Montclair Art Museum completes two-year review of inclusion principles

MONTCLAIR, NJ — In 2022, the Montclair Art Museum, through its Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion Committee, completed a two-year review and presented a final report on MAM’s progress in supporting best-practice DEAI principles in the arts, including: respecting all individuals, nurturing the broadest possible participation and access, assuring freedom of expression, and advancing social justice. 

According to an Aug. 11 press release, MAM is dedicated to reflecting these principles in all of its actions, including its administrative, curatorial, educational and human capital policies, practices and programming; the composition of its staff, leadership, board of trustees, instructors and volunteer corps; and its advocacy and engagement with the community. MAM’s DEAI Report was then adopted by the museum’s board of trustees with key goals for all areas of its operations. 

MAM President Frank Walter thanked the 21 members of the DEAI Committee for their exemplary service and commended their “uncommon leadership in promoting civility, unencumbered opportunity, broad participation and unbridled artistic expression.” 

The initial findings of the DEAI Committee and implementation of the finalized report are not the last steps but a call for more and continued action from MAM and its staff. As a permanent committee of the MAM board, the DEAI Committee will continue to operate, monitoring and holding the museum accountable to continue progress in this area. The Museum has released a dedicated page to the committee on its website at montclairartmuseum.org/commitment-deai. 

“The Montclair Art Museum is deeply committed to supporting and expanding the principles of diversity, equity, accessibility, inclusion and social justice through all of our programs, classes and exhibitions as well as our internal policies,” MAM Executive Director Ira Wagner said. “I am grateful to Michael Heningburg and Sharon Taylor, the co-chairs of MAM’s DEAI Committee, and all the members of our board, staff and the community that put in a significant amount of time to conduct a thorough review of the Museum’s DEAI efforts and commitment to these principles and lay out goals that we must work to achieve. While I am proud of the progress that the museum has made in this area, there is much that remains to be done. Our times require us to redouble our efforts to be a leader for social justice in our community. We are making our work in this area central to the activities of the museum.”

  Montclair Art Museum