Closed for the summer 2024, re-opening on September 26, 2024 at 5 PM.
Action Plan & Timeline
This Action Plan is a living document and will be updated quarterly.
Goal 1: Making diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion central priorities in all aspects of the Davis Museum’s work. Strategies: |
Date Completed |
---|---|
Convene a DEAI Working Group |
September 2020 |
Invite Wellesley Human Resources to lead DEI workshop for Davis staff. |
September 2020 |
Complete MASS Action - Museums as Site for Social Action - Readiness Assessment
|
October 2020-January 2021 |
Invite all Davis staff members to review position descriptions through a DEAI lens; propose strategies for how their positions can better support diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion goals. |
January 2021 |
Use internal WC resources and web-based resources to assist with ongoing planning. |
Summer 2021 |
Incorporate DEAI priorities into strategic planning. |
Fall 2022 |
Develop “Davis Museum Working Culture” guidelines, dovetailing with DEAI values and goals |
December 2023 |
Revise Davis Museum mission statement to center DEAI goals |
Summer 2024 |
Develop a DEAI statement and action plan and make it publicly available. |
July 2021 |
Publish regular updates on DEAI work on the Davis website. |
Monthly |
Goal 2: Developing a staff that reflects the diverse communities invested in the Davis and building an equitable, accessible, and inclusive workplace in which staff members from diverse backgrounds can thrive. Strategies: |
|
Implement procedures designed to increase diversity of vendors and contractors. |
Spring 2024 |
Prioritize and promote diversity and equity within/among the student workforce. |
Ongoing |
Offer DEAI training for the entire staff, including student employees, annually through internal reading & discussion sessions, workshops and Annual training |
Spring 2024 |
As part of “Davis Museum Working Culture” document, create guidelines for Communication grounded in DEAI principles. |
December 2023 |
Develop a transparent and equitable system for distributing financial support for professional development and training across the Davis staff. |
Fiscal Year 2024 |
Create opportunities for community-building across the Davis staff and cross-departmentally at the College. |
Ongoing |
Foster opportunities for all Davis staff to mentor students. |
Ongoing |
Goal 3: Stewarding, displaying, and interpreting the Davis Museum’s permanent collections in a manner that reflects the staff’s shared commitment to anti-racism, diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. Strategies: |
|
Draft acquisitions strategy that reflects DEAI priorities and makes the acquisitions process transparent. |
Spring 2024 |
Track demographics of collections and acquisitions through cataloguing race, gender, sexuality, and other identities. |
Ongoing |
Train cross-departmental teams in critical cataloguing practices, and create plans to implement strategies. |
Ongoing |
Conduct provenance research on artworks in the collection, with a focus on colonial-era acquisitions. Publish provenance information in the collections database on our website. |
Ongoing |
Hire scholarly specialists to consult on the interpretation of artworks in fields not represented on the Davis staff, especially Native American, and Oceanic arts. |
Ongoing |
Plan museum-wide decolonial project to examine stewardship and presentation of permanent collections and invite multiple perspectives on a series of case studies through seminars composed of Wellesley students, staff, and faculty, cultural representatives, and scholarly specialists. |
2024-2027 |
Revise installations in permanent collections galleries to create more global representation throughout the museum, portray intersecting histories, and challenge canonical eurocentric art histories. |
2024-2027 |
Revise wall labels in permanent collections galleries through decolonial and anti-racist lens. |
2024-2027 |
Experiment with interpretative strategies that invite multiple voices into museum galleries and online resources. |
Sept 2020-ongoing |
Conduct a “narrative analysis” of the permanent collections galleries - include students, faculty, specialists, general visitors. |
Fall 2022 |
Create collection packages for our eMuseum landing page. | Fall 2024 - Spring 2025 |
Add alt-text to website images and collections images. | Spring 2021-ongoing |
Add available label text to eMuseum. | Spring 2024-ongoing |
Goal 4: Presenting exhibitions and programs that are welcoming to diverse audiences as spaces where all voices can be heard. Strategies: |
|
Gather data on representation in temporary exhibitions, teaching objects, and programming to develop strategies to increase diversity in artists exhibited at the Davis. |
Fall 2020 - ongoing |
Convene exhibition-specific advisory groups composed of both on- and off- campus partners. |
Fall 2021 - ongoing |
Conduct surveys and focus groups with current and potential Davis visitors and partners. |
Fall 2020, Fall 2022. Spring 2024 |
Offer campus community decolonial theory drop-in reading sessions, and put reading lists, questions, and further related resources on website. |
September 2020 - December 2021 |
Initiate curricular collaborations with departments that have diverse student representation. |
Ongoing |
Strengthen current and start new partnerships on Wellesley campus, especially with other DEAI groups and student organizations committed to DEAI. |
Ongoing |
Restructure and refocus Davis Museum Student Advisory Committee (DMSAC) to be a diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive student group that serves as an advisory group to Davis staff. |
Spring 2022 |
Build new partnerships with institutions and communities beyond the Wellesley campus. |
Ongoing |
Convene a special meeting of the National Committee of the Friends of Art for DEAI training and strategizing. |
January 2021 |
Conduct focus groups within the Friends of Art at the Davis to learn about DEAI-related concerns and perspectives of FOA members |
November 2020, ongoing |
Increase diversity in Friends of Art, especially the FOA National Committee. |
Ongoing |
Make DEAI priorities central to FOA activities and programs. FOA National Commitee nominations and planning. |
Ongoing |
Assess and revise wayfinding on campus and in the lobby to create a more welcoming approach to the Davis from on and off-campus. |
Ongoing |
Share DEAI updates with all staff every 6 months. | Ongoing |