The RFP Database
New business relationships start here

Smith College Museum of Art: Diversity Assessment Request for Proposal

  1. This RFP was uploaded by the owner.

Massachusetts, United States
Education : University
RFP

At SCMA-as in the broader museum field-we are reckoning with the persistent discrepancy between our stated DEAI values and the actual lived experiences of BIPOC who work at and visit our museum. We have articulated a commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion as values that are vital to achieving our mission of connecting people to art, ideas and each other. Over the last few years, we have taken steps to enact these priorities, including developing a DEAI roadmap for the museum, introducing trainings on microaggressions and unconscious bias, prioritizing equity and inclusion in our exhibitions, programming and collecting plan, and establishing DEAI working groups at staff and board levels. But feedback from BIPOC staff at SCMA about the persistence of white supremacy, anti-Blackness and microaggressions at our museum has demonstrated that our DEAI work so far has been at the periphery of what we do, rather than fundamentally reshaping what we do. In order to fully center DEAI priorities and the experiences of BIPOC staff, we need to more deeply understand our current working culture and the steps needed to become a genuinely inclusive and antiracist institution.

We are requesting proposals from individuals or firms to conduct a diversity assessment of our museum that will concentrate on our working culture, as understood through perspectives from both internal and external stakeholders. We are focusing on internal culture since we believe that this is a critical first step to creating a consistently supportive and respectful environment not just for all museum staff, but also for all museum visitors. Our mission of connecting audiences with works of art and each other depends on ensuring that all visitors feel acknowledged and supported in our space, and we believe that we can only fully achieve this if all staff members feel seen and respected in their work.

In acknowledgement of the especially profound need to support Black staff and visitors as we work on dismantling white supremacy at SCMA, we are seeking proposals from Black consultants in particular. The primary goals, described in more detail below, are to assess the DEAI work we have done so far; to better understand our current working culture, including the factors that have limited our progress on DEAI work and the key opportunities to transform our workplace for the better; to give our senior staff stronger skills in inclusive leadership; and to establish specific practices and strategies that will allow us to maintain a core commitment to DEAI work going forward and create real accountability for achieving our goals.

We initially issued this RFP with the aim of selecting a consultant in November 2020. We received feedback that for most people in this field, the fall-winter of 2020 was already fully booked. So we are reissuing the RFP with a proposed date of February 1, 2021 to receive proposals, and the aim of selecting a consultant by early April 2021. Additional considerations on the project timeline are described below.

    1. Home
    2. Articles
    3. Login or Register

    4. Search

    5. Add/Announce your RFP