More Than ‘Insensitive’: The architecture community responds to the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields’ job post – Archinect

On February 13, 2021, the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields posted a job listing searching for a new director. While their goal was to find potential applicants for hire, what resulted was another glimpse of marginalization within the hiring process. What made this job description so volatile was their search for an individual who would help maintain "the Museum's traditional, core, white audience." I first learned of this news while scrolling through my Twitter feed and seeing a tweet made by long-time Archinector and Archinect Sessions podcast co-host Donna Sink.

Donna provided a screenshot of the listing and followed up with an updated image of the job post with "corrections" made by the museum a few hours after her tweet was posted. Sure, edits were made, but the damage was already done. Seeing a job description like this was disappointing and stomach-turning, to say the least, but does it shock me? Not entirely.

While the level of awareness and intentionality to dismantle white supremacist views and racist acts towards Black, Indigenous, and People of Color has grown, it doesn't erase the reality marginalized communities continue to face. The truth of living and working in spaces where one's own culture and overall existence are diminished, appropriated, and erased is all too common.

I'm a woman of color, and after reading a job description presented in that way I was taken aback. Yet, I was quickly reminded that alleviating centuries of structural and institutionalized racism, especially within spaces like museums, will take a lot more than finding the "right person" to spearhead change and increase diversity. Social media's architecture community continued to expand on Sink's post as they shared their thoughts on the matter.

LA-based designer, educator, and LA Forum Architecture and Design Co-PresidentNina Briggs poignantlyshared in a tweet, "believing that attracting a diverse audience and maintaining a white audience are mutually exclusive, they broadcast both their disbelief it can be done and the palatable unicorn candidate they seek." Transdisciplinary designer, urbanist, and design advocate Justin Garrett Moore added additional context to Newsfield's "core, white art audience." In his tweet, he included a map illustrating the museum's site and its location within an area of Indianapolis with a large Black population.

On February 17, Newfields' president Charles L. Venable announced he is stepping down from his position. While his decision may have also been influenced by the2,000+ calls and direct responses insisting on his removal, the museum released an open letter expressing their apologies and failures.Venable's interview with the New York Timesadded context to his decision and use of the word "white" in the job description.

"The decision to use 'white' in the employment listing had been intentional and explained that it was meant to indicate that the museum would not abandon its existing audience as it moved toward greater diversity, equity and inclusion,"he shared with Sarah Bahr of the Times. Adding, "I deeply regret that the choice of language clearly has not worked out to mirror our overall intention of building our core art audience by welcoming more people in the door. We were trying to be transparent about the fact that anybody who is going to apply for this job really needs to be committed to (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) D.E.I. efforts in all parts of the museum." However, at this point Venable makes me shake my head in dismay. "This is a six-page job description, not a single bullet point, he shared with the Times. We talk a lot about our commitment to diversity in all kinds of ways, from the collections to programming to hiring. I can certainly say that if we were writing this again, with all the feedback weve gotten, we wouldnt write it that way.

His response made me think of architecture and its own employment trends. How does this example of "what not to do" reflect firms who are seeking to hire their "ideal applicant"? Besides finding highly skilled architects and designers, do employers secretly try to hit their D.E.I. checkboxes or do they present a level of transparency to potential applicants?

I gather, like most social blunders that have faced public ridicule, Newfields will continue to make amends. Yet, in the end, their efforts are examples of a community whose obtuse awareness towards providing jobs and spaces that reflect more than a colonizer's view of the world is merely a reflection of how deep racism lies within institutions tasked with recording and preserving history and culture.

To read the full letterNewfields Board of Trustees and Board of Governors shared on February 17, 2021click here.

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More Than 'Insensitive': The architecture community responds to the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields' job post - Archinect