The Chicago Art Institute dismissed eighty plus people because of the color of their skin.

[LAS14]

Last week the Chicago Art Institute dissolved its docent program in the interests of diversity. Most of the news stories I found are behind pay walls, but tblue37 posted an excerpt.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215978572#post1

I posted another thread on this topic yesterday lamenting the possible effects on the 2022 and 2024 elections, given the right wing ongoing effort to highlight "the cancel culture."

But I'm starting this thread because, as I read the replies to the first one, I realized that I have my own reasons for wishing the Art Institute had taken a more measured approach, changing the way they found new people. My reason is what I stated in the Subject of this post.

[tulipsandroses]

1. How about CAI revamps it's program to be more inclusive?

How about CAI opens its training program to diverse population instead of mostly well to do white women?

How about CAI aims to make its training program more representative of the diverse population that Chicago is?

How about CAI creates opportunities for jobs and work experience for the community by turning volunteer positions into paid positions and opportunities for college students to work for college credit?

[LAS14]

15. That would be absolutely great and I can't see it causing a backlash that Trumpers would latch onto.

[Ritabert]

2. An acquaintance of mine who ran a museum

......told me they're trying to get rid of the docent program because they need younger people who are vested in the museum and can bring in younger patrons. They need people who are more up to date on new technology.

[Wingus Dingus]

3. It's disturbing. They could have made an

outreach program to find new volunteers or employees of different backgrounds, while leaving in place most of the docents. An organization from Colorado convinced them to throw away a cadre of passionate and knowledgable guides. Sounds pretty stupid, and yes, reverse-racist. This is the stuff of MAGA dreams. The only good thing is, most people don't care about art, museums, and art museums. Certainly not the MAGA crowd.

[johnp3907]

33. Lonely under the bridge tonight?

[Eko]

4. That was your take from the article? Really?

"So last month the board overseeing the program sent a letter to the museum’s 82 active docents — most of whom were white older women — informing the volunteers that their program was being ended. The letter said that the museum would phase in a new model relying on paid educators and volunteers “in a way that allows community members of all income levels to participate, responds to issues of class and income equity, and does not require financial flexibility to participate.” "
If not all of those let go were one color then that itself makes your argument wrong not to mention the rest of the reasons stated.

[Demovictory9]

7. docent is much like being an intern... those with the time and means to work unpaid

are overrepresented. I worked for a museum.... docent program had no diversity of race. no diversity by gender either. no diversity by age.

[Ms. Toad]

5. Dismissed is generally interpreted in connection as termination from a paid position.

Volunteer programs overwhelmingly favor those who have the means and resources to be able to schedule the time to volunteer and/or have the free time in the first place because they don't need to work more than one job to put food on the table.

This is a conversion from a volunteer program to a paid one, and those who were former volunteers are invited to apply for the paid position. This just opens up the opportunity to people who might have liked to volunteer, but were unable because they lacked the resources to do so.

It has nothing to do with the color of their skin **other** than the fact that those who have more resources than they need to live day-to-day (and have, in the past, been able to volunteer) are overwhelmingly white.

[tulipsandroses]

6. This is a conversion from a volunteer program to a paid one,

This.
The way this is being framed, highlights the power of the right wing to high jack the narrative and turn this into yet another grievance issue.
CAI is not revolutionary in doing this. In recent years, other museums have ended their docent programs or revamped them.

[MichMan]

8. People working full time volunteer all the time not to mention those retired looking to give back.

I would be surprised if they hire very many of the former volunteers. Otherwise, why get rid of them in the first place ?

The letter they sent clearly shows their intentions.

"The letter said that the museum would phase in a new model relying on paid educators and volunteers “in a way that allows community members of all income levels to participate, responds to issues of class and income equity, and does not require financial flexibility to participate.”

The Art Institute is open every weekend on Saturday & Sunday. What is currently preventing anyone regardless of age or income from volunteering? It isn't a full time 40 hr per week volunteer job; people can volunteer as much or little as they desire as their schedule permits

[Ms. Toad]

11. Well - my daughter works the overnight shfit

Because it pays enough money for her to live on, whereas the day shift doesnt.

For her health, she maintains that schedule on her off days. So her day is from 4-5 PM through 7 AM. Not many volunteer opportunities open then. And - to the extent there are - she needs that time (from waking up thorugh 9 PM) to do groceries and other thing because (especially since COVID) there are not many stores open past 10:00.

Many others making minimum wage jobs take a second job on the weekends or evenings to make ends meet.

Their intention is consistent with what many are waking up to - the current volunteer system (which allows for networking, padding of resumes, etc.) is far more accessible to people with resources than to people without. Shifting to paid positions, and carefully evaluating when/if/how to add volunteers back allows them to revap their program in a way that "does not require financial flexibility to participate."

This is a very serious issue that many educational programs are wrestling with - unpaid internships - those with means have a signficant advantage in networking, informal education, etc. over those who cannnot afford to take a summer off to intern in a law firm, engineering firm, etc.

[MichMan]

17. Would your daughter quit her current job to work as a museum guide?

You gave every possible reason why she doesn't volunteer for anything. Her business if she isn't interested, but countless others can find the time to volunteer at libraries, museums, animal shelters, hospitals and nursing homes because they care.

Do you seriously think the older ladies volunteering at the art museum are there to pad their resumes? We aren't talking about college students here.

[Ms. Toad]

18. The older ladies may not be -

But if the positions are opened up so that it does not require financial flexibility to be a volunteer, younger folks with fewer resources could afford to do the work, could network wtih museum patrons, could pad their resumes, etc.

Which is pretty much the entire point. When the positions are volunteer, it excludes those with fewer resources from taking them, including those for whom the positions could provide significant non-financial advantages.

As for my daughter - you asked for an example of who could not volunteer. I gave you one. The volunteer opportunities you mention don't exist during her "day" - and the reason she is on that shift is because it pays a living wage.

[tulipsandroses]

22. Re: The Art institute is open every weekend

Was the training program offered on the weekends? To become docents, these people were trained and received ongoing training.

It seems that there is a misconception that these volunteers came in as experts. The training programs last several months to 2 years depending on the museum.
This backlash further demonstrates the need for diversity and equity in all spaces.

The sense of entitlement is showing. It shows more of this new American me first attitude. I have yet to hear any good arguments besides right wing propaganda, why the docent program in its current form should not end.

This information is from Cincinnati Art Museum

What is a Docent

No previous knowledge of art or art history is required to become a docent. Docent candidates, individuals preparing to become docents, participate in a year-long training course that focuses on strategies for touring various audiences through the Art Museum’s collection as well as general art history. Following successful completion of the course, candidates graduate to docent status

[Wingus Dingus]

10. Let's be real, if the volunteer staff was mostly people of color, we wouldn't

be having a discussion on this news story. They would still be there, doing their thing. The overwhelmingly older white lady volunteer docent program was probably what the outside consulting firm from CO decided was low-hanging fruit in the quest to increase the numbers of minorities involved in the public face of the museum. I mean, they pretty much say this out loud. They can't very well fire the white PAID PROFESSIONAL museum staff for being white, so they went after the volunteers program as their sacrificial lamb in the quest to bring in paid minority staffers and volunteers. Because they weren't ever hired, so no discrimination suits, right?

Offering them paid positions: come on, maybe a handful will be kept on to train their new replacements. I would bet most of them volunteer because volunteering is flexible in schedule compared to paid work. It's also something you do to feel good and a way to share your interests. But it's unrealistic to think they're going to be hired on to keep doing what they were doing already FOR FREE. They still have "the wrong look". They were unceremoniously shown the door because older well-to-do white ladies are not what they want in that role anymore. It's ridiculous to be dishonest about it.

[Ms. Toad]

12. Educate yourself about the disparate impact volunteer opportunities have

on access to education, networking, job resources, etc.

They are terminating a program which (as virtually all volunteer programs do) increase the disparity between the haves and the have nots, in favor of a paid program that will open up opportunities for all, regardless of financial independence.

As for why we are talking about it - we are talking about it because it has been framed as a right wing talking apoint and, as we do far too often, we are falling for it hook, line, and sinker. We are more concerned about what right wing talking points than we are about correcting the discriminatory impact of many existing volunteer programs.

[Wingus Dingus]

13. This is nonsensical. These older ladies aren't stopping anybody from

doing anything. They aren't taking ANYTHING away from anyone else. They train themselves, they do research, they donate their time and energy to the facility and thus to the community. Any suggestion that they were in some sort of unfair position that contributed to the degradation of society--by volunteering their time, their skills, their passion for art, to teach others in the community--has GOT to be one the DUMBEST things I've read on DU.

[Ms. Toad]

16. And how many impoverished individuals working 2 jobs to make ends meet

have the time and resources to train themselves, do that research, let alone have the time during museum hours to volunteer?

These articles discuss volunteering at a different level, but the problems are similar: A disparate impact on poor, largely minority individuals. With volunteer positions come opportunities to network, pad your resume, etc.

https://www.wellandgood.com/problems-with-unpaid-internships/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandonbusteed/2021/05/20/its-time-to-ban-unpaid-internships/?sh=6f9745c2ec8b

And, FWIW, your logic could be used to avoid disrupting the white boys club a the top of most businesses. They got there through their own hard work and ingenuity - how dare you suggest that we ought to take steps to ensure it's not just old white males at the top.

[MichMan]

19. I'm recently retired and volunteer my time occasionally to transport rescue dogs

Because I have adopted a few dogs from the same organization and wanted to give back by transporting them from shelters to fosters and from fosters to adopters.

I'm a retired engineer, so I find your insinuation that I am doing it to pad my resume & for professional networking both laughable and insulting.

[Ms. Toad]

21. I suggested absolutely nothing about you.

Which is exactly the point. You are retired and have time, and likely financial resources.

As a paid position, those with fewer resources and financial flexibility ***i.e. not you*** could afford to take the positions and use the connections for networking and padding their resume.

McDonalds doesn't care about things like transporting rescue dogs - but to move up in the world, things like working a few hours a week such a position matter. Knowing people matters. That is what positions like the one you are filling provide, which many with fewer resources and less financial flexibility do not have the opportunity to fill. In other words, precisely the stated goal of shifting the prgram from volunteer to paid: To make those opportunities available more broadly, including to those who have fewer resources and less financial flexibility.

[MichMan]

23. I guess if the dog rescue groups can't pay people, just let the dogs be euthanized in the shelters

Because someone somewhere can't afford the time to volunteer, no one should be permitted to do it ?

Obviously when I drive an abandoned dog from a shelter to a foster home a couple hours on a Saturday in my 9 year old car, it must be because I am wealthy and have financial flexibility to do so. How dare I !

By the way, I did it before I retired too

[Ms. Toad]

26. If the dog rescue groups have decided they can pay

(as the museum has) paid positions are more equitable than volunteer ones, because they provide a broader opportunity to a more economically diverse population.

I said absolutely nothing about prohibiting volunteer positions, nor did I say anything about you being wealthy.

But as a retired engineer, you obviously had enough resources to obtain a college degree. As a retired engineer you were almost certainly reasonably well paid. Since you are retired it means you are not working until you die in order to pay the bills. Engineers in most positions (even while working) have the flexibilty to take paid time off, to have weekends and evenings free.

Those realities are not true for many in this country - which makes volunteering much harder, if not impossible.

Converting volunteer opportunities into paid opportunities (as the museum has decided it can afford to do) opens the door for people with fewer resources than you to take advantage of the benefits of such a positions.

You seem to be determined to intentionally misconstrue everything I say.

[MichMan]

28. Yep, took out student loans while working at minimum wage jobs and going to college at night

Left for work at 6:30 AM and got home from school at 9:30 pm for several years. Spent most of junior high and HS in inner city public schools. I can't believe it was just handed to me like that.

Most museums are always scrambling for funds; why do you think they have fundraisers and membership drives ? I guess this one isn't in that situation. They charge $14 for admission. Seems like it would be a better use of all those extra $$ they have lying around by making it more affordable for the residents of the city.

Treating dedicated people that have volunteered their time freely for years the way they did was despicable. They deserve whatever criticism they get for doing so.

[Wingus Dingus]

20. "Pad your resume"? These are most likely retirees!

Who have an interest in art, and a willingness to explain it to the public! Why on god's earth would you try to ascribe nefarious self-serving motives to what are almost certainly VERY earnest older women who want to volunteer because they believe in volunteering? Or have a background in fine art, or teaching, and want to share their expertise? I feel like I'm reading something so ridiculous it's a parody of liberalism. Hey older white volunteers, you THOUGHT you were contributing to society, but you were oppressing people instead! Take your old-white-lady fine art knowledge, and your do-gooder spirit, and go sit at home, and stick it up your butts! (But keep donating your nice old lady well-to-do dollars, LOL, we do actually need donor money here at the museum! But do it from home.)

[Ms. Toad]

24. Are you being deliberately dense?

The point is that using volunteer labor to perform tasks the museum needs to have perormed means fewer paid positions. The museum is shifting from volunteer to paid positions.

As paid positions they will be open to people with a broader range of resources (or lack thereof) and financial flexibility (or lack thereof). Those people, *** previously shut out of the volunteer activities *** can now take advantage the opportunity to network, add to their resumes, etc. - whch will help them move into more rewarding/better paid jobs.

Your impoverished high school student who has to work flipping burgers to help pay the rent while his better off peers are volunteering at the museum, animal shelter, wherever is less likely to get into a better college, less likely to get scholarships, etc.

With the opportunity to make money serving as a museum docent, that same impoverished high school student will still be able to make money to pay the rent, and is also more likely to come into contact with individuals who will take an interest in him, connect him with job opportunites, colleges will look more favorably on his application with docent than burger flipper on the application. The simple switch from unpaid volunteer to paid position has the ability to make a significant difference in the lives of the individuals who will now be able to take those positions.

Taking everything I say and telling me the little old ladies don't need that is silly, beyond belief. The program is designed to open the program to a much broader population that the little old ladies who currnently inhabit it. It is that broader popoulation the shift is intended to benefit.

[Wingus Dingus]

27. You're not talking reality. Older people volunteer.

That's the perk of getting old, and retiring, and not having to do paid work--they GET TO because they have the time and resources to do it--and they aren't taking anything away from anyone else, because there's PLENTY of volunteer opportunities anywhere and everywhere, at all hours, at all skill levels. Museums with much lower budgets, lighthouses, state parks, cultural centers, ESL classes, libraries, soup kitchens, shelters, historical sites, habitat for humanity, the list is endless--for anyone in even a small city or rural area to volunteer somewhere, no matter what their age or race.

But older people, and yes, very often older WHITE people, keep these places going on shoestrings and love, and often it's borne of their interests in life, their skills, they want to share their love of what they know. They are often the last thing standing between a small-time community museum, or a historic house tour, or any other cultural-nice-thing you can think of, closing forever.

This museum could change the program all they want, invite or incentivize whomever they want to volunteer or work or contribute, without telling their most devoted art lovers and teachers to fuck off and go away. And yes, it's solely because of their skin color and their AGE.

[Sympthsical]

30. The characterization here slays me

Most of the docents are exactly as how you describe.

When I lived in Chicago in my 20s, I had a membership at the Institute. It wasn't that expensive, and it was within walking distance of my apartment, so I'd often just take a book and go chill if I had a free day. They had a little area for members if you wanted to get coffee or tea or whatever.

I got to know some of the docents during the time I spent there. Yep, mainly older women who had a passion for both the art and the Institute. They could lay some serious knowledge on you if you asked. These were some seriously passionate people.

All I can think is this weird characterization of them is coming from a place of assumption and absolute ignorance. As if being a docent is a step on the ladder to one day owning your own gallery. Being a docent is an end unto itself. These are usually social people, and it's a form of volunteering they love.

I agree with your assessment above. This was some low-hanging fruit managed for the look of it because it was easy.

It's a shame. They're losing a valuable resource for press. Nice job, guys.

[Wingus Dingus]

31. It is a shame, and a waste of talent and passion.

[treestar]

9. It does seem silly to let volunteers go

They can hire the other people accordingly.

[FakeNoose]

14. It takes time to train new volunteers, why can't the previous docents keep their positions

... as the new docents are getting trained and seasoned?

This seems like a very short-sighted approach to the problem. I understand that the CAI would like to have more minorities among their volunteer staff. But why do they feel is has to be "all or nothing"?

[MichMan]

25. Why not just make volunteering illegal?

People should refuse to do anything unless they are paid because it isn't fair to those who can't/won't.

After all, if homeless shelters, soup kitchens, youth sports, senior centers, and animal rescue groups can't pay a full time living wage with pensions and full benefits, they should just shut down.

This place really surprises me sometimes.

[Wingus Dingus]

29. It's Old White Volunteers, oppressing the less fortunate!

Go home and sit, we don't need you anymore! (But seriously, keep donating money, we actually just need your money so we can pay other younger, more worthy people to do what you used to do for free.)