That was\u00a0a message\u00a0I heard often\u00a0during my years in the museum world. It could be\u00a0a NATO – No Action, Talk Only –\u00a0environment\u00a0where diversity on all fronts –\u00a0museum staff, artists in the collection, programming – was\u00a0often faux\u00a0aspirational rather than intentional. Ignoring the obvious, many of my colleagues were baffled by the fact that we could not attract more diverse audiences.<\/p>\n
I\u00a0felt a flicker of hope\u00a0when I read the\u00a0New York Times’ Night Out with Jerrod Carmichael<\/em> article about the young, African-American comedian’s\u00a0recent swing through the Whitney Museum of American Art. Though he was not represented in the\u00a0works he saw, his take on the art was refreshing.\u00a0He viewed it on his terms,\u00a0relating to what could have been the un-relatable because\u00a0art that reflects\u00a0who he is and where he’s\u00a0from still seems to be\u00a0missing. Hopefully other people of color, young and old,\u00a0will visit museums\u00a0the way Jerrod Carmichael\u00a0did. Even though they often won’t<\/em>\u00a0find their experience\u00a0represented in a collection they can appreciate what they see by making of it what\u00a0they will.\u00a0If\u00a0museums – who use everyone’s\u00a0tax dollars –\u00a0saw a broader audience,\u00a0would\u00a0they begin to collect and staff for\u00a0a broader audience? If they come, will they build it? It would be interesting\u00a0to find out.<\/p>\n Comedians seem to be the sages of these times (think Jon Stewart, Larry Wilmore and earlier, Dick Gregory and George Carlin)\u00a0so perhaps\u00a0Jerrod Carmichael can use\u00a0his sense and sensibilities to help\u00a0un-pucker the art world a bit. Diversity of color, shape, size, subject,\u00a0perspective, ideas\u00a0and intent are what make the arts wonderful – the audience should also reflect that.<\/p>\n