Art Institutions: Art Institutions: Intersections between Inclusion, Curatorial Decisions, and Funding

Leah Hornsby

Project Description

My name is Leah Hornsby, and I am a student at Eugene Lang (BA) and Parsons (MA). For my research project, I studied museum values and funding- as well as the preferences of communities surrounding museums. My specific interest is the proper allocation of funding toward diversity and engagement in art institutions. In tandem with that, I researched how much care goes into this issue- whether that be through the exhibitions on display, the makeup of the staff in these art spaces, or the budgeting that occurs.

What Form will your Final Project Take?

Internship: Learning about community engagement and democracy. Research Paper: Positive and engaging interview experience with a director at the High Museum in Atlanta.

Who was supporting you in your work?

Nikhil Kumar (manager at People Powered), Anne Kethrin- Lenner (Mentor), Carlton Mackey (High Museum). Constant email and zoom communication, on site visits, and the sharing of resources

Project Themes:

Research, Creative, Social Justice

How has this project has been impactful or transformative?

My interview with Carlton Mackey- which is the basis of my research paper, gave me a lot of insight and hope for the future of museums. Their guidelines are inspiring, and learning about the different activities and styles of community engagement that go on at this institution allowed me to do a proper comparison between art spaces all over.

What would you do differently?

If I were to do the project differently I would have committed more to finding additional numerical data, however, as I wrote my paper I discovered that a lot of this information is private.

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Short summary of your experience:

My experience was great- although I did struggle with time management as the due dates align with midterms and finals. I also will say that I was having trouble bridging a connection between my internship and my final paper; more museum options for students to intern at may be helpful for arts writers/ arts students that are apart of the program.

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