Page Index

DEAI + The Role of Museums  •  Sample Diversity + Inclusion Statements 

Readiness Assessments  •  Activate DEAI in Your Institution   •  How to Measure Your Museum's Social Impact

Race + Racial Identity  •  Accessibility + Identity  •  LGBTQIA+ Identity  •  Multilingual Resources

DEAI Reading Material • Webinars 

WMA approaches Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) as a process that must be committed to and regularly reaffirmed. Rather than diversity being a box to be checked, we view D&I as the constant examining and questioning of the makeup of our group to ensure that multiple perspectives are represented, and that there is a sense of inclusion amongst members, staff, and board.

Diversity & Inclusion Statement – Western Museums Association (WMA)

Here, we offer support through the sharing of trusted, valuable, and educational resources to help museums address and reaffirm their commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI), and to develop concrete action plans for moving forward.​

DEAI + the Role of Museums

• What Is DEAI, and How Can Evaluation Be Used to Promote this Work? – American Alliance of Museums (AAM)

• Equity Toolkit – California Association of Museums (CAM)

• Excellence in DEAI Report - AAM (DEAI Task Force)

• Inside Out Outside In: A resilience model for museums offers strategies to address challenging realities. – AAM

• National Landscape Study: DEAI Practices in Museums – CCLI

• Racism, Unrest, and the Role of the Museum Field – AAM Virtual Conference Special Session (Webinar Recording)

• Hammer Curator Erin Christovale on How Museums Can Support Social Justice – Hammer Museum

• Facing Change: Insights from AAM’s DEAI Working Group – AAM

Sample DEAI Statements

• Writing a Diversity and Inclusion Statement: How to Get It Right – U.S. Chamber of Commerce

• Craft the Perfect Diversity Statement for Your Organization – Learning Hub

• Examples of Values Statements with Commitments to Diversity/Inclusiveness – The Denver Foundation

• Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion – AAM

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Museum – American Museum of Natural History

• Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion – Earthjustice

• Welcoming Statement – Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose

• Policy on Diversity – University of California Regents

• Diversity and Inclusion – Kaiser Permanente

• Diversity & Inclusion Statement – IBM 

• Inclusion & Collaboration Statement – CISCO

Activate + Maintain DEAI Within Your Institution

• Community-Based Curation: A Toolkit for Expanding Narratives and Changing Practices - Tucson Museum of Art

• How to Build an Anti-Racist Company – Harvard Business Review

• Equity Action Plan (PDF) – CAM

• Diversity and Inclusion – The Inclusive Historian's Handbook

• How to Start an Accessibility Movement at Your Museum – AAM

• Audiences and Inclusion: A Primer for Cultivating More Inclusive Attitudes Among the Public – AAM

• It Is Time to Include AANHPIs In Museum Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion Efforts – Edward Tepporn for AAM

• Harnessing the Power of Age Diversity – Harvard Business Review

• Five Ways Workplaces Can Become More Neuro-inclusive, According to Neurodiversity Advocates – Your Brain at Work

• Next Practices in Diversity and Inclusion – Association of Art Museum Directors

• 5 Inclusive Workplace Practices For Your Remote Team – We Work Remotely

• Equity in the Workplace: Ways to Support Equity That Go Beyond Salary - British Columbia Museums Association

• Diversity And Inclusion: A Complete Guide For HR Professionals – Ideal

• A Museum Manifesto for a More Equitable Future – AAM

• How Can We Make Volunteer Programs More Inclusive and Accessible? – AAM  

Readiness Assessments

• Museum As Site for Social Action Readiness Assessment – MASS Action

• Racial Equity Readiness Assessment For Workforce Development – Race Forward 

• Tool for Organizational Self-Assessment Related to Racial Equity –  Coalition of Communities of Color + All Hands Raised

How to Measure Your Museum's Social Impact

• Methods for Measuring Social Impact: Measuring Socially Engaged Practice – Museums Association

• How can you measure the social impact of museums and celebrate the successes of programs and initiatives? – MuseumNext

• Museum As Site for Social Action Toolkit – MASS ACTION

• Measuring Social Impact to Make Social Changes: Learn How To Get Involved – AASLH

• Museum Impact Study – Museum Social Impact

• Measuring the Social Impact of Museums – AAM

• Social Impact Study – Utah Division of Arts & Museums

• What is our museum’s social impact? – AAM

• What is our museum’s social impact? –  Article by Medium on the Oakland Museum of California

Race + Identity Resources for the Workplace

• Talking About Race – National Museum of African American History and Culture

• Talking About Race Web Portal – National Museum of African American History and Culture

• Museums, White Privilege, and Diversity: A Systemic Perspective – Museum Commons

• For Museum Leaders Who Want to Do Better – AAM

• How Organizations Can Support the Mental Health of Black Employees – Harvard Business Review

• How To Have Conversations About Race At Work – Forbes

• How Should You Be Talking With Employees About Racism? – Entrepreneur

• Racial Equity Tools – RacialEquityTools.org

• Doing the Work: A Discussion on Visioning and Realizing Racial Equity in Museum – Journal of Museum Education

Accessibility + Identity Resources for the Workplace

• Accessibility Resources for Museum Professionals – Access Smithsonian

• Accessibility Resources – Museum, Arts and Culture Access Consortium

• Accessibility Resources – Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium

• Accessibile Resources for Museums and Libraries - IMLS

• Accessible & Inclusive Museums—How Small Measures Add Up – Eriksen Translations

• Inclusive Digital Interactives: Best Practices & Research – Access Smithsonian, Institute for Human Centered Design, + MuseWeb 

• Virtual Event Accessibility Resources – National Endowment for the Arts

• Web Accessibility Standards – World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) + Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

• 10 Best Practices of Accessible Museum Websites – AAM

• Out of Sight: How Museums Can Harness the Blind Perspective to Enrich Visitor Experiences - AAM

• The Arc of Accessibility Work in Museum Education – Museum Education Roundtable

LGBTQIA+ Identity Resources for the Workplace

• A Transitioning Professional's Guide to: Gender Transition and Transgender Inclusion in the Museum Field - AAM's LGBTQ Alliance

• A Coworker's Guide to: Gender Transition and Transgender Inclusion in the Museum Field - AAM's LGBTQ Alliance

• LGBTQ Resources for Museum Professionals – WMA

• The Queer-Inclusive Museum - Margaret Middleton

• Queering the Museum Project - Queering the Museum

• LGBTQ Alliance Welcome Guidelines for Museums – AAM

• Film: How Museums Can Expand Narratives With LGBTQ Interpretation - MuseumNext

Multilingual Resources for the Workplace

• Engaging Multilingual Audiences Through Translation - AAM

• How Museum Teachers Scaffold Emergent Bilingual Learns' Meaning-Making During Field Trips - Tigert & Kirschbaum (Journal of Museum Education)

• How Translations Can Promote Diversity and Inclusion at Museums – Eriksen Translations

• How Translation Helps Museums Promote Intergenerational Learning – Eriksen Translations

DEAI Reading Material

• Social Justice & Museums Resource List – Initiated and edited by Tanya S. Autry @artstuffmatters

• "Museums as Agents of Change: A Guide to Becomming a Changemaker" by Mike Murawski

• “Activating Diversity and Inclusion: A Blueprint for Museum Educators as Allies and Change Makers” by Wendy Ng, Syrus Marcus Ware, and Alyssa Greenberg

• "Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice" by Geneva Gay

• "Check Your Bias: Resources to Unlearn Implicit Bias" by MSW Online  

Webinars on the Topic of DEAI

• Rethinking Museum Accessibility Strategies - Network of European Museum Organizations 

• Digital Accessibility & Inclusion – Intro Session: Get Inspired – Museum Learning Hub

• Technical Workshop 1: Intro to Digital Accessibility and Inclusion – Museum Learning Hub

• Technical Workshop 2: Live/Streamed Program Accessibility – Museum Learning Hub

• Technical Workshop 3: Accessibility in Digital Collections – Museum Learning Hub

• What's on your mind? DEAI and Creating Real Change – MAAM

• Introduction to Brave Spaces - British Columbia Museums Association

• Publishing: Incorporating DEIA Principles – AAMC Foundation

• Striving Towards an Equitable Future: Addressing Systemic Injustice as a Cultural Organization – Cuseum

• Museums Cannot Be Silent: Whitney Plantation – SEMC

• Lunch & Learn: How XR Experiences in Museums Can Support DEAI – CAM

• Whose Hero? New Perspectives on Monuments in Public Landscapes – ICSC

• Diversity & Community Support in Membership & Visitor Services – Cuseum

Do you have DEAI resources you'd like to add?

Please share with us at communications@westmuse.org.

These resources are subject to change and will be updated as new information becomes available.