National Examples
Below we present inclusive programming from nine different kinds of museums located across the United States. The focus of these museums include natural history, fine art, American Latinos, American art, LGBTQ+, science, local history, and Jewish culture.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
“Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery” at The Met is a pioneering Native American exhibition, curated by Pueblo voices. It showcases over a hundred historical and contemporary clay works, emphasizing Pueblo pottery as communal knowledge and personal experience. It highlights pottery’s visual languages and intergenerational narratives.
Curated by the Pueblo Pottery Collective—comprising sixty members from diverse backgrounds representing twenty-one source communities—the collection is drawn from the Indian Arts Research Center (SAR) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Vilcek Foundation in New York City.
View of the staircase and entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the evening.
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Called to action by the murder of George Floyd, The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County launched a work group focused on implementing IDEA strategies and programs reflected in their strategic plan. The workgroup was formed in the fall of 2020 and brought together staff members from across disciplines and departments to direct the museum’s implementation of programming that was reflective of the needs of the residents of Los Angeles County.
Some examples of the programming implemented as a result of this work include multilingual virtual exhibits and museum tours, languages including Korean, Spanish, and ASL. Being Los Angeles is an exhibit dedicated to showcasing the diversity of Los Angeles residents, historically and present. The Ofrenda Community Project, a partnership with WriteGirl (a creative writing and mentorship program) this partnership sought to bring community perspectives into the museum. The young writers wrote reflections and created objects in the Being Los Angeles exhibit; these reflections are also featured on the museum’s website.
Internal view of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County including an exhibit of the skeletons of a t-rex and a triceratops.
Boston Museum of Fine Art (MFA)
The Boston Museum of Fine Art was called to action after a middle school field trip 2019 brought the museum to national attention after several students of color were harassed by museum staff and fellow museum goers. In response the museum issued a public apology and committed to DEIA trainings for all museum customer facing staff, made a commitment to become a place where all visitors have a sense of belonging additionally the museum committed $500,000 to launch diversity initiatives, including internships for students of color.
Since this initial call to action the MFA launched a IDEA task force, from this taskforce four employee resource groups for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Parents and Caregivers, and Disability employees, appointed a senior director of inclusion and belonging and appointed a new Chief of learning and community engagement. In addition to their internal DEIA initiatives the museum created programs dedicated to Boston youth these programs include paid internships in curatorial practice, STEM and a teen arts council program.
Entrance to the Boston Museum of Fine Art building with a copper statue of “Appeal to the Great Spirit” (1909) in the foreground.
National Museum of the American Latino
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino is a culturally specific museum dedicated to telling and interpreting the stories of American Latinos. In addition to the museum, the museum has become an example of best practices regarding implementing universal design principles in an effort to make their programs inclusive and accessible for the public. Some aspects of accessibility the museum has implemented include multilingual labels, QR codes throughout the museum that provide visual descriptions of objects in the museum, a clear access path cane detectable edges, quiet hours for reduced sensory stimulation, accessible seating at various levels, and tactile multi-sensory elements throughout the museum.
Illustration of the internal view of the National Museum of the American Latino in the Smithsonian.
Crystal Bridge Museum of American Art
The Crystal Bridge Museum of American Art is a community-centered museum located in Bentonville, Arkansas. As a community-centered museum, community engagement is a key aspect of the museum’s mission. The museum delivers on this commitment through four focus areas:
- Accessible Programming: the museum has committed to accessible programming. This includes full wheelchair accessibility throughout the museum, downloadable visual description guides for low vision and blind visitors, EnChroma colorblind glasses available in various sizes, and downloadable museum guides.
- Community Partnerships: The museum offers resources to community partners, including kits, expert lectures and consulting and collaboration opportunities.
- Art in Communities: the aim of the museum’s art is Communities program is to bring the museum’s resources to people where they are. These efforts include workshops at local parks and community centers, art kits, neighborhood festivals, and public art installations.
- Art and Social impact: To deliver on the museum’s commitment to social impact the museum works to create collaborative partnerships with social service agencies and local artists through its Arts and Social Impact Accelerator Program.
View of the Crystal Bridge Museum of American Art, surrounded by White River in Bentonville, Arkansas.
The American LGBTQ+ Museum
The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Located in New York City, is a museum dedicated to preserving, investigating, and, telling the diverse histories of American LGBTQ+ communities as a culturally specific museum. The museum is still in formation but has worked has created has been conceived with inclusive practice in mind. The museum’s values emphasize justice, inclusivity, and collaboration. Throughout the planning process, the museum consulted nearly 3,000 LGBTQ+ community members and engaged over 150 LGBTQ research and policy leaders and 18 historians and academics.
To date, Museum programming has included virtual and in-person panel discussions that investigate historic LQBTQ+ civil rights movements from across the country, in-person special events like the Talking Statues: Bringing the Stonewall Uprising to Life, and a celebration of (Genders & Sexualities Alliances) in colleges and universities. These programs represent the museum’s commitment to showcasing the diversity of perspectives that have fought and informed the fight for equity for LGBTQ communities across the nation.
Line drawing plan of the American LGBTQ Museum before it was fully open to the public, including plans for galleries, classrooms, meeting rooms, and library stacks.
Children’s Museum of Houston
In 2018 the Children’s Museum of Houston became a certified Autism center; this certification is awarded by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards and given out to institutions whose work in creating sensory-sensitive programming goes beyond autism friendly This certification represents ongoing training of staff members and a formal certification process. The museum’s Autism specific programming includes Sensory Friendly and Explore Abilities Day’s these special programming days are closed to the public and offer a variety of special activities.
Detailed view of the sign above the colorful and adorned entrance to the Children’s Museum of Houston.
Chicago History Museum
As a museum dedicated to the history, stories, and perspectives of Chicago residents, the Chicago History Museum has committed itself to DEI practices and sharing the authority in the storytelling of the city. Three years ago, the museum created an anti-racism coalition to assess staff and patrons’ needs and create workplace policies and programming reflective of the diversity of Chicago residents. Some programs that highlight this commitment to DEI work include Out at CHM, a committee dedicated to telling the stories of and creating programs for Chicago’s LGBTQ community. The Studs Terkel Center for Oral History collaborates with community partners to locate and document the diverse perspectives of Chicago residents through oral histories and storytelling. Additionally, the museum has recognized that language matters when cataloging and collecting records and views of communities; it has been working on updating the language used in cataloging its collections.
Outside view of the rounded, glass side of the Chicago History Museum, just right of the museum entrance.
The Jewish Museum
The Jewish Museum of New York strives to create inclusive programming for its visitors. Besides being a culturally specific museum dedicated to preserving and exhibiting Jewish art to a global audience, the museum has created several programs for patrons with disabilities. These programs include ASL interpreters for visitors who are deaf; an interpreter is available by request for all public programming. The museum also offers a visual description tour for community members who are blind or have visual impairments, art-making workshops for adults and children with developmental and learning disabilities, and memory workshops for adults with dementia.
Detailed line drawing of a street view of the Jewish Museum.
National Examples
Below we present inclusive programming from nine different kinds of museums located across the United States. The focus of these museums include natural history, fine art, American Latinos, American art, LGBTQ+, science, local history, and Jewish culture.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
“Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery” at The Met is a pioneering Native American exhibition, curated by Pueblo voices. It showcases over a hundred historical and contemporary clay works, emphasizing Pueblo pottery as communal knowledge and personal experience. It highlights pottery’s visual languages and intergenerational narratives.
Curated by the Pueblo Pottery Collective—comprising sixty members from diverse backgrounds representing twenty-one source communities—the collection is drawn from the Indian Arts Research Center (SAR) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Vilcek Foundation in New York City.
View of the staircase and entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the evening.
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Called to action by the murder of George Floyd, The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County launched a work group focused on implementing IDEA strategies and programs reflected in their strategic plan. The workgroup was formed in the fall of 2020 and brought together staff members from across disciplines and departments to direct the museum’s implementation of programming that was reflective of the needs of the residents of Los Angeles County.
Some examples of the programming implemented as a result of this work include multilingual virtual exhibits and museum tours, languages including Korean, Spanish, and ASL. Being Los Angeles is an exhibit dedicated to showcasing the diversity of Los Angeles residents, historically and present. The Ofrenda Community Project, a partnership with WriteGirl (a creative writing and mentorship program) this partnership sought to bring community perspectives into the museum. The young writers wrote reflections and created objects in the Being Los Angeles exhibit; these reflections are also featured on the museum’s website.
Internal view of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County including an exhibit of the skeletons of a t-rex and a triceratops.
Boston Museum of Fine Art (MFA)
The Boston Museum of Fine Art was called to action after a middle school field trip 2019 brought the museum to national attention after several students of color were harassed by museum staff and fellow museum goers. In response the museum issued a public apology and committed to DEIA trainings for all museum customer facing staff, made a commitment to become a place where all visitors have a sense of belonging additionally the museum committed $500,000 to launch diversity initiatives, including internships for students of color.
Since this initial call to action the MFA launched a IDEA task force, from this taskforce four employee resource groups for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Parents and Caregivers, and Disability employees, appointed a senior director of inclusion and belonging and appointed a new Chief of learning and community engagement. In addition to their internal DEIA initiatives the museum created programs dedicated to Boston youth these programs include paid internships in curatorial practice, STEM and a teen arts council program.
Entrance to the Boston Museum of Fine Art building with a copper statue of “Appeal to the Great Spirit” (1909) in the foreground.
National Museum of the American Latino
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino is a culturally specific museum dedicated to telling and interpreting the stories of American Latinos. In addition to the museum, the museum has become an example of best practices regarding implementing universal design principles in an effort to make their programs inclusive and accessible for the public. Some aspects of accessibility the museum has implemented include multilingual labels, QR codes throughout the museum that provide visual descriptions of objects in the museum, a clear access path cane detectable edges, quiet hours for reduced sensory stimulation, accessible seating at various levels, and tactile multi-sensory elements throughout the museum.
Illustration of the internal view of the National Museum of the American Latino in the Smithsonian.
Crystal Bridge Museum of American Art
The Crystal Bridge Museum of American Art is a community-centered museum located in Bentonville, Arkansas. As a community-centered museum, community engagement is a key aspect of the museum’s mission. The museum delivers on this commitment through four focus areas:
- Accessible Programming: the museum has committed to accessible programming. This includes full wheelchair accessibility throughout the museum, downloadable visual description guides for low vision and blind visitors, EnChroma colorblind glasses available in various sizes, and downloadable museum guides.
- Community Partnerships: The museum offers resources to community partners, including kits, expert lectures and consulting and collaboration opportunities.
- Art in Communities: the aim of the museum’s art is Communities program is to bring the museum’s resources to people where they are. These efforts include workshops at local parks and community centers, art kits, neighborhood festivals, and public art installations.
- Art and Social impact: To deliver on the museum’s commitment to social impact the museum works to create collaborative partnerships with social service agencies and local artists through its Arts and Social Impact Accelerator Program.
View of the Crystal Bridge Museum of American Art, surrounded by White River in Bentonville, Arkansas.
The American LGBTQ+ Museum
The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Located in New York City, is a museum dedicated to preserving, investigating, and, telling the diverse histories of American LGBTQ+ communities as a culturally specific museum. The museum is still in formation but has worked has created has been conceived with inclusive practice in mind. The museum’s values emphasize justice, inclusivity, and collaboration. Throughout the planning process, the museum consulted nearly 3,000 LGBTQ+ community members and engaged over 150 LGBTQ research and policy leaders and 18 historians and academics.
To date, Museum programming has included virtual and in-person panel discussions that investigate historic LQBTQ+ civil rights movements from across the country, in-person special events like the Talking Statues: Bringing the Stonewall Uprising to Life, and a celebration of (Genders & Sexualities Alliances) in colleges and universities. These programs represent the museum’s commitment to showcasing the diversity of perspectives that have fought and informed the fight for equity for LGBTQ communities across the nation.
Line drawing plan of the American LGBTQ Museum before it was fully open to the public, including plans for galleries, classrooms, meeting rooms, and library stacks.
Children’s Museum of Houston
In 2018 the Children’s Museum of Houston became a certified Autism center; this certification is awarded by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards and given out to institutions whose work in creating sensory-sensitive programming goes beyond autism friendly This certification represents ongoing training of staff members and a formal certification process. The museum’s Autism specific programming includes Sensory Friendly and Explore Abilities Day’s these special programming days are closed to the public and offer a variety of special activities.
Detailed view of the sign above the colorful and adorned entrance to the Children’s Museum of Houston.
Chicago History Museum
As a museum dedicated to the history, stories, and perspectives of Chicago residents, the Chicago History Museum has committed itself to DEI practices and sharing the authority in the storytelling of the city. Three years ago, the museum created an anti-racism coalition to assess staff and patrons’ needs and create workplace policies and programming reflective of the diversity of Chicago residents. Some programs that highlight this commitment to DEI work include Out at CHM, a committee dedicated to telling the stories of and creating programs for Chicago’s LGBTQ community. The Studs Terkel Center for Oral History collaborates with community partners to locate and document the diverse perspectives of Chicago residents through oral histories and storytelling. Additionally, the museum has recognized that language matters when cataloging and collecting records and views of communities; it has been working on updating the language used in cataloging its collections.
Outside view of the rounded, glass side of the Chicago History Museum, just right of the museum entrance.
The Jewish Museum
The Jewish Museum of New York strives to create inclusive programming for its visitors. Besides being a culturally specific museum dedicated to preserving and exhibiting Jewish art to a global audience, the museum has created several programs for patrons with disabilities. These programs include ASL interpreters for visitors who are deaf; an interpreter is available by request for all public programming. The museum also offers a visual description tour for community members who are blind or have visual impairments, art-making workshops for adults and children with developmental and learning disabilities, and memory workshops for adults with dementia.
Detailed line drawing of a street view of the Jewish Museum.