• New York
  • Politics
  • U.S.
    • Education
  • World
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
    • Music
  • Tech
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Travel
    • Food
  • Sports
  • Science
Saturday, May 21, 2022
  • Login
  • Register
NYC Daily Post
  • New York
  • Politics
  • U.S.
    • Education
  • World
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
    • Music
  • Tech
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Travel
    • Food
  • Sports
  • Science
No Result
View All Result
  • New York
  • Politics
  • U.S.
    • Education
  • World
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
    • Music
  • Tech
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Travel
    • Food
  • Sports
  • Science
No Result
View All Result
NYC Daily Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Lifestyle

Chicago museum fires all of its mostly White female, financially well-off docents for lack of diversity: report

by The NYC Daily Post Editorial Staff
October 18, 2021
in Lifestyle
Reading Time: 4min read
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


The Art Institute of Chicago fired all of its trained volunteers and guides last month, who were mostly older White women, to diversify its team. 

“We were surprised, we were disappointed,” Gigi Vaffis, president of the docent council, said in an interview with radio station WBEZ of the firings. “There is an army of very highly skilled docents that are willing and ready and able to continue with arts education.” 

The Art Institute used to have more than 100 docents, 82 of whom were active, until an executive director of learning and engagement, Veronica Stein, sent an email on Sept. 3 firing them all, the Wall Street Journal reported. Docents are trained volunteers who lead tours of museums, and at the Art Institute, they averaged 15 years of unpaid service. 

The firings were apparently sparked by the fact that most of the docent staff was composed of older White, financially well-off women, the outlet reported. Stein said that the museum needed to take a new path “in a way that allows community members of all income levels to participate, responds to issues of class and income equity, and does not require financial flexibility.” 

The fired docents were offered a two-year free pass to the museum as gratitude for their previous service. 

The institute is one of America’s oldest and largest museums, with its docent program launching in 1961 as part of an initiative of the Woman’s Board and the Junior League of Chicago. 

People line up outside the Art institute of Chicago as the museum re-opens on Thursday, July 30, 2020 in Chicago.
People line up outside the Art institute of Chicago as the museum re-opens on Thursday, July 30, 2020 in Chicago.
TNS via Getty Images

The docents sent a letter on Sept. 13  detailing the staff “engaged in eighteen months of twice-a-week training to qualify as a docent, five years of continual research and writing to meet the criteria of 13 museum content areas, and monthly and bi-weekly trainings to further educate ourselves with the materials, processes and cultural context” of the museum’s pieces. 

“It was nearly a full-time job,” Dietrich Klevorn, a docent since 2012, told the Wall Street Journal. “We had to spend a lot of time physically in the museum studying works of art, researching, putting tours together.” 

“We had to be very comprehensive about everything as we talked with them, moving through the space,” she said. Klevorn was the only docent to speak on the record to WSJ, after the museum reportedly requested they not speak to the media. The institute told Fox News later Sunday that “the museum did not ask the docents not to speak to media,” but that the docent council decided to decline further comment to the press. 

The Chicago Tribune’s Editorial Board even hit back at the museum’s decision, calling Stein’s termination letter to the docents as “weaselly.”

“Why not invest some time in recruiting new, diverse docents? Why not grow the corps in such a way that it’s refreshed? Why not help docents who need help with expenses or child care? Why not have a hybrid model, at least until the current docents exit?” the board wrote in its Sept. 27 opinion piece. 

“Instead of trashing volunteerism as inherently elitist, why not avow and attest to its ongoing value as a vital part of necessary diversification and cultural change?”

Robert Levy, chairman of the Art Institute, defended the decision to fire the docents days later in his own op-ed, and said that the plan to do so had been in the works for 12 years.

Visitors walk through the Kenneth and Anne Griffin Court in the Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago on September 17, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois.
Visitors walk through the Kenneth and Anne Griffin Court in the Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago on September 17, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois.
Getty Images

“Critical self-reflection and participatory, recuperative action is required if we are to remain relevant to the changing audiences seeking connection to art,” he wrote.

Klevorn, who is Black, conceded to WSJ that the docent staff was “not a demographically representative population.” Vaffis, however, noted that the staff was a diverse group socioeconomically, and included a fireman and condo manager among the group. 

“Still, the Art Institute hasn’t explained why they had to be jettisoned en masse and not diversified over time. The museum appears to be in the grips of a self-defeating overcorrection. It has adopted the language of diversity, inclusion and equity so completely that it was willing to fire the same upper-middle class volunteers it relies on for charitable donations,” WSJ noted. 

The Art Institute told Fox News in comment on Sunday that they “have not fired anyone.”

“We thought we were being very clear when outlining our plan, but somehow this has been twisted into unfounded accusations of reverse racism resulting in lewd threats against our staff. We’re simply pausing a volunteer educator program and would never want to diminish the contributions they have made. This should not be the roots of a culture war,” a spokesperson for the institute said. 



Published on: Article source

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
Tags: ChicagodiversityJobsLivingmuseums
The NYC Daily Post Editorial Staff

The NYC Daily Post Editorial Staff

Related Posts

Anti-Trans Laws Will Have a Chilling Effect on Medicine

by The NYC Daily Post Editorial Staff
March 31, 2022
0

On this year’s Transgender Day of Visibility, we should be celebrating the accomplishments, honoring the resilience and advocating loudly...

Cartier and Other Richemont Labels Leave Responsible Jewellery Council

by The NYC Daily Post Editorial Staff
March 31, 2022
0

Cartier and other labels of the Richemont group have stepped down from the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) after the...

Understanding aphasia, the condition impacting Bruce Willis’ acting career

by The NYC Daily Post Editorial Staff
March 31, 2022
0

Bruce Willis attends the premiere of "Motherless Brooklyn" during the 57th New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall...

The Best Coffee Makers With Grinders Do It All

by The NYC Daily Post Editorial Staff
March 31, 2022
0

Coffee-brewing technology is at the top of its game, and it’s difficult to keep up with the latest innovations,...

‘The World as 100 People’ gives us 6 great reasons to believe humanity is on the right track

by The NYC Daily Post Editorial Staff
March 30, 2022
0

It’s unfortunate that humans are wired to notice everything bad going on in the world and to ignore the...

This Southeast Asian Artist Uses Iconic Pink Doughnut Boxes as a Canvas for Storytelling

by The NYC Daily Post Editorial Staff
March 31, 2022
0

Artist Phung Huynh tells the story of “doughnut kids” — second-generation Cambodian Americans who grew up in their family’s...

Next Post

4-year-old called ‘superhero’ after miraculously surviving 70-ft fall

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Recommended

The Comedies That Understand What Peak Scammer TV Does Not

2 months ago

King fights back to make last eight

5 months ago

Popular News

  • Tom Cruise insisted ‘driving force’ Val Kilmer appear in ‘Top Gun’ sequel

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The big top is big enough for everyone: New York’s Omnium Circus

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Cambridge University student athletes strip naked for risqué calendar

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Sophia Urista, silent amid scandal, isn’t first rocker to pee on stage

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Erika Jayne and Tom Girardi’s $16M mansion burglarized

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get the latest news from the US and around the world in your inbox.
SUBSCRIBE

Category

  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Music
  • New York
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Tech
  • Travel
  • U.S.
  • World

Site Links

  • Home
  • Meet our leadership
  • Newsletter
  • Submit an Article

The New York City Daily Post

Welcome to the world’s premier daily news platform. We bring you the latest news from the US and around the world right at your fingertips.

  • New York
  • Politics
  • U.S.
  • World
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
  • Tech
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Science

© 2021. The NYC Daily Post. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • New York
  • Politics
  • U.S.
    • Education
  • World
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
    • Music
  • Tech
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Travel
    • Food
  • Sports
  • Science

© 2021. The NYC Daily Post. All rights reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
 

Loading Comments...
 

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    %d bloggers like this: