Reposted from AAM

A conversation between two DEAI experts on how museums can prepare a chief diversity officer for success.

In 2018, when Makeba Clay was hired as the inaugural chief diversity officer (CDO) at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC—the first in an American art museum—she called Cecile Shellman, then the diversity catalyst at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, for an informational interview about how she had made diversity, equity, access, and inclusion (DEAI) a reality at her institution. Shellman knew what it was like to lack role models, benchmarks, or patterns for progress in this work. In the ensuing years, both Clay and Shellman have, in various capacities, helped cultural institutions confront the systemic inequities in their operations.

Here, Clay and Shellman weigh in on what museums need to do before hiring a CDO, how they can hire the best person for the role, and how they can support that person in their work.

As more museums become interested in hiring a CDO, are there things they should have in place or work they should already have done before they start the hiring process?

Cecile Shellman: Every museum is different, and their needs relative to DEAI concerns will be unique to their organizational culture. The task at hand is immense: leading efforts to diversify staff, programs, and exhibitions; striving for equity among all internal communities; providing access and accommodations for people with disabilities and people whose first language is not English; and creating more welcoming cultures. Each institution must do extensive diagnostic work to identify and analyze their own challenges—understanding where they are, what cultural changes need to happen, and whether their organizational structure is malleable enough to support cultural transformation in an authentic way. Until that happens, they should not seek a CDO.

Makeba Clay: I couldn’t agree with you more, Cecile. I can’t tell you how often I have been approached by institutions that believe they are ready for organizational culture change, yet they are unwilling to face the truth about where they are on their journey. When I encounter this type of cognitive dissonance, I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes by James Baldwin, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

Who is an ideal candidate for this role?  

Clay: The role of the chief diversity officer is multidimensional and complex, with a focus on leading strategic change, building capacity for training and thought leadership, coordinating and convening community members, serving as an advocate and ambassador, establishing metrics and systems of accountability, and communicating regularly about DEAI to internal and external stakeholders.

The ideal candidate for the CDO role is someone who not only demonstrates a deep commitment to the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion, but also possesses intellectual and ethical leadership as a strategic leader, adviser, and catalyst for institutional and cultural change across the organization. The individual must be able to lead from the middle, possess an equity mindset, be adept at fostering dialogue with multiple constituencies and building coalitions, and be able to achieve results through influence and collaboration. Further, the ideal candidate will have demonstrated capabilities as an administrator, convener, and community builder who has a record of success advancing DEAI in arts and culture, nonprofit, and/or education fields at the executive level.

What I’ve also come to realize is that whatever isn’t measured doesn’t get done. Therefore, increasingly, institutions that rely on financial support from foundations and other grant-funded sources are asked to demonstrate the impact/ROI of their DEAI efforts. Consequently, a CDO must have demonstrated the ability to utilize data and analytics as important tools in establishing goals and measuring progress. This person must work toward institutional change by proactively approaching challenges with systems-level thinking rather than reacting to challenges or constantly fixing problems.

Shellman: The ideal chief diversity officer should have a profound understanding of civics, social justice, critical race theory, and intersectionality, both in an academic context and through their lived experience. A capacity for building and maintaining trusting, confidential, respectful relationships is key. Additionally, the CDO should be a skilled communicator and mediator who has demonstrated success in forging consensus between individuals and communities with divergent views. A high EQ (emotional IQ) is essential.

What are some of the questions museums should ask during the hiring process, and what factors might inform their decision-making?

Shellman: Equitable interviews should assess for skill. The interview process for the role should model this principle. As such, the questions should focus on assessing candidates’ proficiency in complex problem-solving, knowledge of relevant laws and regulations, and ability to strategize. The ideal candidate should have excellent communication and presentation skills as well as a capacity to convey complex information as an ambassador and advocate.

Clay: When an institution has finally arrived at the point of hiring someone for the CDO role, they may still have a limited understanding of what the key responsibilities should be for the position. Also, institutional leaders may have unrealistic expectations about what the arc of change looks like in action. Because the path of institutional change is not linear, nor is there a one-size-fits-all approach to the work, those who are hiring for this position might ask candidates about their philosophy and methodology for achieving goals associated with the work

Typically, the initial work with any institution involves a discovery period to understand the institutional context, build personal relationships, and determine (with colleagues) the opportunities and challenges facing the institution. Following this initial assessment period (usually within the first 90 days), the CDO will then shift to working across the institution to determine strategic priorities, articulate specific goals, outline the fiscal and human resources needed to achieve them, establish metrics, and set benchmarks and accountability measures. This initial planning process can take up to 18–36 months, depending on the collective decision-making and actions that are taken across the organization.

What responsibilities need to be part of the CDO’s portfolio to achieve success? And what are some of the challenges in achieving success?

Clay: I’ve seen countless organizational models that situate DEAI work exclusively on public programs and community engagement or within the context of compliance and training; both of these models will fall short of achieving systemic and sustained change in an organization.

In order to achieve transformation, it’s important for the CDO to take a systems-change approach to this work that applies a DEAI lens throughout all aspects of the museum. Based on my experience and leading practice in the field, ideally, the role would center around three critical and mutually reinforcing areas of responsibility: 1) serving as a strategist and DEAI thought partner with the leadership team in ways that cut across the institutions’ programs, people, policies, processes, and culture, 2) managing the internal change process with an intentional lens on bridging internal efforts with the external (e.g., considering how creating a more accessible museum impacts the broader community outside the organization), and 3) being a champion and model for DEAI values and, in so doing, holding the organization accountable for consistent engagement with DEAI from the CEO and leadership, the board, staff, and volunteers.

Further, during a time when there is so much public scrutiny at the governance level, in order to be taken seriously as a transformative leader, a CDO’s portfolio must include working closely with members of the board of trustees to implement strategic priorities that create far greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in governance by focusing more intentionally on the nominations process, board culture, training, and evaluation. It’s been my experience that in order for an organization to advance systemic and sustained change, the stated values and vision must be in alignment with what is being experienced on the ground. Liaising with and guiding the board in this way enables the CDO to ensure that the voices and needs of other institutional stakeholders are reflected in the broader strategy to best align intent with impact.

Shellman: In the event that training, learning, and development opportunities are not embedded in the human resources function of the organization, the CDO may also coordinate or provide workshops and skill-based training.

What is the ideal reporting structure for this position, and what needs to be in place within the organization to support this work?

Shellman: This position should ideally be at the director level, reporting to the chief executive officer. The CDO should be appropriately compensated, with an additional percentage added for emotional and psychological labor.

The organization should also ensure that there are sufficient financial resources allocated to support the CDO and other staff contributing to this work. Program coordinators, workshop facilitators, researchers, and disability rights advocates should have supporting roles.

Clay: Additionally, all organizational leaders must be committed to, and held accountable for, advancing the DEAI strategic priorities in substantive and measurable ways. For example, each department should develop specific DEAI goals for their department, and each employee within their respective department should create goals that are tied to their performance and measured on an annual basis.

What advice or words of wisdom would you give to a new CDO?

Shellman: This is difficult, emotional work that will require you to shoulder the burdens and challenges of individuals who have historically been excluded or prevented from self-advocating due to a lack of power. You may need additional encouragement and support, such as executive coaching, mentorship, or peer counseling.

Self-care is a must!

Clay: I would urge people to pace themselves; this work is akin to running a marathon, not a sprint. Change takes time and will require a balanced perspective, endurance, resilience, and support from trusted mentors and colleagues. It’s also wise to manage expectations—yours and others—every step of the way.

The civil rights activist and writer Audre Lorde once said, “I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal, and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.” I, too, believe that it is critical for someone in the role of a chief diversity officer to lead with authenticity, to be bold, to be vulnerable, to be courageous, and to simply tell it like it is—with grace, humor, and love.

Makeba Clay (makebaclay.com) and Cecile Shellman (cecileshellmanconsulting.com) are both consultants focusing on DEAI in the museum and nonprofit fields. They are currently senior diversity fellows for AAM’s Facing Change initiative (aam-us.org/programs/facing-change1/). Clay is also the chief diversity officer at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.

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Reposted from AAM

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, museums are broadening their missions to serve community needs.

Baking bread, teaching cross-stitch online, providing feline pen pals. These activities don’t immediately come to mind when we think of museums’ community engagement efforts, but they are among the ways in which museums have continued to serve their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During this time, museum leaders have repurposed their assets and resources to help their communities by, among other things, contributing masks and gloves to PPE drives, making financial and food donations to local organizations, and instituting a range of innovative online programs. This work not only addresses immediate needs but also may transform how museums serve their communities in the future.

Connecting Can Be Simple

When the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma, closed, President and Director Scott Stulen and his staff launched a flurry of new programming.

“We already had a very robust social media presence,” says Stulen, and “I said, ‘We’re not going to put the mission on pause. We’re going to go from ideas to execution in hours instead of months.’” Of his 120 staff members, he furloughed all of the part-timers and 17 full-time employees, until he received a loan that allowed him to bring back all of the full-time staff in June.

“I thought we could take some risk and experiment, and it’s been a great kind of lab. We’ve done almost 200 new programs geared to different audiences for our weekly Museum From Home platform and had more than 250,000 views.” Well-received Museum From Home programs have included hands-on art projects through the Family Art Club, behind-the-scenes tours, and gardening lessons from the horticulture team.

The museum also tripled the size of its vegetable garden in order to supplement Tulsa food banks and created an online marketplace where artists could sell their works and receive 100 percent of the proceeds. The museum committed to giving 10 percent of membership fees they receive during the shutdown and beyond to the United Way COVID-19 relief fund and contributed almost $5,000 in the first two months.

One particularly popular engagement offering was the opportunity to exchange letters with the museum’s two garden cats, Cleo and Perilla, with responses written by staff volunteers. The cats received thousands of letters from all over the world—including an especially moving one from an incarcerated man who said he was lonely and needed to talk.

“It does go to our core mission—connecting people to art and gardens,” Stulen says. “Sometimes keeping people connected is really simple.”

He anticipates that the approaches he and his team are taking now will alter their actions in the future. “We’re allowing things to happen and giving it some space. I’m hoping we can get a little looser, not be quite as buttoned-up, and take more risks—and that this will allow us to operate with less resources and still be successful.”

The Work Continues

Micah Parzen, CEO of the Museum of Us, responded to the pandemic by sending out a “Proposal to Serve Community Need” to 15,000 stakeholders, including members, funders, and local politicians, seeking suggestions on how the museum could assist the community.

“In the 1940s the museum was used as a hospital by the Navy, so we said, ‘We are standing at the ready and eager to help,’” Parzen says. The museum sits in Balboa Park and has 60,000 square feet of space that Parzen was eager to repurpose. “We got an amazing response, with many unique and innovative suggestions, including a domestic violence shelter and a tiny homes community for veterans.”

After reviewing the ideas, Parzen took steps to become a food distribution site for the food bank Feeding San Diego. “We had pre-existing, high-level contacts among food distribution and homeless support nonprofits, and logistically it made sense to try to go in that direction. We were ready to act on that partnership, but the city wasn’t comfortable
reopening the park to anyone other than essential staff, which precluded us from using our steps and the California Plaza in front of the museum in that way.”

They decided to use the museum’s iconic California Tower, which can be seen for miles, to display a message of gratitude on all four sides. “Every night at dusk we project “THANK YOU” in blue lights, in keeping with the worldwide #LightitBlue movement to honor frontline workers everywhere.” The effort garnered extensive media coverage and positive response.

With Balboa Park reopening for outdoor museums, restaurants, and retail, Parzen has again reached out to Feeding San Diego to see if there’s still a need the museum can serve. If so, he will ask the city for permission to serve as a food distribution site until the museum can reopen.

In the meantime, the critical work of the museum continues. Fifty-two staff members have been furloughed, and the remaining 11 are focusing on the museum’s ongoing decolonizing, consulting, and repatriation efforts.

Remember Your Mission

Washington State Historical Society staff purposely hit pause for several weeks after shutting down to determine how they could help their Tacoma community, says Director Jennifer Kilmer.

“It was challenging for us because we realized we had not been living in a digital sphere,” she says. “We didn’t have online exhibits, so we had to evaluate what we could do.” They decided to provide educational resources to help local schools’ digital learning efforts.

“We had already created an app that museum visitors could use to dive deeper into our exhibits,” Kilmer says. “So our staff adapted it by adding History Lessons to Go, which can be done from home, and downloadable activity sheets that link to the content in the app’s gallery tours. We also retooled some of our traditional classroom curriculum and created units that parents can download to support their children’s learning at home.”

For their heritage organization colleagues across the state, they created an extensive list of COVID-19 resources for museums on their website as well as a Heritage Outreach Facebook group to connect and share common concerns.

They also launched “Collecting the COVID-19 Experience,” which asks community members to document the pandemic by submitting anything that helps tell the story of living through it. The first 250 items included videos, photos, quarantine journals, and the promise of a quilt made by quilters from across the state. The items will eventually become an exhibit that aligns with the museum’s mission of “partnering with our communities to explore how history connects us all.”

And by presenting traditional live programming online, the society significantly broadened its reach. The Mount St. Helens 40th Anniversary Story Hour, a program with Washington State Parks that featured five storytellers sharing their memories of the 1980 volcanic eruption, had more than 10,000 views, far beyond the reach of an in-person program.

“We can now reach out all over the state—we need to keep including this virtual format,” Kilmer says. “Going forward, community engagement looks exciting and daunting. This has been an opportunity for us to become much better known, but we still have to ask, ‘What’s our strength?’ The programs we’ve done that have stayed closest to
our mission have been the best attended. Something that guides us, even in non-COVID time, is asking not just can we do it, but does it play to our strengths?”

Meet People Where They Are

When the pandemic struck, Dumbarton House Executive Director Karen Daly and her 11 staff members immediately focused on the critical public health needs of its Washington, DC, area. With four other local house museums and a museum collections contractor, they launched a PPE drive and were able to contribute 2,500 pairs of nitrile gloves plus homemade masks and Lysol to Unity Health Care, a network of community health centers in DC.

They also developed a biweekly e-newsletter to share news and resources with the members of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America (NSCDA) and affiliated museums and historic sites across the country. And they created new virtual programming, which included the “Cross Stitch in Quarantine” workshop and the regular Great
Dumbarton Bake Off, an Instagram story where anyone can make and share recipes. Between 100 and 200 people watch the latest baking story every Wednesday, 10 times the interaction of Dumbarton House’s other Instagram stories. In addition, staff created digital puzzles made from works in the collection to share on the NSCDA website (nscda.org/nscda-digital-puzzles).

Despite those successes, Daly didn’t want to limit Dumbarton House to online outreach. “People do want virtual opportunities, but there is some kind of exhaustion with screen time. It’s important to look for things that are therapeutic and rejuvenating, something people can do as a family. We are an urban green space in a residential community, so we decided to leave our grounds and gardens, which are usually inaccessible, open to the neighbors.”

People use the grounds to jog and walk, have picnics, and work using the free Wi-Fi. “We’ve had very positive social media posts, and multiple families have told me how much they appreciate the space, especially since the playgrounds closed,” Daly says. “This reinforced that it’s important to meet people where they are, and we’re finding that there’s a real, genuine need for that outdoor space. It’s something our community really values, so we will be keeping the gardens open once the museum has reopened.”

Feeding Body, Mind, and Soul

Franklin Vagnone, president and CEO of Old Salem Museums & Gardens/Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, also owns an international consulting firm. Through his communications with colleagues around the world, he understood what was coming and got a head start on implementing new online programming.

The museum launched the Old Salem Exploratorium, a series of five- to 10-minute educational videos that have included craft workshops, a seed-saving lab, and behind-the-scenes looks at the collection, and the popular History Nerd Alerts, social media posts that highlight collection items related to illness, health, and medicine.

The museum has also focused on food-related outreach efforts. “The community we serve is in transition,” Vagnone says. “Winston-Salem has gone from being a fairly affluent community to one that’s in need of a lot of help; there’s a lot of food insecurity. So when the public bakeries were closing, our head baker [at the living history site] said, ‘Why don’t I just go in by myself and bake?’”

The museum has donated more than 2,000 loaves of bread to Second Harvest Food Bank. It also turned some of its flower gardens into victory gardens, and the first biweekly harvest resulted in 140 pounds of vegetables going to the food bank.

The garden also produced some unexpected sustenance. “A woman from New York saw one of our Twitter videos where my husband and I are working in the garden, and she sent a message thanking me because the peaceful sound of birds in the background was drowning out the sound of the New York ambulances,” Vagnone says. “That peaceful quality is in itself part of feeding the soul.”

He expects that many of these outreach efforts will become permanent. “Our ability to serve the larger community is too important not to continue. We’ve undergone a drastic shift in the way we operate, and there’s been an amazing transformation of how a living history site can help the community. The community has embraced us—they see us now as a real, tangible community asset, whereas before they might have seen us as a nostalgic and pretty place to walk.”

He also hopes this type of outreach results in more systemic changes among museums and the entire nonprofit community. “This is the kind of DNA we should be swimming in. We should invert the traditional model of focusing only on ourselves, and use our collections, our histories, and our stories to help our communities.”

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Reposted from The Art Newspaper

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Morgan Library and Museum and the Museum of the City of New York will increase their visitor capacity to 50% next week under relaxed Covid-19 safety rules unveiled by the state's governor, Andrew M. Cuomo. The New-York Historical Society says it will do so gradually. 

Other New York museums are scrutinising their safety procedures in response to Cuomo’s announcement this week that they will be able to admit visitors at half of their normal capacity starting on 26 April. The new limit, raised from 25%, offers a glimmer of hope to institutions that have been financially hamstrung by Covid-19 health restrictions aimed at ensuring social distancing. 

MoMA, which reopened to the public on 27 August 2020 after a closure lasting five and a half months in response to the pandemic, says the 50% limit will take effect on Monday but that advance reservations for timed tickets will still be necessary. The Morgan, which reopened to the public on 5 September; the Museum of the City of New York, which reopened on 27 August; and the New-York Historical Society, which reopened on 11 September, similarly urge visitors to make reservations.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, meanwhile, a bellwether institution for institutional policy that reopened on 29 August, has been cautiously expanding the number of visitors it admits while inching toward the previous maximum of 25%. It will not boost its capacity to 50% on Monday, but “we are appreciative of having more room now,” a spokesman says. 

A spokeswoman for the Whitney Museum of American Art, which reopened on 3 September, says officials were “thrilled” by Cuomo's announcement. While the museum will not expand admissions to 50% on Monday, she adds, “we are carefully considering how we can safely increase capacity” and “hope to be able to share an update in the coming weeks”. 

A spokeswoman for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, which reopened on 3 October, says it looks “forward to welcoming additional visitors to the museum under the capacity increase” but is “evaluating the new guidelines to ensure that any future changes align with our enhanced safety measures”.

The evaporation of income from admissions, retail sales and event rentals caused museum revenue to nosedive last year, and the 25% visitor capacity rule adopted in August to pave the way for reopening has largely restrained institutions from making a robust comeback. Cuomo has eased the safety restrictions as the Covid-19 infection rate has declined to the levels seen last November. 

The 50% capacity limit taking effect on Monday also applies to New York zoos and aquariums. Movie theatres may increase to 33% next week, and indoor sports arenas can accommodate 25% starting on 19 May.

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Reposted from Campus Safety Magazine

Racially motivated extremists pose the most lethal domestic terrorism threats to the United States and could increase more this year, according to a new report.

The unclassified intelligence report, released Wednesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, reiterates warnings made by U.S. officials, including FBI Direct Christopher Wray, who testified earlier this month that the threat from domestic violent extremism was “metastasizing” across the country, reports The Guardian.

In addition to racially motivated extremists, the report warns of other domestic threat categories, including animal rights/environmental violent extremists, abortion-related violent extremists, and anti-government/anti-authority violent extremists.  

“The IC assesses that domestic violent extremists (DVEs) who are motivated by a range of ideologies and galvanized by recent political and societal events in the United States pose an elevated threat to the Homeland in 2021,” the report summarizes.

The report emphasizes that the most deadly threat comes from racially motivated domestic violent extremists, who officials say are most likely to conduct mass attacks against American civilians, and from militia groups, who are seen as likely to target law enforcement and government officials.

Overall, the report says white supremacists display “the most persistent and concerning transnational connections.”

ADL: White Supremacist Propaganda Nearly Doubled in 2020

Also on Wednesday, Anti-Defamation League (ADL)’s Center on Extremism (COE) released findings that show the distribution of white supremacist propaganda, including racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ literature, nearly doubled across America in 2020 to 5,125 reported incidents  — an average of 14 per day.

According to ADL, 2020 saw the highest number of propaganda since the group started keeping track. A year-over-year comparison can be seen in the graphic to the right.

The 2020 propaganda appeared in every state except Hawaii, with the highest levels of activity in Texas, Washington, California, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia and Pennsylvania. ADL’S H.E.A.T. Map provides a visual representation detailing incidents by state and nationwide.

Although at least 30 white supremacist groups distributed propaganda in 2020, ADL says three groups — Patriot Front, New Jersey European Heritage Association and Nationalist Social Club — were responsible for 92% of the activity.

Anti-Asian Hate Crimes on the Rise

ADL released its findings just hours after a gunman fatally shot eight people at three Atlanta-area massage parlors and spas. Although law enforcement has not yet categorized the heinous acts as racially motivated or a hate crime, six of the victims were of Asian descent and seven were women.

The shootings occurred in the wake of a new study that found a 149% surge in anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020, according to CBS News. The report, released this week by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, is based on police department statistics across major U.S. cities. 

The findings reflect a growing trend of discrimination against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. Looking at hate crimes in 16 of America’s largest cities, the study found the first spikes began last March and April when COVID-19 cases also increased.

Anne Cheng, a comparative race scholar and professor at Princeton University, told CBS News that the coronavirus has given an outlet to already existing anti-Asian American sentiment.

“It’s part of a very long systemic cultural discrimination against Asians in this country,” she said.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 2,800 hate incidents targeting Asian Americans have been reported, and women have been attacked almost 2.5 times more than men, according to the group Stop AAPI Hate.

Stop AAPI Hate Co-founder Manjusha Kulkarni believes more should be done to enhance public education and community support programs for victims. Kulkarni is also concerned as more students return to school across the country.

“Looking forward, we need to also think about what the impact is going to be on schoolchildren [since] 10% of the incidents reported to us involved youth,” she said. “I know parents are very much concerned about what that looks like for their children.”

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Reposted from AAM

The museum field, and cultural institutions in general, have undoubtedly been hit hard by COVID-19. As a result, many museum professionals are finding themselves job searching and considering career transitions at a time with seemingly more questions than answers, and fewer straightforward career paths to follow.

The present circumstances pose unique challenges in navigating an active job search and finding the next step in your career. But from my experience in recruiting, talent program development, and career coaching—at the Oakland Museum of California and in the consulting firm I co-founded—I have found that it is possible to face uncertainty with resilience, by creating a plan with an open mind.

With that in mind, here are some tangible steps to take right now, if you’ve recently been laid off or furloughed and find yourself navigating a job search.

Take Care of the Paperwork

First things first: apply for unemployment. Check on what local city and state government resources are available, and get ready to do some paperwork. Ask your HR team or representatives what resources are being offered, including information about how to navigate unemployment, offboarding, and career support.

Reflect and Explore

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This is the most important step in a job search or career transition at any point in your career, and even more so in the current economic climate.

Think about your priorities and long-term goals to identify what you need right now and what you want in the future, then plan your job search accordingly. Apply for roles, including contract or part-time work, that will take care of your needs right now while you are still looking toward future roles and institutions more aligned with your long-term career goals.

Take actual time to pause and reflect on your experience and skills so far—what have you enjoyed, and what doesn’t make sense anymore? Identify and understand your value! What are the tangible skills and experience you bring to a role? What are the soft skills, emotional intelligence, and perspective you bring? What makes you uniquely you in a role? Use these values and strengths to help shape the framework of your job search.

For extra support in looking inward, reach out to friends, colleagues, managers, or mentors to ask them what they think your greatest value is, or what it has been like working with you. In the midst of a big transition, or a sudden job change, an outside perspective can be helpful to identify qualities you may not be able to see in yourself.

Get Ready to Pivot

Whether you are planning to stay in museums or explore other fields, you should be prepared to pivot. Work has changed across industries during the pandemic, and it will continue to change over the coming months and years. There is opportunity in this change.

Take a thorough look at what is needed right now. The museums we walked out of in mid-March, when the first shelter-in-place regulations were enacted, are not the same museums that are operating right now, and may never be the same museums again. We, as an industry and community, have to change the way we think and work. This means there will be continued shifts in organizational priorities and strategic direction, which result in different staffing needs and expertise.

Are the emerging needs and opportunities ones you can and would like to contribute to? Start researching and brainstorming a list of what they will be. We know visitor experience, community engagement, and digital access will play a huge role in the future of museums; what else? Based on what you have identified, are there holes in your experience you can seek to fill with other roles, education and learning opportunities, or volunteer work if you are looking to fill the time between roles?

If you are looking outside of the museum space, pay attention to industries that are likely hiring right now and what your community needs. Social connection and access to resources that maintain everyone’s health and safety are definitely high on the list, and new jobs, companies, and industries will come out of these needs. Just because you leave the museum field doesn’t mean you will never come back. In fact, think about it as an opportunity to expand and diversify your experience and skills for the benefit of your work in museums. We know the museum field is changing, and we have to look outside of our own space for the resources, experience, and skills needed for this change.

If you are exploring roles outside of museums but want to return eventually, continue to stay connected to the field, to understand its developments and determine how your new skills will add value. Stay in touch with former colleagues, continue to build your community within the field, engage in industry-specific groups and networking opportunities, and pay attention to industry publications and what your favorite institutions are doing. This continued connection and expanded knowledge will help you discover the best time and point of entry back into museums. Understanding the value in your new skills and experience related to what is happening in the field in that given time will help you develop a compelling story as to why a museum should hire you.

An economic downturn has plenty of challenges, but it doesn’t mean you have to give up on a career path or even put it on hold; it means that your trajectory is likely going to look different than you thought, and that is okay. Careers are not linear, and leave it to a global pandemic to flip your best-laid career plans on their head.

Work on Your Toolkit and Story

All that great value and strength reflection you’ve been doing? Make sure your job search toolkit (résumé, LinkedIn profile, cover letter, portfolio, etc.) reflects it, and then own your story and be prepared to speak to your value in community conversations and interviews.

Update—or overhaul—your resume with your most recent and any missing experience. Do the same for your LinkedIn profile (if you don’t have one, now is a good time to build one). All of your job search documents tell your career story in different formats for potentially different audiences, but they should still tell a consistent story.

You want to show your experience and value. With your résumé or in an interview, don’t just tell potential employers you are resilient—prove it, by giving concrete examples with actual outcomes. The STAR technique is a great model to practice (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Engage with Your Community

Community plays an incredibly valuable role in job searches—meaning everyone you engage with in your everyday life, including those specific to your field of work, industry, and past roles. Especially in times of crisis and uncertainty, you should connect with that community, ask questions, and share what you are looking for.

We are all navigating the changes to our industry, and industries around us, in real time, and we bring different experiences and perspectives to understanding them. Talking to the people in your community about what they are seeing can expand your knowledge about what types of roles are available and what makes the most sense for your personal experience, immediate needs, and long-term career goals. Especially during this time, when it makes sense to think broadly about work and your career, engaging with your community outside of the museum field can provide invaluable insight to what exists beyond what you may be familiar with.

We are facing the largest unemployment rate we’ve seen in our lifetimes, which means there are a lot more candidates for fewer roles. Engaging with your community to learn about organizations and roles, and asking for referrals, is also an important tool to break through what can feel like a résumé black hole.

If there is something you are interested in but don’t have someone in your community who can directly speak to or support that interest, it is time to grow your community. Don’t hesitate to ask connectors (people in your community who seem to always know someone) to introduce you to someone who can help you. You can also grow your community by joining groups; attending virtual events, workshops, or conferences; or reaching out to someone directly through LinkedIn.

What has become abundantly clear through this pandemic is how powerful and important community is to our well-being. People are seeking new ways to connect and nurture their community, and it’s been heartening to see people be even more open to supporting others’ careers and development during this time. While it can be difficult to reach out to someone you don’t know to ask for insight about their work, organization, and overall career, ask yourself: if someone reached out to you with the same ask, what would you say?

Navigating a job search and/or career transition right now can feel big and daunting. But there is a way to find focus and support amid all the challenges. Start with what you know—yourself—to identify what you need and what you want, embrace the uncertainty and unknown of following those needs, lead with curiosity and an open mind, and lean in to community for connection and support.

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Reposted from Bloomberg Law

This year, a new piece of art made history at a dizzying price—a $69.3 million piece by Beeple called Everydays: The First 5000 Days. But, the price alone wasn’t what was shocking. The sale made headlines because it is a purely digital work of art that can never be touched, held, or hung on a wall.

The sale not only shook up the art world, launching the beginning of a new era of the art trade, but also made waves in the financial sector, as banking institutions took note of an increasingly popular method to move funds—non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The Perfect Place for Fraud and Money Laundering

NFTs are digital assets that act as non-replaceable rights to real-world assets. They operate on the blockchain and are nontransferable, meaning when someone purchases a piece of digital art (or any other asset), the original will belong to them and no one else, even if others have identical copies.

As assets, NFTs can be incredibly valuable. They also present a new set of challenges for identifying and preventing fraud and money laundering. The art trade historically has been susceptible to criminality due to issues of anonymity, high-valued transactions, and limited global regulations.

Now, as NFTs continue to grow, the sale of digital art presents even more challenges than traditional art sales, and is an enticing place for criminals to operate. The value of a piece of art is already highly flexible, rising and falling in value as artists rise and fall in importance and influence. Still, there’s an established set of rules and insights used to value such pieces—era, materials used, condition upon sale, rarity and proper documentation, to name a few.

Digital art, on the other hand, is both newer and even more subjective in its pricing as collectors and financiers struggle with a new set of questions surrounding how much an artwork can be worth if it can never be physically viewed or stored. This creates a perfect landscape for criminality, as dealers and sellers can determine the value of a piece of work with little historical context to compare prices.

It’s an excellent cover to launder money, adding even more secrecy to an already challenging market where locations, identities, and source of funds are often kept private.

New But Familiar Crimes

As the art world works at speed to enter this new era of NFT transactions, financial institutions are facing a new set of issues. There are arguments over whether NFTs should be seen as a piece of art or security asset, which triggers extra regulations and legal complications.

For some time, government organizations have been increasing regulation of cryptocurrency, virtual asset service providers, and non-banking finance companies, but financial crime risks within the space are moving much more quickly than government regulations can be implemented. As NFTS are gaining traction with consumers, private institutions and government bodies are struggling to identify what NFTs even are and how to handle them. This in turn leaves potential opportunities open for criminals to quickly infiltrate the market.

While institutions may find themselves overwhelmed trying to navigate new methods for fraud and money laundering, the fundamentals remain the same. Institutions undoubtedly need to develop and uplift their on-boarding, monitoring, and surveillance systems to confront these risks, but the principles of the crimes remain the same—laundering money through the art trade.

To truly manage risk, including fraud and money laundering, financial institutions, particularly those offering wealth management and private banking to an international high net-worth client base, will need to gain a deeper understanding of the source of their clients’ wealth and funding, including the role of digital assets within their portfolios. 

Similarly, NFT platforms will also likely see increasing focus on their legal know your customer/anti-money laundering obligations to help them understand their client base and report on the risks they present.

It’s therefore vital to use a holistic and contextual approach to understand this emerging risk type, and its inherent risks. Using entity resolution technology, financial institutions can consolidate data from across the institution and enrich it with external data, such as adverse media, watch lists, and corporate registry data, to help obtain a complete customer and counterparty view.

With network analytics, financial institutions can then build an understanding of the customer’s network to visualize behaviors and relationships that may elucidate money flows and suspicious connections.

In an industry that’s designed to be discrete, it’s up to financial institutions and those involved in the art trade to conduct their own internal risk management. Financial institutions must prioritize regulatory compliance and adherence to international law in their clients’ art transactions, whether they’re trading a surrealist painting or a tokenized gif.

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Reposted from Campus Safety Magazine

Complying with the Clery Act is a complicated and high-stakes task. Add an unprecedented global pandemic into the mix and many of those charged with compiling Annual Security Reports (ASRs) are more overwhelmed than ever.

Due to the pandemic and the plethora of challenges that have come with it, last year’s deadline for submitting ASRs was extended from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Additionally, on March 8, President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. Department of Education to review the Trump administration’s changes to Title IX that significantly revised how K-12 schools and institutions of higher education handle sexual assault complaints.

Since sexual assault is considered a Clery crime, a review of Title IX and subsequent changes that are likely to come based on previous comments by President Biden will also likely affect how ASRs are compiled, what constitutes a Clery crime and how they are investigated. 

Although the process of changing Title IX regulations could take years since Trump’s modifications were instituted through a formal rulemaking process, it can’t hurt to test your Clery knowledge with this scenario quiz.

Each scenario in this quiz was pulled from the 2016 Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting. Take a look around the handbook and you’ll find dozens of other scenarios and how — or even if — they should be counted as Clery crimes in an ASR.

The handbook also includes in-depth definitions of all crimes that fall under the Cley Act. Here’s an abbreviated list of some of those definitions.

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The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, operator of Monticello, located in Charlottesville, VA, seeks an accomplished leader for the position of Director, Safety and Security. This position reports to the Vice President of Guest Experiences and serves as the Foundation's expert on security, safety, emergency response, and disaster preparedness. The Director of Safety and Security has executive oversight and leads the Foundation's Safety and Security program that ensures the safety of staff and guests as well as the protection of TJF property and collections. The Director of Safety and Security is the Foundation's primary point of contact with all local, state and federal security, law enforcement and emergency response organizations. Monticello routinely hosts high level dignitaries and special guests. Specific responsibilities include directing and coordinating the administration and operation of a 24/7 safety and security department; establishing policies and procedures; designing and implementing training programs; creating and managing department budget; advising the safety committee; and working with all departments to ensure a safe environment. A working knowledge of OSHA requirements as well as a sophisticated understanding of automated security, video surveillance, and fire systems is essential. Successful applicants will display diplomacy and possess high-level collaboration and negotiation skills. Candidates must have excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work in a unique nonprofit culture. They must also demonstrate a high level of computer literacy.

Qualifications: Bachelors' degree (or professional development equivalent) in a relevant field and at least 10 years progressive experience, including supervisory experience in a fast-paced safety and security or emergency services environment with external and internal customers. Candidates must possess a National Security Professional Certification (or ability to obtain within 6 months of being hired) such as CIPM, CPP, CFE, PSP or similar. Additional qualifications include excellent report writing and investigation skills; excellent written and verbal communication skills; superior customer service skills; ability to maintain calm demeanor and perform duties under stressful conditions; ability to walk, stand, sit and work outdoors for significant periods of time; ability to work any shift, weekends, and holidays. Candidates must successfully pass an extensive background screening which will include criminal record checks and pre-employment drug screening. DCJS (armed) certification is preferred, direct experience in supervising an armed guard force, and a valid driver's license is required. This is a full-time position that includes our complete benefit package. Applicants for this position should not complete our online application, but instead submit salary requirements along with their other application materials, including a cover letter to: steve@layneconsultants.com, rob@layneconsultants.com and pmroczkiewicz@monticello.org.

Position is open until filled.

Reposted from AAM

As we work to increase diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility among museum audiences and in the workplace, we need to attend to the needs of neurodiverse visitors and employees. In this post from 2019, Claire Madge, founder of the UK-based Autism in Museums, gives an overview of what museums can do, should do, and are doing, to support visitors and staff on the autism spectrum.

–Elizabeth Merritt, VP Strategic Foresight and Founding Director, Center for the Future of Museums.

In 2012 I had just quit my job as a librarian to support my 7-year-old daughter after her autistic spectrum disorder diagnosis. We visited an event called Early Birds at the Science Museum. The museum opened up early at 8:00 a.m.; they kept the numbers low and provided visual support for visitors. Staff were trained in autism awareness and they had thought about the museum environment. For example, they turned off loud interactives and the hand dryers in the restrooms.

This was the first time we had visited the museum as a family; I have three children and two are on the autism spectrum. We had a fantastic day out, something many families take for granted. I wrote a blog post about that day which has now been read over 5,000 times. The response to that post made me realize how many families need events like Early Birds and how many museum professionals need support and advice to put on programs that support autistic visitors.

To help meet that need, I founded Autism in Museums, supporting, encouraging and working with museums to welcome autistic visitors to their spaces.

Autism is a spectrum condition and the barriers that visitors face to accessing museums can vary and be difficult to predict. Crowded busy environments can be a challenge, as can overly bright or dark galleries, loud interactives, or audio that is triggered without warning. Wayfinding in museums can be a daunting prospect for autistic visitors, and the unwritten museum rules about what you can and can’t touch can be difficult to interpret for visitors who have a very literal interpretation of language.

Being accessible is about much more than the physical environment. Around 70% of autistic children are in mainstream school and 44-52% of autistic people have learning difficulties. Thinking about displays and interpretation is as important as designing accessible lifts and ramps.

There are huge benefits to museums in welcoming autistic visitors who often prove to be incredibly loyal, regularly returning as routine is often very important to them. Many autistic people have an intense focus on a particular topic or special interest, which means they are a real asset as volunteers and staff members. This focus was recently picked up in an article where a 10-year-old boy spotted an error in signage at the Natural History Museum.

In the UK, several museums are taking a targeted approach to supporting autistic visitors. Some of the larger museums run early opening events which allow them to restrict the numbers of visitors. The Science Museum has been running a successful Early Birds program for many years and the Natural History Museum Dawnosaurs consistently books out its early opening events.

Many museums, including the National Army Museum and Horniman Museum, are trialing this approach for the first time and invested funding in training staff and providing sensory backpacks to support visitors. Some museums have promoted their quieter visiting times. National Museums Liverpool run events in regular hours across a number of their museums during Sunday mornings when visitor numbers are generally lower.

There is much museums can do even without early opening including. For example, providing materials that allow autistic visitors to prepare in advance for a visit, which helps to remove anxiety over visiting new places. The Museum of English Rural Life has worked in collaboration with local autism groups to provide a visual story and sensory map of their galleries. On their website they also have a Google Streetview tour. (You can find out more about how that was put together here.)

Focusing on your website is a great first place to start, as many visitors with additional needs will research thoroughly before a visit. The Euan’s Guide Access Survey 2017 found that 95% of respondents sought disabled access information about a venue prior to visiting for the first time, and 85% stated that they checked the venue’s website to achieve this. The State of Museum Access Report 2018 produced by VocalEyes with contributions from Autism in Museums looked in detail at the access information provided for a number of different groups and gives advice and tips of the types of information to consider.

Although museums are making great advances in serving autistic visitors, there are still gaps in provision, particularly for young adults and adults on the autism spectrum. The Science Museum recently ran a Night Owls sensory late night for visitors aged 16+, but there is very little out there for the older age range. Autism doesn’t just affect children, and often on leaving school there is little support for transition into work and further education for autistic young people and adults.

Museums that undertake autism training find it not only creates an inclusive environment that benefits visitors, but it also improves the working environment for volunteers and staff. Figures from the National Autistic Society on autistic people in the workplace are depressing: only 16% of autistic adults work full-time compared to 47% of disabled people. This is despite the fact that 77% want to work.

National Museums Liverpool, who were recently voted the number one most accessible visitor attraction in the UK by Revitalise, have been working with supported internships providing access to meaningful paid work placements across their departments for young people aged 16-24 with additional needs.

These initiatives benefit everyone in the workplace by improving working practices for all staff. That is the salient point about all these initiatives: they benefit everyone, staff and visitors alike. Improving the information presented on your website and creating visual stories can support those with learning difficulties and dementia. Training and awareness for staff often impact life outside the work environment and benefit society as a whole.

To find out more about Autism in Museums please visit our website where you can find some resources, blogs and events calendar. You can follow our work on Twitter @AutisminMuseums and on Instagram @AutisminMuseums

If you would like to get in touch, need advice or want to share your autism initiatives via the blog you can email me Claire Madge – info@autisminmuseums.com

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Reposted from Public Libraries Online

In 2020 the Public Library Association (PLA) and the American Library Association (ALA) conducted two surveys about the impact of COVID-19 on libraries. Following on from that, PLA’s “Survey of the Public Library Field” in February 2021 asked library staff about the impact of the pandemic on them as individuals. The survey received 2,967 responses. This post – and two to follow – presents the results of these survey questions and suggestions for how library leaders can make improvements to better support staff now and in future.

Challenges

Library staff have faced a range of challenges in their work during the pandemic. As circumstances have changed and library buildings have closed and re-opened, 22 percent of survey respondents reported having reduced work hours, while the same percentage reported increased work hours; the two are not mutually exclusive. However, the numbers mask underlying differences based on roles within the library. Administrators were more likely to report increased work hours, while non-administrators were more likely to report reductions to their hours. 

Overall, 9 percent of respondents reported having been furloughed and 4 percent laid off. Eleven percent have taken family or sick leave. Eight percent have changed jobs, such as moving to another municipal department, and 35 percent have had their roles change within the library.

By far the most common experience respondents chose was burnout (57 percent). Exhaustion, depersonalization or negative attitudes to work, and reduced effectiveness at work all characterize burnout, which results from “chronic workplace stress.” According to a report from Gallup, the factors most likely to correlate with burnout are unfair treatment, an unmanageable workload, unclear communication, lack of manager support, and unreasonable time pressures. In North American public libraries specifically, LIS researcher Kaetrena Davis Kendrick has found that common stressors include overwork, budget or financial challenges, problems with coworkers or management, and job precarity, among others. These contribute to burnout and to low morale more broadly.

The pandemic has exacerbated many of the factors that can lead to burnout. Health and safety concerns add stress, while social distancing has taken away some of the fun and the support systems. Increased workloads or cuts in hours and pay have added both mental and financial pressures. Those in leadership positions reported added stress from bearing the responsibility of staff and patron well-being, while dealing with the unknowns and uncertainties of the past year. One respondent wrote, “It’s been an incredibly challenging year and I am weary of making hard decisions.”  

Libraries – like other workplaces – can implement policies and practices to mitigate the causes of burnout. A few common suggestions emerge from the research: listen to employees, value their opinions, and make changes based on their input; ensure workloads are reasonable; give staff flexibility and control over their work; recognize good work; and support employees to do meaningful work. While it is important for individuals to engage in self-care for their own well-being, that alone is insufficient. Improving policies can help all staff, including leadership, to thrive. 

Supporting Staff

Another survey question asked how well current library policies support staff in six key areas: health and safety protocols for COVID-19; limited public access to the library for staff and patron safety; remote work; staggered shifts or increased distancing at staff work spaces; staff access to family or sick leave; and caregiver accommodations. Respondents could select inadequate support, acceptable support, or exceptional support. 

The majority of respondents (eighty-seven percent) said their library’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols are either adequate or exceptional, while eleven percent said their library’s protocols are inadequate. Worst rated was remote work, with nineteen percent of respondents saying support is inadequate.

Libraries depend on people. For all staff to be the best they can be, they need support. What characterizes “inadequate” or “exceptional” support? And how can library leaders move to ensure that staff are exceptionally well supported? 

The remainder of this article focuses on COVID-19-related protocols. Part 2 will focus on remote work, and part 3 will focus on access to family and sick leave and accommodations for parents and caregivers.

Health and Safety Policies

When it comes to health and safety, the best policies are the ones put into practice. Libraries need to not only establish policies that follow public health guidance to keep staff and patrons safe (as most have done), but they need to have mechanisms to communicate and enforce of those policies. Sometimes the library has the authority to set and enforce policies; in other instances, they are subject to mandates at the city, county, or state level, which themselves may not align with the best public health guidance. 

This principle applies to interactions with the public as well as minimizing contact between staff working in the library. Many survey respondents reported limiting the number of staff in the building at a time, installing plexiglass shields between workstations, and ensuring masking and social distancing. The most creative solution reflected in the survey comments involved putting all staff into two or three small groups or cohorts. Each cohort works in the building for a few days at a time, and they do so in rotations, never coming into contact with other staff from outside their group. In the event of a COVID case, this would minimize the number of staff exposed. 

From the survey comments, it is clear that staff feel scared and frustrated when policies and practices (or lack thereof) may needlessly expose them to the virus. The reverse is also true: respondents who said their libraries provide exceptional support felt all staff had a trusted role in decision-making and the resulting practices help both library staff and the community stay safe. While acknowledging the many challenges, respondents used words like “supportive,” “caring,” “flexible,” “accommodating,” and “proactive” to describe exceptional policies and practices in response to the pandemic. 

Those terms should also apply to plans to resume regular services. With vaccinations increasing, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully soon libraries once again can welcome everyone, all the time, to browse, gather, and learn. It will take time to adjust. When it comes to supporting library workers – and thereby supporting libraries and each other – let’s ensure that we learn from the experiences of the past year and carry those lessons forward.

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