Friday, April 5 . According to figures compiled by the Pew Research Center (and reported by NPR), 48 percent of white suburban, college-educated women voted primarily for Democrats in 1990, a number that rose to 60 percent by 2016. A docent and tour group consider "American Collectors (Fred and Marcia Weisman), 1968" by David Hockney, in the Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago on Aug. 25, 2014. Was born with his face in his belly. $modal[0], { Consistent with the collaborative spirit of a new approach to engagement, the Art Institute could also do the right thing and recognize its employees organizing efforts. Veronica Stein Womans Board Executive Director of Learning and Public Engagement, Do you mean, like Whoopi Goldberg? https://ethicsalarms.com/2021/01/15/morning-ethics-warm-up-1-15-2021-tapper-aoc-fox-and-the-brick/. Join the New-York Historical Society for a virtual conversation on the Peabody Essex Museums new installation of Native American and American art with Philip J. Deloria, Marie Watt, and Karen Kramer. A docent and tour group consider "American Collectors (Fred and Marcia Weisman), 1968" by David Hockney, in the Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago on Aug. 25, 2014. The backlash was swift. Shame on the Art Institute for Summarily canning its volunteer docents, No Such Thing As Student Loan "Forgiveness". throw Error('onSuccess callback is required'); The training regimen in the Art Institutes program is deep and thorough, as the docents made clear in their own letter to the museums director. + 'Please enter a valid email address' How surprising could this move have been? They cant claim to be victims of racism or ageism because they are not paid. You cant rebuild from the ground up without getting rid of the people on the top. } $modal.find('.newsletter-signup-thank-you').fadeIn('fast'); ), It may be time to update* the following limerick:**-. The museums docent program was first established in 1961 with the support of the Womans Board and the Junior League of Chicago to revitalize and expand programming for children. } Many of them say they get far more out of their service than those they are serving. 2022 KERRYDOUGHERTY.COM ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. One of my all-time favorites, right up there with the Nantucket/Pawtucket pair and Edward Gorys, including, The first child of Mrs. Keats-Shelley } The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) has fired all 122 of its unpaid volunteer docents because they happen to be mostly white. You see, the Art Institute of Chicago, like so many other institutions - courts, museums, hospitals, libraries - relies on volunteers to greet the public, guide them through the exhibits and answer questions the public may have about the collections. Then there are the tours themselves, with a docent giving up to two one-hour tours per day for 18 weeks of the year and a minimum of 24 one-hour tours with adults/families. + '<\/div>' // Show signup failure error and hide other errors They couldnt change what they looked like, of course, nor could they knock years off their lives, nor could they reduce the size of their bank accounts, typically the result of careful saving to allow for a fulfilling retirement. Of course, as volunteers, they have no recourse or legal protections. If the answer is never, because they are weenies and foolsand it might bethere is no calculating how far this Bizarro World version of justice and inclusiveness might go. return ""; } In 2016, the political analysts at FiveThirtyEight explained the political activity of white suburban women. CHICAGOVeronica Stein is leaving her role as Woman's Board Executive Director, Learning and Public Engagement (LPE), and resigning from the Art Institute of Chicago. Specialties: Savage Suiting is a family owned & operated men's suit and clothing boutique. //position at bottom of screen The AIC stopped training new docents in 2012, and has been in talks to restructure the program since 2019. Not surprisingly, many of AICs docents have been older white women who love art, have the time to be trained, and can afford to work for free. Error: Twitter did not respond. No matter that the docents had typically trained for years, if not decades, on how to describe the Art Institutes collection, or worked hard on adjusting to the trendy new ways (Art and Activism) of describing the work to be found there, or put in hour after hour in academic study of their fields. + '<\/i>' // Signup submission function addCss(fileName) { Do you care about the race of your kids Cub Scout leader? I saw Woods American Gothic and Seurats A Sunday on La Grande Jatte there. Veronica received her Master of Arts in Art Education from SAIC and her BFA in Photography from UIC. $email.focus(); Thats unconscionable. In The Marriage Portrait OFarrellpoetically tells the tragic tale of the young Duchess Lucretia de Medici, wife of the Duke of Ferrara in 16th Century Italy. Bookmark this page and check back every day to get the latest content. Rather than refresh our current program, systems, and processes, we feel that now is the time to rebuild our program from the ground up, she said, noting that current docents would be invited to apply for the paid positions. The Death of St. Francis Xavier, c. 1750. As we begin to recover from the pandemic, we are able to meet current tour demand with our existing professional staff, and are in the process of hiring paid educators who will lead tours once demand increases, an AIC spokesperson said. Every docent who took their complaint to the press knew, or should have known, that this is our political context. From the first pages of the novel we know Lucretia expects her husband to poison her at any moment. She sacked them because of their race and social status: Seems too many of the volunteer docents were prosperous white women. + '<\/div>' setNewsletterCookie('closedSignupBar', 1); The marriage, idyllic at first, is quickly doomed. while (i--) { // Show email validation error and hide other errors The current docentswhich trended toward older white women with free timewould be replaced by part-time paid employees in the hopes of attracting those for whom volunteer labor was not financially feasible. Spreading over more than a million square feet, the museum has almost 300,000 works of art. $form.find('.errors').children().hide(); When the museum closed its doors in March of 2020, we began an extensive reevaluation of our institution, taking a hard look at our resources, goals, and priorities, a spokesperson told Artnet News in an email. + '' please contact [emailprotected]. If youre touring a museum, do you care about the race of your guide? var settings = cookieSettings[cookieName]; data: JSON.stringify( $form.serializeFormJSON() ), Join the discussion on Twitter @chitribopinions and on Facebook. Taylor Dafoe, + '<\/div>'; // Extends jQuery with a function to serialize to JSON Who has the time and inclination to volunteer? (Several are already interviewing for the new jobs, the museum confirmed.). if (!$modal.length) { + '