We individually and collectively pledge our commitment to being anti-racist—which we recognize as an ongoing pursuit through our everyday actions

Why is being anti-racist important to us?

We consider anti-racist practices a part of the Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion (DEAI) efforts that we already pursue.  However, we want to make a specific pledge to anti-racist practices to acknowledge the monumental challenge of combatting racism in our world. Being anti-racist is important to us because:

We want to contribute to a more equitable world for individuals facing racial injustices: Black, Indigenous , and People of Color (BIPOC).

We want our research and evaluation work with museums and cultural institutions to confront and challenge systemic racism.

We believe in the educational missions of museums and cultural organizations, but we are concerned they will become irrelevant to the public if they do not address their entrenchment in racist systems.

We are applying We All Count’s Data Equity Framework to systematically examine our work for bias, assumptions, unfairness, and prejudice at seven project stages:

 

FUNDING

We will always be explicit about a project’s funder and transparent about any implications of the funding source.

MOTIVATION

As evaluators, we always seek to understand why our clients are motivated to do evaluation and use this as a guidepost for our work. In our work, we remind clients of their motivations to keep projects on task. We are committed to going one step further and challenging clients to reveal unconscious biases that may have racist undertones.

PROJECT DESIGN

We have long valued collaboration with our clients, and we have come to realize that we cannot pursue anti-racist work without collaborating authentically with our clients. We must understand the audiences from which we are collecting data and the institution’s relationships with these audiences to design responsive studies.

DATA COLLECTION

One guiding principle of evaluation is to collect only actionable data (i.e., data you will use). We will avoid optical allyship (i.e., recognizing the individual in a data collection instrument but not representing the individual in reporting) as we collect data about personal characteristics (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, etc).

 

DATA ANALYSIS

We will challenge ourselves to rethink how we approach data analysis and question the norms of what rigor looks like (e.g., should statistical significance be standard, random versus purposeful sample, considerations for intersectionality, etc.)

INTERPRETING DATA

We will be more transparent in our reports that we are data interpreters (data does not speak for itself) by intentionally using terms and phrases like “We interpret this to be…”; “We infer from this data…”; etc.

COMMUNICATING + DISTRIBUTING RESULTS

We have always customized our reports per the needs of a project or client, but we can take this further. We will rethink report design and communication strategies to ensure the way we share evaluation results is anti-racist.

 

What actions will we take?

We will take the following actions to embed equity and anti-racist actions into our research and evaluation practices.

We recognize equity and anti-racist practices to be ongoing work. These are the first steps we will be taking, and we plan to reflect and expand upon these actions over time.

  • We are applying We All Count’s Data Equity Framework to systematically examine our work for bias, assumptions, unfairness, and prejudice at seven project stages.

  • And question our encounters with interpersonal racism (i.e., don’t fall into white silence).

  • We will do this through various avenues (e.g., participate in VSA’s Bridging Communities FIG, attend sessions on CRE through VSA, AEA, Equitable Evaluation, and other evaluation organizations, etc.).

  • And in conversations with clients and colleagues.

  • We will embrace vulnerability.

Learn more about our continued evolution

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