmont College, The Flea Theater, Bowery Poetry Club, West Chicago City Museum, New Urban Arts, and more. Her writing appears in The Atlas Review and The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind, amongst other publications online and in print. Diane lives and works in Brooklyn. You can find her on Twitter where she tweets about basketball, poetics, and grief. Twitter: @peacheslechat Literature and Television for the Covid-19 Age Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler Poetry is Not a Luxury by Audre Lorde  The Leftovers  90 Day Fiance Dispatches from Elsewhere  Supernova Era by Cixin Liu My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

Mayra Cecilia Palafox shares with me why connecting with people and meeting their needs is so important to her. We discuss why humility is a useful practice for the present moment. When dealing with the uncertainty of a worldwide pandemic, what strengths do we have as cultural workers that prepare us to weather challenges as they present themselves? We also welcome a special guest, José Alfredo Guerrero, a musician and educator who reminds us of the strength and joy we gain from music.    Show Notes:  Instagram: @mayraceciliapalafox  Instagram: @josealfredochicago Facebook: Madera Once Met Museum Prepares for $100 Million Loss and Closure Till July No Tengo Dinero - Juan Gabriel 

Jackie Peterson, a Seattle-based exhibit developer and independent curator, is passionate about the ways exhibits can tell important stories in ways that are compelling to the public. Jackie grounds her practice on the trust she develops with communities whose stories she’s working to tell. Her research and development process adds another layer to the necessity of community engagement in cultural work. In particular, Jackie is invested in telling stories that benefit the black community and add nuance to the public’s understanding of African-American history. Like many of us invested in cultural organizations and museums, this work is deeply personal to her.  After spending much of her early career in nonprofit fundraising and working with the NYC Department of Education and teacher certification, Jackie realized that she truly belonged in a creative industry. She landed in the museum field mostly by luck, but ultimately discovered that it combined all of the things about which she was truly passionate: lifelong learning and education, social history and storytelling, and creativity. Jackie holds undergraduate degrees in English and History from Georgetown University (Washington, DC), and has pursued graduate-level coursework in Museum Studies from New York University.    Conversations Notes Two Undiscovered Amerindians Visit the West, performance by Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco (1992)  Northwest African American Museum's Voices of the Manhattan Project  Follow Jackie on twitter @jp_exhibitsvcs

Cristina Garza, Director of Social Impact at Mission EDC, shares the journey that led her to leave her small town in Texas for New York City, to her various roles in museums, and then back to her hometown area working in local government. She reflects with candor on all the reasons it was important and necessary for her to move on from museums, including the skills she has developed in her new career that were once out of her reach. Through her work at Mission Economic Development Corporation, she is committed to improving the financial mobility of area residents and fostering community and economic development through technology and art.  Among the programs she founded are Web of Women, an initiative to teach technical skills to women professionals, and Career Readiness and Empowerment of Women (CREW), a multidisciplinary internship that trains young high-school women to serve as leaders in STEM and entrepreneurship. She is  2017 Next City Vanguard and named by CityLab Latino one of the Top 20 Young Civic Leaders of 2017. Before her career in economic development, Cristina worked in several museums in New York City including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rubin of Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Historical Society, and the Brooklyn Museum. Twitter @programsEDC and Instagram @cristinajgp For questions or feedback contact Paula Santos at culturaconscious@gmail.com. 

Docents play a vital role in museums across the country. As museum education departments change and evolve, tensions have surfaced on what the role of docents should be as teaching in museums becomes more specialized. Stephanie Samera, Lead for Gallery Learning at the Columbus Museum of Art, joins me to discuss all things docent. She shares how building genuine relationships with docents has allowed her program to flourish and how her museum’s unique vision for learning and visitor experience has spurred docents to take ownership over their teaching and professional development. We touch on the role of museum leadership in creating successful docent programs, including the areas where there is room for growth, such as being intentional in diversity and inclusion efforts across the museum. In the afterlife post-medical sciences, Stephanie Samera first discovered her passion for museums as a volunteer for the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville and has since worked at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, Seattle Art Museum, and Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Columbus, Ohio. Stephanie oversees the Docent Program as Lead for Gallery Learning at the Columbus Museum of Art after serving as Manager of Group Services at the Museum of Modern Art. In addition to her extensive work in the visitor experience field, Stephanie completed her M.S.Ed. in Leadership in Museum Education at Bank Street College of Education.  Conversations Notes Why Creativity? Articulating and Championing a Museum's Social Mission by Cindy Meyers Foley Center for Art and Social Engagement Debuts by Jen Lehe  The Visitors' Bill of Rights by Judy Rand  Nightmare at the Phoenix Art Museum Twitter @sv18 or Instagram @stephsame

What does success in the arts look like? Anabel Roque Rodriguez has been asking women in arts and culture this question for over a year. Anabel shares findings and reflections from her project so far. We touch on the power of solidarity and community in achieving success, especially for women, and how making choices that center well-being can illuminate professional and personal paths. We are frank about how job loss and institutional authority has affected our careers so far, plus how career healing is important and necessary. Anabel Roque Rodríguez is an independent curator, art historian and writer currently based in Switzerland. She has curated exhibitions in Ecuador, Munich, and Edinburgh and works in education formats at art fairs like Art Basel as well as in the institutional museum sector. She believes that museums are not neutral and that they can facilitate empowered discourses. In her current research she is envisioning new approaches to cultural leadership, studying success in the art world and creative work in the gig economy. Conversation Notes   Anabel’s Homepage & blog Latest Newsletter on «Success is more than picture perfect moments» Ongoing Interview Series on “What does Success in the Arts look like?” Twitter or Instagram @anabelroro Follow me! Email me! Twitter @ConsciousPod Instagram @CulturaConscious  culturaconscious@gmail.com 

Live episode recording from Museum Educator of Southern California's 2018 Annual Institute at the Skirball Cultural Center. My guest was Elena Muslar, Assistant Director, Entertainment and Fine Arts Professions at Loyola Marymount University. Elena was so wonderful and insightful! Our discussion veered in many directions, including breaking down the buzz versus the actual work of social justice work in arts and cultural organizations and how that manifests from our individual selves to the field at large. Her experience in museums and now higher education is so valuable. If you need a pick me up, this is definitely the episode for you! Elena’s passions intersect at a crossroads between cultural equity, creative balance, racial justice, and arts entrepreneurship. Elena holds a BA in Theatre from Loyola Marymount University and an MFA in Theatre Management from CalArts.  

PJ Gubatina Policarpio gets real with me on the nitty gritty of what it takes financially and emotionally to pursue a career in museums if you come from a low-income background. He discusses why building community is integral to his work, how diversifying his skill set was a financial strategy, and why he considers himself primarily a museum educator. Plus he shares his ideas on how we can mentor another generation of brown and black museum workers.  Share your own stories using the hashtag #costofmakingit.  PJ Gubatina Policarpio is an educator, curator, programmer, writer, and community organizer. His multidisciplinary practice utilizes research, collaboration, programming, pedagogy and public engagement as both art and tool. PJ creates intersections for meaningful connections between communities and art, especially addressing a diverse, multilingual, and multicultural audience. He brings dynamic and wide-ranging experience in museum education, youth development, and arts administration, previously working at The Museum of Modern Art, Queens Museum, and Brooklyn Museum. He has presented in conferences including NYCMER, AAM, NAEA, CCA and Open Engagement and is part of Museum as Site for Social Action (MASS Action). Born in the Philippines, PJ is currently the Youth Programs Manager at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.  Select Publications: Introduction to Filipino-American Writers. Mabuhay Magazine, June Issue. 2018 Culture Lab Manifesto Playbook. Published by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. 2018 Textiles of the Philippines: A Resource Coloring Book. 2016 Engaging Multilingual Students: An Educator's Guide. artmuseumteaching.com. 2015

On this month’s episode, Stephanie Cunningham shares her efforts to create alignment in her work after ten years of experience in the field. As a speaker, consultant, and educator, Stephanie has been a leading voice on race and equity in museums. After so many conversations, workshops and conferences discussing race and equity in museums, how far are we in achieving our goals? (Spoiler: we need to be reading a lot more!) How have the principles of museum education guided her journey through different roles in cultural institutions and museums? Plus, I ask her to demystify the process of consulting for the rest of us. Stephanie is an arts professional with over ten years in the field. She has written about her work for Curator: The Museum Journal and the Center for the Future of Museums as well as headlined talks about her endeavors at the American Alliance of Museums and Museum Next conferences. Her aptitude aligns with Museum Hue, an organization she cofounded that fosters the social cohesion well-being, and economic impact through the arts for people of color. Reading:  Social Justice & Museums Resource List initiated by La Tanya S. Autry Should I use the adjective "diverse"? by Alex Kapitan   For questions or feedback contact Paula Santos at culturaconscious@gmail.com. 

What is necessary for museums to radically imagine what is possible, not only what has been done? Adjoa Jones de Almeida, Director of Education at the Brooklyn Museum, shares how she decided to "step up" during a moment of transition for the museum. After beginning her career at the Brooklyn Museum in an entry level position, she hadn’t planned for a leadership role of this nature in her career trajectory. She shares how youth organizing and collectives have shaped the values that inform her leadership at a large encyclopedic museum. We also talk about organizational culture, how social movements change institutions, and the tricky nature of passion and work in a capitalist society.  After graduating from Brown University in 1995, Adjoa received a Fulbright scholarship to research community schools and cultural identity in Bahia, Brazil. In 1996 she moved to Brooklyn, NY where she worked as a high-school teacher at El Puente Academy for Peace & Justice, and helped to create Sista II Sista (SIIS), a women’s collective dedicated to supporting young women of color in developing personal and collective power. In 2005, she earned her Master’s from Teacher's College in International Education Development. From 2006-2013 she lived in Arembepe, Bahia where she co-founded a community based organization, Diáspora Solidária, committed to social & environmental justice, artistic expression and youth development. She began her work at the Brooklyn Museum in 2013. Reading: The Art of Social Justice: Behold the beautiful struggle! by Adjoa Jones de Almeida  The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, Adjoa Jones de Almeida contributor  

This month’s episode of Cultura Conscious is all about transitions and finding your purpose. Paulina Lopez, adult educator and teaching artist at the Art Institute of Chicago, joins me to discuss the events of 2017 and how they affected our personal, political and professional lives. Paulina shares her insights on what keeps her motivated and focused, even among political turmoil. She shares her unique perspective on how we can learn to weather ambiguity by practicing basic principles of artistic practice. We also touch on the difficulty we have untangling our professional and personal lives, but how crucial we have found it to learn a healthy balance. Paulina also gives me timely advice on how to navigate transitioning from a small museum to a very large museum (hint: draw a behind the scenes map!). Plus! New year, new us. What is in store for 2018? Paulina Lopez is an educator, teaching artist, and maker whose practice envisions the art museum as a site for exploratory learning and exchange. Her current work at the Art Institute of Chicago focuses on developing opportunities for intergenerational art-making as a way to meaningfully engage with the museum’s artworks on view, inviting visitors to embrace risks and explore the value in the unexpected. She received her B.A. in Studio Art from Carleton College and her M.Ed. from Southern Methodist University. Her dream home would be a printmaking studio merged with a used bookstore and a Mexican panadería.

Dr. Jody Dublin joins me this month to discuss how individuals and institutions can better understand and support first generation college students. We discuss the ways in which policy and institutional decisions are driven by the theory of college choice, even though not every student falls neatly within outlined categories when deciding to pursue a college education. Dr. Dublin shares how her personal experience and research on Haitian immigrant community college students has informed her career in higher education. She also gives us clear and actionable recommendations on how to support young people transitioning into higher education.  Dr. Jody Dublin is a higher education professional passionate about access and success for underrepresented and minoritized students in higher education. She earned her undergraduate degree in Latin American & Caribbean Studies and American & Florida Studies, master's degree in Counseling for Mental Health & Wellness, and Doctor of Education in Higher & Postsecondary Education Administration.Her dissertation, titled Taking the next step: College choice experiences of Haitian community college students, examined the college choice experiences of Haitian immigrant students in community college.  For over ten years, Jody has worked supporting students in various capacities in higher education and has enjoyed each one.  Readings recommended by Dr. Dublin: Are You First Gen? Depends on Who's Asking New Research on First Generation Students How to Help First Generation Students Succeed  Encouraging First Generation College Student Success Articles Paula mentioned on loss of family connections: Taking My Parents to College Guilt is One of the Biggest Struggles First-Generation College Students Face Correction: Jody mentions that most college students are not in the 18-24 age bracket. She double checked and the stat is that most students are not in the 18-21 age bracket.  

My guest this week thinks of her work as building the community of the future. Vanessa Sanchez is the Director of Yollocalli Arts Reach, the youth initiative of the National Museum of Mexican Art, as well as a practicing artist, music festival planner extraordinaire, and activist. She opens up about her apprehension at describing herself as a leader and instead prefers to describe herself as a collaborator. We discuss the importance of Yollocalli in young people's lives, some of the challenges young people face in Chicago, and how an arts organization can make an impact on its community.  Vanessa Sanchez received her BFA in Painting at University of IL at Chicago. Since 2001, she has dedicated her career to designing innovative, creative, and free art and media programs for teens and young adults in collaboration with local and international artists. She has served on the Hive Chicago Advisory Committee, the Little Village Quality of Life Plan, the Pilsen Image Taskforce, and the Lakefront Curatorial Committee. Currently she is one of the lead organizers for Villapalooza, the Little Village Music Fest.  She is also an artist and collaborator in the Instituto Grafico de Chicago print collective, and the Chicago Artists Creating Transformation (ACT) Collective.

My guest this week does it all! Museum educator, academic researcher and museum boss lady. Veronica Alvarez, Director of School and Educator Programs at LACMA, discusses how her career has been shaped by her experiences as an immigrant, as a student and as a museum educator. We discuss how she keeps up with her teaching practice even as administrative obligations claim a lot of her time, how to be responsive and caring as a leader, the low salary crisis of museum education, and how she sees diversity as a frame of mind. This episode of Cultura Conscious is the first in a series featuring women of color in leadership roles.  Veronica Alvarez is an educator, historian, and arts advocate. She has worked with elementary, high school, and college students, teaching subjects such as Spanish and ancient Greek and Roman history. Currently, she is the Director of School and Teacher Programs at LACMA. Prior to LACMA, she worked in the Education Department at the Getty Center for over 16 years, mostly writing curricula, creating professional development opportunities for teachers, and overseeing the teaching staff. Veronica currently serves on the American Alliance of Museum’s EdCom Board and is on the Policy Council for the California Alliance for Arts Education. She is a doctoral candidate at LMU’s Educational Leadership for Social Justice Program. Her dissertation is titled: Art Museums and Latino English Learners: Teaching Artists in the K-12 Classroom.

What can museums learn from the work of community organizers? Oliver Merino discusses his work with the Latino community at Levine Museum of the New South, a history museum in Charlotte, NC. He shares with me what he thinks is the importance of history museums in contextualizing current events, how he approaches leading and organizing through listening, how important it is for museums to have people who speak from the community, rather than about them, and the ways white supremacy lives even in progressive institutions.  Born in Guerrero, Mexico, Oliver Merino moved to rural North Carolina at the age of ten with his family. A graduate of Johnson C. Smith University, where he studied history, Oliver has worked with and advocated for immigrant communities across the country. As program coordinator at Levine Museum of the New South, he worked on developing collaborations with the Latino community and designing programs to reach diverse audiences. Oliver currently works at Legal Services of Southern Piedmont in Charlotte, NC as a paralegal advocate.  

On this episode of Cultura Conscious, Alyssa Machida discusses her motivation and inspiration for The Dreamspace Project, workbook and toolkit for educators who are ready to move beyond demanding social justice and are ready to take critical action. We talk about the ways institutions communicate to the public beyond the art on the walls, the need to acknowledge how we are building on work done by black women and people of color, and what the role of patience is when working within institutions to bring about change. To connect with Alyssa, please email her at dreamspaceworkbook@gmail.com. Conversation Notes Alyssa mentions an important idea that comes from legal academia and Critical Race Theory (or CRT). Interest convergence is one of the main concepts of CRT, and argues that White people will only accommodate and advance the interests of people of color when those interests converge with, and can serve to promote, the self-interests of White people themselves. The Dreamspace Project Workbook: Highly recommend listeners look through the workbook before listening the episode. Some of the specifics in the conversation are found here. The Danger of the "D" Word: Museums and Diversity by Porchia Moore    

On this episode, Marimar Gutierrez speaks to me about her experience as a DACA student and museum worker. We discuss the ways museums can be welcoming to young people like her, what the atmosphere has been like in the museum galleries since the 2016 election, how we can’t deny ourselves the feeling of fear, and what steps she has taken to ensure her family is informed and prepared in the case of deportation.   Marimar is a college student who has interned at the National Museum of Mexican Art for nearly two years. One of her goals is to transfer to a four year university to study education and communications. She enjoys being able to do a little bit of everything at the museum, including teaching public and school tours, leading programs for young learners, and creating radio with Yollocalli Arts Reach, the museum’s youth initiative. More information:  FAQ Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) New Study of DACA Beneficiaries Shows Positive Economic and Educational Outcomes United We Dream: immigrant youth led organization For questions or feedback contact Paula Santos at culturaconscious@gmail.com.