MUSEUMS FOR ALL
culture and music relevant, inclusive and accessible.
“People think we have no transportation, no money, but some people have those things and want to go to museums, but they’re not being invited,” Durrell says. “No one is going to their community centers or their emails to invite them.”
Luciana McClure, a New Havenbased artist and activist, agrees. The cofounder of Nasty Women Connecticut, and a Latinx (the genderneutral term for Latino or Latina), she aims to remove elitism from the local art scene and empower everyone to experience and make art.
“Many museums are interested in being relevant and inclusive, but often they do not know what that means,” McClure says. “It’s more than just reduce prices for us to attend.”
Museum culture targets a primarily white audience, McClure says. Each department needs to consider exhibiting diverse people, and if need be, rearranging these collections to challenge how museums have displayed the works of other cultures.
The advocates also recommended diversifying staff and board members and going into the underrepresented communities to figure out why potential museumgoers stay away.
“We can’t change the past, but we can change the future by how we talk about things,” McClure says. “What we’re trying to bring more people into New Haven and Connecticut?”
For some, it may be that these spaces seem intimidating. Diversifying the artwork on display is one way museums try to attract people with different interests.
“For a really long time, museums have been seen as these bastions of culture — and they are — but to go along with that, there are these imposing buildings and intimidating pieces of art that are not known to people who didn’t grow up around art,” Rafferty says.
Rafferty grew up in a rural town and was was intimidated by museums. Today, she wants to remove this barrier for visitors.
“It’s about exploring all kinds of things, like lowbrow humor, outside art (works by selftaught artists) or fine art,” she says. “Everyone should get the chance to experience all that.”
When people think about contemporary art, many imagine the nonrepresentational painting hanging on the stark white wall of a museum. To fight against this trope, Bayarsaihan says the Aldrich keeps no permanent collection, and instead constantly rotates emerging and midcareer artists from an array of backgrounds.
While contemporary art is perceived as hardtounderstand, it is actually relevant to most observers because these works respond to ongoing conversations.
“You don’t need to know anything about contemporary art to experience it,” she says.
These conversations range from politics to the weather. An upcoming group exhibit at the Aldrich focuses on art that explores weather, including season changes, weathergauging tools and the impact of weather on communities.
“Weather is so important and relevant to everyone,” she says. “If we can talk to a stranger about weather, we can come to an art show and have a meaningful experience.”