Committees

Committee on Diversity Practices

Description

The Committee on Diversity Practices supports the development of global perspectives on art and visual culture. The committee promotes artistic, curatorial, scholarly, and institutional practices that deepen appreciation of political and cultural heterogeneity as educational and professional values. To that end, the committee assesses and evaluates the development and implementation of curricular innovation, new research methods, curatorial and pedagogical strategies, and hiring practices that contribute to the realization of these goals.

Recent Projects

The Committee on Diversity Practices decided to discontinue the online “Bibliography for a Culturally Inclusive Art History” (see below), which is no longer current; it will be retained on the CAA website only as a document of historical record. Instead, the committee decided to develop the website with alternative resources. Christopher Olzsweski introduced the idea of creating a central listing of multicultural artists who could be called on by CAA members and their institutions as resources, whether as visiting artists, exhibitors, or guest speakers, or for research.

The chairs of the Committees on Diversity, Education, Women, Student and Emerging Professionals, and International have been discussing ways to work together. One idea that emerged was the creation of a special issue or series of articles in one of CAA’s publications dedicated to promoting diversity across disciplines and from various perspectives. The Committee on Diversity Practices is currently drafting a proposal to share with the other committees for their input, which will then be submitted for the editors’ consideration.

Carl Parrish has also proposed a committee affiliation with UNESCO Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity, and the committee discussed making a proposal to the CAA Centennial Committe to collaborate with the United Nations, to conduct activities for the 2011 CAA Annual Conference in New York.

In May 2005, the Board of Directors approved the request of the Committee on Cultural Diversity to change the name of the committee to the Committee on Diversity Practices and alter its mission to best expresses what the committee believes to be most relevant with regard to diversity in the arts. The Committee on Diversity Practices continues to be committed to organizing conference sessions that address issues concerning race and ethnicity.

Committee Members

Kevin Concannon, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Chair (2013)
Leslie Bellavance, Alfred University, CAA Board Liaison (ex officio)
Peggy Blood, Savannah State University (2015)
Julie Levin Caro, Warren Wilson College (2014)
Michael Fahlund, CAA Staff Liaison (ex officio)
Zoya Kocur, Middlesex University (2013)
Barbara Nesin, CAA Board Liasion (ex officio)
Yasmin Ramirez, Hunter College, City University of New York (2014)
Jordana Moore Saggese, California College of the Arts (2014)
Sunanda K. Sanyal, Art Institute of Boston (2015)
Jacqueline Taylor, University of Virginia (2014)
Susan D. Zurbrigg, James Madison University (2015)

Toward a Bibliography for a Culturally Inclusive Art History

The bibliography is divided into the following categories: General; Cultural Studies; Gender and Sexual Politics; African American Studies/Art History; Asian American Studies/Art History; Latin America and Latino Studies/Art History; and Native American Studies/Art History. It is an updated version (June 28, 1995) of the bibliography distributed and resources on diversity issues at the CAA Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

The American Association of Museums also has information and resources on diversity issues.

Our deepest thanks go to Annika Marie for her meticulous research and inputting on this project. The panel at the CAA Annual Conference in San Antonio, “Toward a Culturally Inclusive Art Community and Art History,” moderated by Michi Itami and Moira Roth with three panelists (Sutapa Biswas, Theresa Harlan, Lucy R. Lippard), was cosponsored by the Committee on Cultural Diversity and the Education Committee.

As part of the planning of the panel, we asked members of the Committee on Cultural Diversity and the session panelists to contribute some ten items each to the following bibliography. This bibliography should be read not as complete or exhaustive, but rather as a beginning study with the personal viewpoints of the people concerned.