It’s been a summer full of protests calling for racial justice and advocates fighting for diversity and a seat at the table. The Milwaukee Art Museum is welcoming a new position aimed at making art relevant to more members of the community and engaging with Milwaukeeans.
Kantara Souffrant will be the first curator of Community Dialogue for the museum. She says she wants more Milwaukeeans to feel welcome in the art world and especially at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
“I experience the ways in which the Milwaukee Art Museum is a beautiful building, but it doesn’t always feel welcoming to people who are Black, brown, of color, low-income, non-English speakers,” she says. “So, really thinking about how do we work to make the museum accessible to all.”
Souffrant says part of improving the inclusivity at the museum is about changing the perspective within the museum of who should be there. For example, she says young people shouldn’t be seen as suspicious just because they're at a museum by themselves. Souffrant plans to connect with and rely in part on existing Milwaukee organizations that are working to improve community dialogue.
