Beyond White Walls: Anti-Racist Education in Art Museums

This study examines how an art museum can become more inclusive of different cultural communities and why it is important that they do so. It suggests that public art institutions have a social responsibility towards citizens, including non-dominant communities and that they can play an active role in ending oppression of marginalized groups. Through the lens of critical multiculturalism, intersectionality and social justice theory, this case study closely examines the program and the role of art educators at the New New Yorkers at the Queens Museum in New York. By analyzing this multilingual arts program, designed for immigrants by immigrants and the various cultural communities surrounding the museum, my goal for this study is to assess the practices that propose creative alternatives through community engagement within (and beyond) the museum’s spaces, and apply this knowledge to my future experiences as a museum educator