We are in service to our communities. We remain steadfast in our commitment to be a place for scholarly study, creative play, reflection, and joy for all audiences. Our continuing efforts to center the voices of our diverse communities guide our work and affirm our identity as Philadelphia’s art museum.
Continuing DEIA Commitment
Authentically engage and collaborate with our communities in the development of exhibitions, education programs, and other initiatives.
Key Accomplishments to Date
- Land Acknowledgment with federally recognized indigenous Lenape communities and related educational workshops for museum staff.
- Elegy: Lament in the 20th Century and its formative work with community advisors to sustain collaborative exhibition and program development.
- Reduced admission for many underrepresented groups such as students, EBT Access Card holders, and families.
- “Art-ish” engagement model in collaboration with the PMA Young Friends highlighting local artists, entertainers, and musicians with a focus on BIPOC representation and audience diversity.
- Chef-in-Residence program, in collaboration with Constellation Culinary Group, which highlights local chefs from underrepresented communities each month to amplify diverse perspectives in culinary art.
- Tell Us visitor surveys that demonstrate areas that need improvement, and help meet visitor expectations and needs.
- External Partnership audit to help the museum build a more complete picture of the work we have done to build relationships in the past and inform our external engagement strategies in the future.
- Community Spotlight initiative to deepen authentic relationships with community organizations, grounded in the core values of the museum’s DEIA Statement of Principles.
- Support for various museum departmental committees to engage diverse stakeholders (e.g., the African American Collections Committee’s Chat and Chew series, and the South Asian Committee’s Storied Stone reception).
- Commencement of a two-year grant-funded initiative supported by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage to develop an audience-driven digital storytelling practice that meets the needs and interests of the local Philadelphia community, especially communities of color.
- PMA Stories Blog, which regularly features commissioned posts by local artists and community members.
Objectives
In-Progress
- Reimagine curatorial practice to incorporate identified community needs and relevant data from historically underrepresented communities into exhibition development.
- Form a cross-departmental Exhibition Working Group to facilitate broader internal contributions to exhibition idea development.
Upcoming/Next Steps
- Align programming goals with DEIA core values and prioritize relevant audience and community data that centers historically underrepresented communities.
- Continue to deepen our relationships with underrepresented stakeholders across Philadelphia to build trustworthiness and encourage community participation in exhibition and program development.
- Create new service opportunities that are responsive to community needs to authentically build presence in Philadelphia neighborhoods.
- Conduct listening sessions and focus groups to solicit community feedback regarding issues facing residents across Philadelphia’s neighborhoods, and incorporate those learnings to enhance the museum experience and organizational citizenship.