One purpose of the Museum of Idaho, as stated in our by-laws, is to increase the understanding of and tolerance of the varied cultures, lifestyles, and belief systems of the people of our region. To fully realize our institution’s mission, we must amplify the voices of marginalized groups.
Our commitment to you, as your museum, is to maintain open dialogue around racism, marginalization, and intolerance, to celebrate Idaho’s diversity, and to encourage visitors to broaden their perspective of who Idahoans are. We hereby share three initiatives representing how we will begin to translate these words into action:
- We commit to engaging thoughtfully with discrimination and racial injustices in Idaho’s past and present in Way Out West, our semi-permanent exhibit on Idaho history.
- We commit to engaging with external stakeholders to ensure that voices of marginalized people are represented properly and authentically throughout our exhibits and programming.
- We will further our efforts in diversity, inclusion, and equity within our staff, volunteers, and Board of Trustees to better reflect the diversity of the communities we seek to serve.
Through this, we will work to foster an environment of empathy and compassion in our community. We have much work to do. It will not only require constant listening to you, our friends, members, partners, supporters, and critics, but also constant action and change in response to what we learn along the way. We are committed to that change and we will be measured by our actions.
