Director of the Smithsonians National Museum of African Art

IN WASHINGTON, D.C., the Smithsonian appear Ngaire Blankenberg has joined National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) as director. She started July half dozen. A consultant for museums and heritage sites effectually the earth, Blankenberg has brash clients on some of the about challenging matters cultural institutions are currently navigating—how to address diverseness issues, approach decolonization strategies, find innovative ways to connect cultural resources to new audiences, and become more than engaged in the community and society around them.

Over her three-decade career, Blankenberg has also focused on fundamentals such equally operations, business organisation planning, and public programming and aggressive concept evolution initiatives that include envisioning museums of the future.

Ngaire Blankenberg is the new director of the Smithsonian'south National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. | Courtesy Smithsonian

In statement virtually Blankenberg's appointment, Smithsonian Secretarial assistant Lonnie One thousand. Agglomeration Iii said: "The National Museum of African Art embodies the Smithsonian'due south mission to foster understanding, inspire dialogue and bring people together irrespective of linguistic communication, culture or border. Ngaire's leadership and experience will be invaluable in using the museum's unparalleled collections and scholarship of African Fine art to farther our reach, diversify our audiences and have a more profound bear upon on the nation and globe."

"Ngaire'southward leadership and experience will exist invaluable in using the museum's unparalleled collections and scholarship of African Fine art to further our attain, diversify our audiences and have a more than profound impact on the nation and globe." — Smithsonian Secretarial assistant Lonnie Agglomeration

Blankenberg'southward hiring comes more than than one twelvemonth later the departure of Augustus Casely-Hayford—who was managing director of NMAfA for two years and departed in early 2020—and in the wake of July 2020 complaints voiced past former employees and former board members nigh a culture of racism and racial bias at the museum, they said dates dorsum at least five years.

Deborah Mack began serving as acting director of NMAfA in March 2020. She came from the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Civilisation, where she was the associate director for strategic partnerships. Mack served on the search committee that identified Blankenberg as the next director of the African art museum.

Kevin Gover, Smithsonian Nether Secretary for Museums and Culture, chaired the search committee, which was established in summertime 2020 and enlisted the services of the executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates.

Members of the committee included Melanie Adams, director of the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum; Melissa Chiu, managing director of the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; curator Karen Milbourne and administrative officer Veronica Shaw, both from the NMAfA; Sandra Jackson-Dumont of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles; Harvard University art historian Suzanne Blier; Salah Hassan, professor of African and African Diaspora fine art history and visual culture in Africana studies at Cornell University, where he is besides managing director of the Found for Comparative Modernities; and 3 members of NMAfA'due south informational board.

A Self-DESCRIBED STORYTELLER and strategic cultural consultant, Blankenberg began her career in television set and documentary production before focusing on museums. Born in Winnipeg, she has lived in Canada, New Zealand, Africa, and Europe, nigh recently in Barcelona, Espana.

As a consultant, Blankenberg has an international portfolio advising institutions large and modest. Key clients have included the National Gallery of Canada, Superblue of New York/Miami, Fla., the Museum and Archive of the Constitution at the Hill (Johannesburg), and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

In 2017, she served as the head of content and strategy for Kossmann.dejong, an Amsterdam-based pattern bureau. Previously, Blankenberg was a main consultant at Lord Cultural Resources for eight years (2008–16), and manager of Lord Cultural Resources in Europe (2015-sixteen).

Blankenberg'southward academic background includes a master of arts degree in media and cultural studies from the University of Natal, in Durban, Due south Africa, and a bachelor's degree in journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

"Museums are institutions that acquit a lot of systemic baggage from their colonial origins, only they are vital public spaces to reconsider how nosotros connect and contend with one some other and the planet, and where we can redefine, heal and reconcile," Blankenberg said in a statement.

"The National Museum of African Art sits physically in a city with one of the biggest populations of African peoples in the U.Due south. Digitally information technology reaches far into the diaspora. I am and then grateful for the trust being placed in me to continue to treat, build, translate and share NMAfA's fantastic collection, particularly in this new era of U.S.-African relations."

"Museums are institutions that behave a lot of systemic baggage from their colonial origins, simply they are vital public spaces to reconsider how we connect and fence with one another and the planet, and where nosotros tin can redefine, heal and reconcile." — Incoming Director Ngaire Blankenberg

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., with "Wind Sculpture 7" (2016) by Yinka Shonibare MBE, from the museum's collection, installed in front. | Courtesy Smithsonian

NMAFA WAS Showtime ESTABLISHED in 1964, joined the Smithsonian in 1979, and officially became known as the National Museum of African Art in 1981. In 1983, Sylvia H. Williams (1936-1996), who was Black, was selected as the outset managing director of the museum under the auspices of the Smithsonian. She oversaw the museum'due south transition to the current building on the National Mall, which opened in 1987.

NMAfA is described as "the only national museum in the United states dedicated to the collection, exhibition, conservation and report of the arts of Africa" with "the largest publicly held collection of gimmicky African fine art in the United states of america." The museum'southward drove of about 12,000 objects, includes ancient, traditional, and contemporary art.

In March 2020, NMAfA closed to the public due to COVID-nineteen health and rubber precautions. A few months afterwards, interested parties issued a letter to Agglomeration stating that more than ten onetime and electric current Black employees had experienced "incidents of racial bias, hostile verbal attacks, retaliation, terminations, microaggressions and degrading comments." The correspondence also expressed "outrage" that the "curatorial team has been exclusively White despite demonstrated interest among Black arts professionals and scholars in joining the institution."

The unsigned, two-page letter from "a grouping of concerned former employees and board members" was commencement reported by HuffPost with The New York Times and The Washington Mail following up on the news.

Agglomeration said the situation was of import to him on both a professional and personal level. "What I will do is evaluate this, wait into this, put my own fingerprints on it, sympathise exactly what's gone on and try to get to the bottom of information technology," Bunch told the Times. "There is no room for racism at the Smithsonian. Besides many times, I was the only Blackness person in the room and I desire to make sure that doesn't happen anymore."

"At that place is no room for racism at the Smithsonian. Too many times, I was the only Black person in the room and I want to brand sure that doesn't happen anymore." — Smithsonian Secretarial assistant Lonnie Agglomeration

In the year since the media reports, no findings or resolution regarding the complaints have been publicized. Culture Blazon asked the Smithsonian almost where the allegations stand up—whether a formal investigation had been conducted, the status of the deputy director/chief curator who was the target of some of the concerns raised in the letter of the alphabet, and if the complainants had received a response or report from the Smithsonian

Linda St. Thomas, the Smithsonian's master spokesperson, said in an electronic mail, "Secretary Bunch personally looked into the allegations made by former employees last year, coming together with our Office of Human being Resources and EEO. At that place were no improper personnel actions taken by the previous director. Lonnie expressed his full support for the deputy director Christine Kreamer and she remains in her position."

The allegations span the tenures of Casely-Hayford and Johnnetta B. Cole who served as director of NMAfA, from 2009-2017. In a follow up email, St. Thomas said, "there was no finding of wrongdoing by either director." Both former directors are Black. Kreamer is white.

St. Thomas also said the Smithsonian had responded to the individuals who sent the letter raising the complaints. She added that Bunch "has spoken many times about the importance of diversity both within the Smithsonian and in its public programs and exhibitions" and that the Smithsonian Institution is hiring a caput diversity officer.

Mack, the interim managing director of NMAfA, who is Black, said concluding July that staffing shortfalls deemed for the complaints, not racism.

"A number of these issues are conflated with chronic understaffing," Mack told the Post. The museum had 29 people on staff at the time. She said some employees were doing the piece of work of two and three people. Given this, Mack was looking to fill 14 open up positions, which would also provide an opportunity to address diversity deficits.

"I practise non like the fact that, at present, there are no blackness or African curators. And just being black isn't enough. In this field, we are a complex and multinational people. It'south our obligation to have that representation on staff," Mack said to the Post.

"I practise not like the fact that, at present, there are no black or African curators. And just being black isn't plenty. In this field, we are a complex and multinational people. Information technology's our obligation to have that representation on staff." — Debrah Mack, Then-Acting Manager

Asked whether any of the hiring Mack referenced had occurred, St. Thomas said the museum is currently in the process of hiring five new employees. "In add-on to those 5 positions," she said, "more are being advertised. Past year'due south terminate, [the] African art [museum] should be fully staffed."

The engagement of Blankenberg begins a new chapter at the National Museum of African Art. Culture Type asked the new director via email about her initial plans for the museum and how she intends to navigate her new post. Blankenberg said "issues of anti-racism and equity accept been a focus for my entire career" and she expects to exist held answerable.

Culture TYPE: What are your initial priorities?

NGAIRE BLANKENBERG: Care for visitors and staff afterward this hard period (which is ongoing), diversify staff, decolonize-Africanize-complexify (and figure out what that means in the here and now), build trans-local audiences in D.C. and diaspora—physically and digitally— measure out bear upon, experiment, fail forward, and listen.

Culture Blazon: Last July, one-time employees of NMAfA expressed concerns well-nigh a culture of racism and racial bias at the museum in a letter to Secretarial assistant Lonnie Agglomeration. How practice you lot program to address the concerns, change the culture, and create a more inclusive, responsive, and productive environment at the museum going forward?

NGAIRE BLANKENBERG: This is ever a big concern of course and bug of anti-racism and equity have been a focus for my entire career. My main priority is to (cluster) hire more than BIPOC staff in positions of power (luckily we have several positions about to be posted), ensure Blackness and racialized staff are supported and empowered inside the processes and systems of the museum so we tin can retain talent, and enact trans-departmental projects—all that expert stuff.

I have personally experienced and have tackled similar issues as a consultant, then am not naïve to the systemic racism endemic to our profession and the myriad means they manifest (and are sustained). That being said—the interim director Dr. Deborah Mack has washed a lot of nifty work around workplace culture and processes supported by Secretarial assistant Lonnie Bunch (whose delivery to inclusivity and diversity is axiomatic in the hires and processes put into identify from the beginning of his tenure).

The staff are very dedicated and welcoming to me and my evolving vision, and we will all be working together to welcome new colleagues, identify biases (in people and systems) and create an environment of support and creativity. Please do check back in in six months. I await my communities to concord me answerable.

Afterwards a more than 15-month closure during the pandemic, the National Museum of African Fine art reopened today, July sixteen, with a new leader. Blankenberg is working remotely until September, when she is expected to move to Washington. In the meantime, she said she will exist on hand July 24 at the museum, "to welcome visitors and listen to what their needs are." CT

ON VIEW "I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa" and "Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa'south Arts" are among the exhibitions now on view at the National Museum of African Art

Observe MORE about Ngaire Blankenberg on her website

READ More than In 2016, Blankenberg'due south essay "Making Space, Changing Space: Black People and New Museums" was published in Nka: Periodical of Gimmicky African Art (subscription required)

In celebration of 30 years with the Smithsonian, the National Museum of African Fine art fabricated a video highlighting its history, leadership (Sylvia H. Williams, Roslyn Walker, Sharon F. Patton, Johnetta B. Cole), and collections from 1979 to 2009. | Video by NMAfA

BOOKSHELF
Ngaire Blankenberg is the co-writer, with Gail Dexter Lord, of "Cities, Museums and Soft Power," which was published in 2016. The pair also co-edited the "Manual of Digital Museum Planning" in 2017. Publications documenting the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art'due south exhibitions and collections include "Imperial Benin Art in the Collection of the National Museum of African Art" and "The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory and Hell Revisited by Gimmicky African Artists." Also consider "African Art Reframed: Reflections and Dialogues on Museum Culture," "Emeka Ogboh: Lagos Soundscapes," and "African Artists: From 1882 to At present," forthcoming from Phaidon in October. "Contemporary African Art Since 1980" was co-edited by Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu.

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Source: https://www.culturetype.com/2021/07/16/ngaire-blankenberg-named-director-of-smithsonians-national-museum-of-african-art-my-main-priority-is-to-hire-more-bipoc-staff-in-positions-of-power/