Museums-Empowered Institutional History Fellow

The MMFA seeks diverse and dynamic applicants for a 12-month (August 2022 - August 2023), part-time (20 hrs/week) position as a Museums Empowered Fellow.

The MMFA has been competitively selected by the Institute of Museums and Library Services as a recipient of their Museums Empowered: Professional Development Opportunities for Museum Staff grant. Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) faces a new era; entering a time when complacency and silence can no longer be tolerated, a time for action in the face of inaction, a time of reflection and growth, and a time of renewed commitment to our community. This is the time to lean into the hard work of confronting our past while striving for the betterment of our community's future. With this ideal at heart, the MMFA has created a comprehensive program to address diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI) within our organization. We call this three-year institutional development program our Towards Inclusivity and Diversity: Learning with and from each other and ourselves initiative.

As a part of this initiative, two Fellowships will be offered in 2022–2023 to candidates from underrepresented communities who endeavor to enter the museum profession. These fellowships will engage participants in all aspects of the MMFA’s DEAI efforts as well as offer them the opportunity for academic research and museum program-planning experience. This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Award Number ME-249627-OMS-21.

As one of two Museums Empowered Fellows, you will develop experience and skills to be a leader in social justice while contributing to aspects that serve the broader community members of Montgomery. Fellows are required to actively participate in peer-to-peer learning and training delivered by the Museum's various facilitators and partners throughout the year.

As a Museums Empowered Fellow, you will have the opportunity to transform your passion for diversity and inclusion work into a career.

Fellowship responsibilities will include:

1. Taking part in the creation of the external DEAI plans, the internal DEAI policies, the DEAI training manual, and crafting community partnerships for the Museum.

2. Each Fellow will conceptualize and lead one public program on a topic related to DEAI and museums and collaborate to create a third program during their tenure.

3. Fellows will be asked to contribute to the creation of DEAI-related articles and presentations.

The central goal of the Institutional History Fellowship is to produce a documented history of the MMFA that focuses on the early history of the institution's desegregation that will contribute to a manual of research methodology that can be utilized by other institutions as they conduct their own DEAI histories. The Fellow will deliver a public talk on the topic and participate in a public program (such as a symposium or panel discussion) which will address the results of the final document/report on the research conducted.

Institutional History Fellowship responsibilities will include:

1. Research on the early history of MMFA and DEAI

a. Search through the Museum’s institutional history archives along with public records for references to diverse audiences and their visitorship in the early years of the Museum’s history, 1930–1940, and incorporate the results into a final report.

b. Search the Museum’s institutional records and public records in order to create a thorough history documenting the desegregation of the Museum’s visitorship/participation, focusing on records from 1959 and 1960,

2. Research on the evolution of the Museum’s Trustees, Board and staff in terms of DEAI

a. Research and document the early history of the desegregation of the Museum Board

b. Research and document the desegregation of the Museum’s Staff

3. Research on the early history of the Museum’s exhibitions and educational programs as they relate to the DEAI initiative

a. Research archived exhibitions files for exhibitions featuring artists who were, at the time, members of underrepresented or marginalized communities.

b. Research the archives and public records and document the earliest history of educational programs directed at underrepresented or marginalized audiences, focusing on the emergence of increased programming in the 1970s

4. Creation of a final report with research guidelines to serve as guidance for other institutions interested in conducting DEAI historical research.

a. Create a literature review that reflects the progress of institutions similar to ours as well as the MMFA during a set time period