NPQ has for some time been following trends that reflect a lack of diversity in US art museums, as well as the many initiatives being developed by individual institutions and funders to reconfigure the museum landscape. These efforts include diversifying the artists represented, diversifying the executives and curators who oversee collections and exhibitions, and even diversifying the trustees who serve on the boards of nonprofits arts groups.
For far too long, this has been a game of catch-up for the museum sector. And while no one program or funding organization can undo centuries of exclusion, the Atlanta-based Souls Grown Deep Foundation is taking giant steps to correct for a still-pervasive lack of Black American artists in US museums. The foundation recently announced it will help five museums to acquire paintings, sculptures, and works on paper by “self-taught African American artists of the South,” as reported in the New York Times. Read more at nonprofitquarterly.org