Whitney Educator Training
Sep 14, 2017

In September, the Whitney’s Education department held a two-day training for the Museum’s staff and educators working in School, Family, Access, and Community programs. Topics for the training included inquiry-based pedagogy, equity and inclusion, and anti-racist museum education.

Educators spent the first day identifying key components of their inquiry-based practice and brainstorming teaching methods that could be used in the galleries. The group also discussed new initiatives in Access and Community Programs and the Museum’s Strategic Plan, a key component of which is equity and inclusion. On the second day of the training, Keona Hendrick, School Programs Manager at the Brooklyn Museum, and Dr. Marit Dewhurst, Director of Art Education at City College, led a workshop on Anti-Racism in Museum Education. Educators were asked to reflect on their own “racial history” and make connections between their personal experiences and works in the Whitney’s collection. They then determined potential anti-racist teaching strategies that could be implemented in their teaching practice.

“The trainings treated us like professionals who need time and opportunities to step back from our busy teaching schedules and think about the theoretical underpinnings of our work. How can we be more conscious of how our race, background, and theories of knowledge influence how we teach? How can we be more explicitly anti-racist in our teaching—and aware of the implications of each of our actions? I have thought about the training every day since it happened—in the galleries and in life in general.” –Jackie Delamatre, Whitney Educator. 

See the slideshow above for images of the training. All photographs by Isabelle Dow.

By Isabelle Dow, Assistant to School and Educator Programs