美国国家公共电台 NPR How An Art Museum Is Reaching A More Diverse Audience

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

American museums, their boards, their staffs, the people who visit them are far more white than the American population as a whole. It's a problem that can affect museum's bottom lines, of course. But it also seems to be in direct contradiction with many of these institution's missions to spread knowledge and wonder far and wide.

The High Museum of Art in Atlanta is emerging as an exception.

One example in recent years, the proportion of nonwhite visitors has tripled to 45 percent, which is pretty close to the percentage of people of color in the Atlanta area. Rand Suffolk is the director of the High, and he joins me now from Atlanta to talk about how the museum is changing. Welcome to the program.

RAND SUFFOLK: Thank you. Good morning.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So tell us about the High Museum for those who may not have been.

SUFFOLK: Well, the High Museum is I think one of the finest art museums in the Southeastern United States. It's been around for over 75 years, and it's an extraordinary general fine arts museum.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: When did you realize that the low numbers of minorities visiting your museum was a problem?

SUFFOLK: Well, I think we realized early on that there was a challenge there. You know, Atlanta is an incredibly diverse city, and what we understood was that our audience did not reflect, or our numbers did not reflect the audience that we served. And there's both a missionary¹ and a mercenary component² to this. And the missionary part of it was that we really needed to figure out a way how to do a better job connecting with that audience.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So when you started to do different kinds of outreach, you know, how were you reaching these people that might not have been reached by you before?

SUFFOLK: Our staff got together, and they did a remarkable³ job of saying, you know, what should our voice be as an institution. And they came back and said, you know, we're a Southern institution. We're very proud of that. There should be more Southern hospitality in terms of the way we engage with people.

There should perhaps be more humility⁴ about the way we're talking about ourselves and with individuals that are out there. And ultimately, we came up with a tagline called Here For You that we just want to put it out there that everything that we do is really intended to be audience-focused.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Talk to me a little bit about the things that you're now, that are part of your exhibitions that might not have been before.

SUFFOLK: I think what's changed for us is that we've strived to raise the bar when it comes to the diversity of content that we have. And so over the course of the past calendar year alone, of the 15 major exhibitions that we've done, more than half, in fact, nine have highlighted important work by artists of color, women artists and gay artists.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I understand that the docents, the people who take people around and are the day-to-day public face of the museum have also been diversified⁵. Is that right?

SUFFOLK: That's true.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: But the board and the people who run the museum are still less diverse.

SUFFOLK: They are. But I think, in all fairness, they're working on it. And the High is an ideal situation to try and ultimately become at least one version of a national model of community engagement for the simple fact among others that Atlanta as a city has I think an uncommon⁶ history.

First of all, it's an incredibly diverse city, but it also has an uncommon history of people working together to create something extraordinary. And the board at the High Museum of Art I think is fully⁷ behind these efforts and excited and affirmed by our progress.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What do you think the takeaway is for other institutions? What can they learn?

SUFFOLK: Well, I think every institution has to look at how best they can dovetail their strengths with their community's needs. And I think that defining diversity based on your community is also important, you know. Where we are is very different than Portland, Ore., in terms of how we identify diversity and so forth⁸.

And beyond just the demographics by ethnicity, you know, at the High, we're striving to figure out how do we just make inclusivity as I said a part of who we are. And so for example, we decided⁹ last year to stop doing audio guides. And instead, we took those dollars, and we've invested them to make sure that every single public program we do has an ASL interpreter there.

I think art museums in general have to embrace the fact that we have an incredible opportunity to make a positive immediate¹⁰ impact within our communities.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Rand Suffolk, director of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Thank you so much.

SUFFOLK: Thank you.

1 missionary   

adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士

参考例句：

• She taught in a missionary school for a couple of years.她在一所教会学校教了两年书。
• I hope every member understands the value of missionary work. 我希望教友都了解传教工作的价值。

2 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

3 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

4 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。

5 diversified   

adj.多样化的，多种经营的v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 )；进入新的商业领域

参考例句：

• The college biology department has diversified by adding new courses in biotechnology. 该学院生物系通过增加生物技术方面的新课程而变得多样化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Take grain as the key link, develop a diversified economy and ensure an all-round development. 以粮为纲，多种经营，全面发展。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。