Leading the Work: Embedding Anti-Racism and Decolonisation in Museum Practice

L-R: Ngaire Blankenberg, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art in Washington D.C.; Melanie Keen, Director of the Wellcome Collection in London; Gaylene Gould, author, broadcaster and curator
L-R: Ngaire Blankenberg, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art in Washington D.C.; Melanie Keen, Director of the Wellcome Collection in London; Gaylene Gould, author, broadcaster and curator

1 December 2021

15.00—17.30

Zoom Talk

An online peer-support and discussion forum for leaders in museums and galleries

This final workshop in the Doing the Work series is aimed specifically at those working in leadership roles. As with all the workshops in the series, it will provide an opportunity for participants to engage in confidential discussion (where Chatham House Rules apply) about the approaches they have taken, and the challenges they face, in trying to engage their institutions in anti-racist or decolonial practices. The objective for this workshop is to create a safe space where workable strategies and ideas for new policies can be developed through peer-support, at directorship level.

This closed, online workshop is open to directors and senior management from the CAS membership, as well as directors of other non-collecting institutions in the UK.

To set out some of the challenges, the workshop will begin with a conversation between Ngaire Blankenberg, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art in Washington D.C., and Melanie Keen, Director of the Wellcome Collection in London, moderated by broadcaster and curator Gaylene Gould.

Read speaker biographies

Then, after a short comfort break, participants will be placed in smaller groups for one hour of in-depth, confidential discussion, followed by a brief, concluding conversation with the wider group.

 

Participant preparation

The preceding workshops in the series have focussed on particular areas of museum practice: curation, interventions, documentation, interpretation, collecting and engagement. Reports that synthesise the discussions of each workshop will be published later this year, offering a unique insight into the practical implications faced by those doing this work on the ‘front-line’ with artists, objects and publics. Participants attending this final workshop will be given an executive summary of the reports and invited to reflect on the issues that have been raised across the series, in relation to their own work and experience.

For inquiries or to reserve a place, please email Ilaria Puri Purini at ilaria@contemporaryartsociety.org.

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