The Toledo Museum of Arts (TMA) has launched an inclusive strategy aimed at placing the museum in a position that would benefit all Toledoans.
According to the museum, diversity, equity, access, and inclusion (DEAI) are integral to its strategic plans to ensure that the museum is endeared to all and sundry.
Adam Levine, the Museum’s Edward Drummond, and Florence Scott Libbey Director and CEO said Art museums must be meaningful and accessible experiences for everyone, irrespective of their backgrounds. And this, among other things are what the TMA seeks to achieve through the implementation of the new belonging and inclusive strategy.
“The Toledo Museum of Art’s mission is to integrate art into the lives of people. To have those impactful, art-filled experiences with the Museum, potential visitors need to feel invited in the first place”, Levine noted.
He further assured that the new inclusive plan is a promise that everybody has a place in the Museum.
To ensure the success of this plan, the Museum did not only create a department dedicated to ‘belonging and community engagement’ but they also partnered with a local strategic firm Jayramon LLC to help them achieve their goals through community stakeholder engagements.
It is believed that this belonging plan by the TMA will underscore the Museum’s commitment to an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming culture for all Toledoans. And to achieve this feat, the TMA has already appointed Rhonda Sewell as the inaugural director of belonging and community engagement while Katie Shelley joins the museum as the manager of access initiatives, a position developed in partnership with the Ability Center of Greater Toledo.
Some of the belonging-related initiatives embarked upon by the museum include the decision to equip staff with enhanced resources, training, and continued education around DEAI as well as engaging more women artists and artists of color from contemporary and historical periods. To strengthen the Museum’s ability to tell new stories through arts, the TMA has also embarked on a drive to grow the curatorial team with emphasis on American, European, African, Asian, and Native American arts.
