Rosa Rodriguez-Williams, the incoming senior director of belonging and inclusion at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
After grappling with a May 2019 incident that led to accusations of racial bias and a state investigation, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) has hired its first senior director of belonging and inclusion.
The official, Rosa Rodriguez-Williams, who has promoted recruitment and retention of Latino students at Northeastern University as director of its Latinx Student Cultural Center, will assume her position on 9 September. The museum says the new post “will play a critical role in delivering on the MFAs promise to be a museum for all of Boston”.
The museum came under fire last year when a group of visiting honours students from a Boston middle school levelled allegations of mistreatment, including being racially profiled and closely followed by security guards as well as intersecting with a white museum visitor who insulted the group as they entered a gallery.
An inquiry by the Massachusetts state attorney general followed, resulting in an agreement four months ago under which the MFA promised to embrace an inclusion plan, set up a $500,000 fund dedicated to community engagement and collaboration with the school whose students were wronged, and adopt an anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy as well as a process for investigating related complaints.
Rodriguez-Williams could not immediately be reached for comment on her plans for the museum. In a statement, she emphasised that the MFA “acknowledges its struggle with inclusion” and aims to “reimagine and reinvent itself".
Born in Puerto Rico, Rodriguez-Williams earned a bachelors degree in sociology from the University of Massachusetts at AmhRead More – Source
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