As museums strive to serve broad, ever-diversifying publics, it is no longer possible to deny the ways museums mirror and reinforce racial, cultural, and class inequities of the broader society. Skillful racial and cultural representation in interpretation and programming is not only an intellectual exercise; it is an ethical responsibility that requires fracturing the known through consistent individual and institutional self-reflection and action. This talk focuses on the challenging and often painful internal work toward developing diversity and strategies and actions supporting systemic change in museum representation, interpretation, and ideation.
Swarupa Anila is director of interpretive engagement at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Key issues she pursues in interpretive planning practice include examining whose voices and perspectives are missing in museum interpretation, how to integrate visitor voices to flatten museum and art historical knowledge hierarchies, and how to design museum interpretation that supports dynamic, meaningful visitor engagements with art.