Convene a DEAI Working Group 

September 2020

Invite Wellesley Human Resources to lead DEI workshop for Davis staff. 

September 2020

Complete MASS Action - Museums as Site for Social Action - Readiness Assessment 

• Entire Davis Staff completes survey.

• DEAI Working Group discusses and begins analysis of responses.

• DEAI Working Group facilitates discussion with the entire staff about the survey responses. 

• DEAI Working Group uses assessment responses and discussions to form the basis of DEAI goals and strategies outlined in this plan.

October 2020-January 2021

Invite all Davis staff members to review position descriptions through a DEAI lens; propose strategies for how their positions can better support diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion goals.

January 2021

Use internal WC resources and web-based resources to assist with ongoing planning.

Summer 2021

Incorporate DEAI priorities into strategic planning. 

Fall 2022

Develop “Davis Museum Working Culture” guidelines, dovetailing with DEAI values and goals

December 2023

Revise Davis Museum mission statement to center DEAI goals

Summer 2024

Develop a DEAI statement and action plan and make it publicly available. 

July 2021

Publish regular updates on DEAI work on the Davis website. 

Monthly

Goal 2: Developing a staff that reflects the diverse communities invested in the Davis and building an equitable, accessible, and inclusive workplace in which staff members from diverse backgrounds can thrive. 

Strategies: 

Implement procedures designed to increase diversity of vendors and contractors.

Spring 2024

Prioritize and promote diversity and equity within/among the student workforce.

Ongoing

Offer DEAI training for the entire staff, including student employees, annually through internal reading & discussion sessions, workshops  and Annual training

Spring 2024

As part of “Davis Museum Working Culture” document, create guidelines for Communication grounded in DEAI principles.

December 2023

Develop a transparent and equitable system for distributing financial support for professional development and training across the Davis staff.

Fiscal Year 2024

Create opportunities for community-building across the Davis staff and cross-departmentally at the College.

Ongoing

Foster opportunities for all Davis staff to mentor students. 

Ongoing

Goal 3: Stewarding, displaying, and interpreting the Davis Museum’s permanent collections in a manner that reflects the staff’s shared commitment to anti-racism, diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion.

Strategies: 

Draft acquisitions strategy that reflects DEAI priorities and makes the acquisitions process transparent.

Track demographics of collections and acquisitions through cataloguing race, gender, sexuality, and other identities. 

Ongoing

Train cross-departmental teams in critical cataloguing practices, and create plans to implement strategies. 

Ongoing

Conduct provenance research on artworks in the collection, with a focus on colonial-era acquisitions. Publish provenance information in the collections database on our website. 

Ongoing

Hire scholarly specialists to consult on the interpretation of artworks in fields not represented on the Davis staff, especially Native American, and Oceanic arts. 

Ongoing 

Plan museum-wide decolonial project to examine stewardship and presentation of permanent collections and invite multiple perspectives on a series of case studies through seminars composed of Wellesley students, staff, and faculty, cultural representatives, and scholarly specialists. 

2024-2027

Revise installations in permanent collections galleries to create more global representation throughout the museum, portray intersecting histories, and challenge canonical eurocentric art histories. 

2024-2027

Revise wall labels in permanent collections galleries through decolonial and anti-racist lens. 

2024-2027

Experiment with interpretative strategies that invite multiple voices into museum galleries and online resources. 

Sept 2020-ongoing

Conduct a “narrative analysis” of the permanent collections galleries - include students, faculty, specialists, general visitors.

Fall 2022

Goal 4: Presenting exhibitions and programs that are welcoming to diverse audiences as spaces where all voices can be heard.

Strategies:

Gather data on representation in temporary exhibitions, teaching objects, and programming to develop strategies to increase diversity in artists exhibited at the Davis. 

Fall 2020 - ongoing

Convene exhibition-specific advisory groups composed of both on- and off- campus partners. 

Fall 2021 - ongoing

Conduct surveys and focus groups with current and potential Davis visitors and partners. 

Fall 2020, Fall 2022. Spring 2024

Offer campus community decolonial theory drop-in reading sessions, and put reading lists, questions, and further related resources on website. 

September 2020 - December 2021

Initiate curricular collaborations with departments that have diverse student representation. 

Ongoing 

Strengthen current and start new partnerships on Wellesley campus, especially with other DEAI groups and student organizations committed to DEAI.

Ongoing 

Restructure and refocus Davis Museum Student Advisory Committee (DMSAC) to be a diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive student group that serves as an advisory group to Davis staff. 

Spring 2022

Build new partnerships with institutions and communities beyond the Wellesley campus.

Ongoing

Convene a special meeting of the National Committee of the Friends of Art for DEAI training and strategizing. 

January 2021

Conduct focus groups within the Friends of Art at the Davis to learn about DEAI-related concerns and perspectives of FOA members

November 2020, ongoing

Increase diversity in Friends of Art, especially the FOA National Committee.

Ongoing

Make DEAI priorities central to FOA activities and programs. FOA National Commitee nominations and planning.

Ongoing 

Assess and revise wayfinding on campus and in the lobby to create a more welcoming approach to the Davis from on and off-campus.

Ongoing