Taking Murawski's Lead: 22 Ideas for Change

Jean-Jacques MILAN - Created by Jean-Jacques MILAN, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12728

Wednesday I was sitting in a doctor's waiting room scrolling through email when an announcement for George Washington University's Museums Today popped up. The title was 1,000 Ways to Reshape the Future of Museums with Mike Murawski, author of Museums as Agents of Change. I registered on the spot, which seemed appropriate since one of the things Murawski has encouraged his readers to do is reflect on their own relationship with change. Change is not something I adore, but encouraged by Mike's writings and others, I am trying to live more in the present and not always anticipate the future as its own special brand of disaster.

Promptly at 6 p.m. Murawski appeared on screens around the globe. He opened by asking us to breathe while reflecting on an ancestor, mentor or guide who'd been important to us in our journey. He followed up by reminding us that for him (and for me too) museums are human-centered. I am old enough to remember when that would have been considered a completely wackadoodle thought. The immediate response would have been about the primacy of collections, their importance, and their meaning. A decade or more ago, museum humans' only role was to be the air beneath the wings of the collections they served. A noble cause, but ultimately futile because it is humans--as care givers, people who see, people who love, people who bring their own stories, people who transform things--are the ones who make collections do their work.

As the talk continued Murawski reminded us to be disrupters, to celebrate the questioners among us, and to--where we can-- break down hierarchies within our own institutions. So in that spirit, here are 22 ideas for creating change in 2022. What would you add? What would you delete? Share them here or with Mike.

Consider cross-training both as a way to augment staffs decimated by COVID and by plummeting budgets, and as a way to increase understanding and empathy across your staff.
Prioritize your HR policy: Does it reflect your organization's values? If not, why not? Does it reflect life in 2022?
Put your organizational values front and center. Are they something the staff knows about, talks about, lives and breathes? If not, why not?
If you're among the many museum folk preparing to advocate for the field in front of state or federal legislators, consider letting them know how important the American Families Plan will be to your organization in terms of parents, families and caregivers who make up your staff.
If you've never done a gender equity audit, consider doing one now. Women make up slightly more than half of museum staff nation wide, and the gender pay gap remains a critical and unsolved problem.
Model praise for questioners and creative thinkers.
Always say thank you.
Support your colleagues. Build empathy.
Support going outside. It's 4 degrees where I am, but when it's appropriate, take your meetings on a walk or out-of-doors.
Take a page from Murawski's book and begin a meeting with a breath. Or more than one.
Nurture creativity by looking at time. Are you and your colleagues always rushed? Are you ever encouraged to sit and think? If not, can that change?
Make sure planning meetings include your colleagues across the spectrum so doers, not just deciders, are in the room.
Work to make discussion equitable.
Stand up and advocate when a colleague is bullied or harassed.
Consider how your organizational values connect with your larger community? Does your museum help with issues around citizenship, food insecurity, childcare, or the environment? What would that look like?
What work have you done recognizing historical and implicit biases ingrained in your catalog, in the narratives dominating your collections, and in the presumption of privilege permeating your organization?
How does your museum or heritage site work against neutrality? When was the last time you took a stand?
How is your museum or heritage site working to recenter its whiteness? See also La Tanya Autry's recent article for more questions.
How do new ideas germinate at your museum or heritage site? Is it an easy path or a risky one? Does everyone from security and housekeeping to curators understand how to broach an idea?
Is your staff is safe, and do they know what to do if they're not.
Are your colleagues are seen?
Are they are supported?