The murder of George Floyd and subsequent reckoning over systemic racism in this country has sparked a growing call for cultural institutions to address diversity, equity and inclusion, whether that means the collection of a museum, the programming of a theater or the staff of an opera company. But change is often slow — and it frequently comes from the top.
The top, in most cases, is the all-mighty board of directors or board of trustees. Although most people get bored by the very mention of the word “board,” these people make critical decisions with consequences rippling throughout every level of the institution, from the director’s seat down. Those who want more equity in representation can start with the board.
The American Alliance of Museums’ most recent survey of boards, a 2017 query that included about 800 museums, found that 89% of museum board members in the U.S. identified as white. Forty-six percent of the boards surveyed were 100% white.
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If you thought the racial reckoning last year would lead to dramatically different results in a multicultural metropolis such as Southern California, you would be wrong.
The Times surveyed 10 major Southern California museums and 10 major performing arts companies and venues. We simply asked for three numbers: board members, board members who are Black, Indigenous or other people of color, and more specifically, board members who are Black.
At the museums The Times surveyed, Black members made up just 5.4% of the boards — 18 people out of 334 seats at the table — even though Black people make up an estimated 9% of L.A. County’s population. Three of the 10 museums had just one Black board member, and three museums had none. Broadening to look at all BIPOC board members, the discrepancy is even more startling: While nearly 74% of L.A. County is nonwhite, only 19.8% of the museum board members identified as nonwhite.
Museums
Autry Museum of the American West 51 members 7 BIPOC 0 Black
TheBroad 8 members 0 BIPOC
Getty Trust 15 members 5 BIPOC 2 Black
Hammer Museum 22 members 5 BIPOC 3 Black
Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens 63 members 10 BIPOC 1 Black
Los Angeles County Museum of Art 51 members 8 BIPOC 5 Black
Museum of Contemporary Art 40 members 9 BIPOC 1 Black
Museum of Latin American Art 12 members 4 BIPOC 0 Black
Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County 41 members 14 BIPOC 5 Black
Orange County Museum of Art 31 members 4 BIPOC 1 Black
(The number of BIPOC board members includes any who identify as Black.)
The numbers for the performing arts companies The Times surveyed are harder to parse, largely because two companies, South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa and Long Beach Opera, declined to provide the racial identity of their boards. A third company, Center Theatre Group, said it does not yet have a detailed breakdown of board member identity but has plans for a more detailed demographic assessment.
The companies that did respond enumerated 251 board members, of whom only 14 people, or 5.6%, were Black. The number of BIPOC board members was 46, or 18.3%.
Performing arts
Broad Stage
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15 Board members 2 BIPOC 2 Black
Center Theatre Group 50 members 9 BIPOC Black not specified
Geffen Playhouse 30 members 2 BIPOC 2 Black
L.A. Dance Project 13 members 2 BIPOC 0 Black
Long Beach Opera No data provided
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra 16 members 7 BIPOC 1 Black
Los Angeles Opera 89 members 14 BIPOC 2 Black
Los Angeles Philharmonic 55 members 13 BIPOC 5 Black
South Coast Repertory No data provided
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts 33 members 6 BIPOC 2 Black
So what does the museum board actually do, how much power does it yield and why should the diversity, equity and inclusion discussion start there? In addition to the American Alliance of Museums, The Times spoke to BoardSource, the Museum Trustee Assn. and the Assn. of Art Museum Directors to find out why, if you care about diversity and equity, you should care about boards.
Deborah Vankin is an arts and culture writer for the Los Angeles Times. In what’s never a desk job, she has live-blogged her journey across Los Angeles with the L.A. County Museum of Art’s “big rock,” scaled downtown mural scaffolding with street artist Shepard Fairey, navigated the 101 freeway tracking the 1984 Olympic mural restorations and ridden Doug Aitken’s art train through the Barstow desert. Her award-winning interviews and profiles unearth the trends, issues and personalities in L.A.’s arts scene. Her work as a writer and editor has also appeared in Variety, LA Weekly and the New York Times, among other places. Originally from Philadelphia, she’s the author of the graphic novel “Poseurs.”
