Readying The Museum
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Readying the Museum (RTM) was a cohort of artists, curators, museum directors, and arts workers established in 2021 to develop frameworks for institutional accountability within museums. The initiative emerged in response to calls for institutional reform in the arts following the 2020 racial justice protests in the United States.[1][2]
RTM developed an open-access methodology intended to help museums address issues related to governance, accountability, equity, labor practices, and community engagement.[2]
The project was funded by the Ford Foundation and the Mellon Foundation, with administrative support provided by Arizona State University.[2][3]
History
[edit]The project originated in 2020 amid calls for institutional reform across the museum sector following the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests for racial justice.[1][2]
RTM adopted a cohort model that brought together museum professionals, artists, and arts workers committed to examining institutional practices and developing accountability frameworks. Members met primarily through virtual meetings, supplemented by several in-person retreats over four years.
As part of its research process, the cohort referenced existing museum equity initiatives including Incluseum, Visitors of Color Project, Museums and Race, MASS Action, Museum Workers Speak, and The Empathetic Museum.
RTM's methodology emphasized a progression from individual reflection to cohort collaboration, institutional implementation, and broader museum-sector transformation.
The cohort worked with facilitators whose approaches drew upon Indigenous, Black, and Brown feminist theory as well as principles of community organizing. Members also consulted artists, museum workers, community organizers, and activists through interviews, commissioned essays, and collaborative workshops.
On 6 September 2024, RTM publicly launched its website, making its research, methodologies, and educational resources freely available.[2][1] The website remained active until 1 November 2025.
Website and public resources
[edit]The RTM website served as the primary repository for the project's research and methodology. Public resources included:
- Our Work – A 32-page overview of the project's methodology, values, and process.
- Grievances – A 101-page compilation of concerns collected from museum staff, artists, arts workers, and community members.
- Accountability Framework – Including a downloadable Accountability Statement and Accountability Pyramid.
- Community Agreements – The cohort's collaboratively developed working principles.
- Lexicon – A shared vocabulary and guidance for institutions developing similar resources.
- Whiteness – Essays, reflections, White Harm Offerings, and the Seven Stages of White Breakdown.
- Patriarchy – Essays by Cruz Ortiz and Cannupa Hanska Luger, reflective questions, and recommended readings.
- Hospitality – A framework centered on care, radical welcome, and equitable resource allocation.
- Base Building – Documentation of community organizations engaged by the cohort.
- Journal – Eighteen commissioned essays by artists, curators, lawyers, professors, and community members.
- Readings and Resources – More than 200 texts referenced during the project's retreats.
- Budget – A public accounting of project funding and expenditures.
- Digital Downloads – Printable educational materials on accountability, decolonization, patriarchy, reparations, and the Seven Stages of White Breakdown.
Partner institutions
[edit]Three museums participated as partner institutions during RTM's first phase:
- ASU Art Museum (Tempe, Arizona), which served as the project's administrative home and grant administrator.
- Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, which reopened in January 2023 under director Frederick Janka following organizational restructuring, including changes to governance and board composition.[2]
- Oakland Museum of California, which implemented several initiatives referenced as examples of RTM's methodology, including paying a voluntary land tax to Indigenous communities and voluntarily recognizing its employee union.[2]
Reception
[edit]Following the public launch of its website in September 2024, RTM received coverage in several arts publications.
ARTnews described RTM as emerging from "a response to a global protest movement against racial injustice in 2020" and highlighted its focus on museum leadership and institutional accountability.[1]
The Art Newspaper wrote that RTM launched during a changing political climate marked by reductions in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and the departure of many museum professionals hired following the 2020 protests.[2]
The New York Amsterdam News reported on the project's New York City launch and described its objective as creating lasting institutional change within museums.[4]
RTM cited earlier museum activist initiatives, including Decolonize This Place and the @changethemuseum Instagram account, as influences on its work.[2]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 Villa, Angelica (6 September 2024). "New Arts Workers' Group Will Fight Inequities Maintained by Museum Management" (PDF). ARTnews. Retrieved 13 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Halperin, Julia (6 September 2024). "Ready for the art-world reckoning?". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 13 July 2026.
- ↑ "Arizona State University". The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 29 March 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2026.
- ↑ Banks, Brenika (17 October 2024). "Readying the Museum Seeks to Correct Racist Structures in the Arts". New York Amsterdam News. Retrieved 13 July 2026.