This is great, @charliehersh! Yea, this class opened my eyes to the fact that most board members have NO idea what they're doing. Building new wings for the sake of expanding, while collections deteriorate and educational programs dwindle.
Though, while I want to be an instrument of change, the ever present issue of job security looms over our ability to speak up in this conservative, capitalist environment, and I'm wondering how to address that factor while maintaining our integrity and commitment to community collaboration and all the other awesome things you mention.
Any thoughts, other near graduates?
I mean this is probably entirely unlikely but I'd love to see the system of the cultural sector (at least in Philadelphia, if not ubiquitously) overhauled completely. I mentioned before (and this is by no means a fully fleshed out idea) having the money within the culture sector centralized with a kind of cultural congress comprised of one or two representatives from each organization that works together to allocate the money equitably. This is, of course, just a fun little theoretical exercise for me because, as @charliehersh and you point out, this field is a conservative one and proposing something like this could very well be deemed nothing short of heresy.
A long-overdue call for (call it what it is:) Board Reform
But what would that look like, exactly? And who would initiate it?
This is something I've been trying to figure out in real time and I think that reputation has a lot to do with it. Keeping one's head down at first and earning a reputation for being honest, hard-working, and reliable, and once that's established, being able to use that reputation for speaking out when necessary. (Though at the same time, that reputation is pretty contingent on privilege and social status, so it's likely easier/quicker for me to reach that point than others who aren't passing for white men...) Also, choosing which hills you're willing to die on and occasionally giving up on one issue so you have more room to fight on another issue.
It's something I'm certainly still figuring out (especially with more divisive issues that my colleagues may disagree with me on, like anything related to Israel), but for smaller things, like being really annoying about subtitles in exhibitions or pointing out the new "Contemporary Issues Forum" question erases Jews of color... rolls eyes