Episode 2: Grievances

Many museums are resistant to make the necessary changes needed for structural and systemic transformation. Museums hold deep-rooted and entrenched ideas regarding power, wealth, whiteness, patriarchy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity and worker unionization amongst many other issues.
Episode 2 of Readying The Museum features cohort member, host and artist Xaviera Simmons in conversation with cohort members Frederick Janka and Lori Fogarty on the topic of grievances. They discuss how this process of building RTM started in 2020, the work that has taken place within the cohort from different perspectives, and how RTM is a solutions based methodology, culminating place and digestive mechanism for ongoing grievances to be looked at, worked over and metabolized.
You’ll hear an examination of the critical intersection of museum operations, artist and arts worker grievances, and the systemic issues that are exacerbated during times of internal or external crisis. With museums reopening after the Covid-19 pandemic, frontline staff faced increased risks, prompting directors to avoid or attempt to address long standing demands for institutional change. The conversation addresses the layered grievances stemming from structural and labor inequities, alongside white supremacy and racial and wealth hierarchies within institutions. Highlighting the diverse perspective of individuals that make up the museum, Readying The Museum emphasizes the importance of collective work, study and support amongst all layers of the institution to prevent these grievances from becoming overwhelming. The methodology of "Readying The Museum" is introduced as a method to systematically account for and address these grievances.

Shining a light on the complexities and risks involved in articulating demands and grievances within the arts sector, Xaveria, Frederick and Lori underscore the importance of shifting accountability towards marginalized communities and viewing grievances as opportunities for systemic change. They explore the role of traditional and non-traditional arts worker unions and the necessity of working through the methodologies found within RTM to practice fostering trust and resilience through crisis and rupture.. By engaging in undoing whiteness and undoing patriarchy work alongside other important structures of hierarchy, Readying The Museum aims to create a more equitable museum environment for all.
Frederick Janka, a queer Latinx arts advocate based in Santa Barbara, CA, has nearly 20 years of experience in the contemporary art world, including roles in administration, fundraising, and curation across the US and Mexico. As the Hospitality Director for the Readying The Museum (RTM) cohort, he focuses on the wellbeing of participants and stakeholders. With a mixed heritage—his mother identifies as Chicana and his father as Central European—Frederick's journey of understanding his identity has been complex. Raised to navigate power dynamics often skewed by whiteness, he has confronted the impact of micro and macro aggressions throughout his career. His experiences growing up in Southern California and discovering Mexican Modernism have shaped his lifelong commitment to cultural advocacy, solidarity, and healing.
Lori Fogarty, Director of the Oakland Museum of California, has dedicated 35 years to various Bay Area museums. A member of the RTM cohort for nearly three years, Lori is a white, cisgender, heterosexual woman with a background shaped by her politically active working-class parents. Recognizing the advantages her white identity has afforded her in opportunities and DEIA advocacy, Lori has been critically examining the structures of whiteness in museum practices. Through RTM and personal reflection, she confronts her own conditioned fragility and the need for genuine accountability in challenging systemic white supremacy. Lori advocates for leaders to move beyond “white time,” embrace discomfort, and hold themselves accountable to real, transformative change.

In This Episode:

• (00:00) Understanding grievances around power, wealth, and systemic issues of whiteness and patriarchy, the need for transformative change
• (06:00) Note from George Scheer
• (08:00) Setting the scene - why RTM was formed during the pandemic
• (17:45) Museums that take a “neutral” stance while artists make the risky statements
• (24:06) Listening to, responding, and addressing grievances, building trust with the RTM cohort, and maintaining accountability for all aggrieved communities
• (28:19) Courage, accountability, and systemic change in addressing grievances within the arts sector rooted in white supremacy and patriarchy
• (33:52) Unveiling and reading some actual grievances - “You have to name it to tame it”
• (47:17) The role of non-traditional artist u...