The MuseumNext 2015 conference is all about inclusion. Everyone is "for" inclusion, but it doesn't happen on its own. How can we fight for the inclusive institutions we believe in? A keynote address delivered by Nina Simon on September 26 at MuseumNext in Indianapolis, IN.

1. Nina Simon @ninaksimon
Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History
FIGHTING FOR
INCLUSION

4. photo by muckster on Flickr

5. WHAT ARE YOU
WILLING TO FIGHT
FOR TO BE MORE
INCLUSIVE?

7. $

8. $what happens
in that building?

9. empowerment

16. social bridging

22. 62,000
17,000 (2011)

23. 62,000

24. 62,000
50,000

25. 62,000
50,000
2,500

27. BUT IT DIDN’T
CHANGE
WITHOUT
A FIGHT.

29. "The museum has become alluring to many
who never partook before. But, at the end of
the day, it is always solid content and
character that endures. That is not elite, that
is just the way it is."
- member

30. “It doesn’t seem appropriate to me that we
would focus on ‘empowering’ people. I don’t
go to a museum to be empowered.”
- trustee, City Council member

38. “I'm closer to the stodgy traditional museum supporter than to
the audiences you are currently trying to reach, but I strongly
support your outreach and attempts to involve new
communities. It is precisely because of that outreach that I
finally became a museum member last year. There was no
reason to do so before, since the museum was doing nothing.
I still have little occasion to go to the museum, but I'm willing
to support it as an important community resource.”
-new member

39. HOW TO FIGHT

40. HOW TO FIGHT

41. HOW TO FIGHT
start small

48. WHAT SMALL
INVITATION YOU
COULD MAKE TO BE
MORE INCLUSIVE?

49. HOW TO FIGHT
start small
arm yourself

52. We can accomplish
XX part of our
mission by doing YY.

62. rururevolution.blogspot.com

68. WHAT WEAPON DO
YOU HAVE AT YOUR
DISPOSAL?

69. start small
arm yourself
make space
HOW TO FIGHT

70. via Beck Tench

78. WHERE COULD YOU
HAVE MORE IMPACT
BY MAKING SPACE
FOR OTHERS?

79. start small
arm yourself
make space
start within
HOW TO FIGHT

80. “You’re making being bilingual a criteria for all
front-line positions? Whoa. You must lose a
lot of good candidates because of that.”

81. "I used to work at the Science Center. If only
the teens would act respectfully and pull up
their pants, the rest of us would be just as
pleased with the program.”

82. “But that’s not professional.”

83. “We’ve always done it that way.”

84. “Isn’t this just a marketing thing?”

85. WHAT’S
YOUR
FIGHT?
OPINIONS/ @NINAKSIMON