The Museum Association of New York and Museum Hue are pleased to present five conversations focused on how museums are working with their communities to address urgent needs exacerbated by our national health and economic crisis. Invited museum professionals will discuss Housing Access, Mental Health, Food In/Security, Preserving Community Culture, and Public Spaces.

These programs are free; advance registration required.

A Right to the City Exhibition, Anacostia Community Museum

Essential Work in the Cultural Field

Housing Access

Sarah Henry, Deputy Director & Chief Curator,

Museum of the City of New York: Future City Lab

Melanie Adams, Executive Director,

Anacostia Community Museum:

Right to the City

Stephanie Johnson-Cunningham, Co-Founder and

Director, Museum Hue

Noon, Friday, October 30

This conversation will highlight how Anacostia Community Museum and Museum of the City of New York are addressing neighborhood change as well as the rich history of organizing and civic engagement that accompanied it. They provide resources to empower individuals and communities.

Click here to watch the recording

Mid-Hudson Children's Museum Farmers Market

Essential Work in the Cultural Field

Food In/Security

Meredith Horsford, Executive Director,

Dyckman Farmhouse Museum

Lara Litchfield-Kimber, Executive Director,

Mid-Hudson Children's Museum

Stephanie Johnson-Cunningham, Co-Founder and Director, Museum Hue

Noon, Friday, November 6

This conversation will highlight how Dyckman Farmhouse Museum and Mid-Hudson Children's Museum are literally feeding their communities. They provide farmers markets as well as tools to grow food in urban environments.

Click here to watch the recording

Creative Justice Initiative

Essential Work in the Cultural Field

Preserving Community Culture

Dr. Marta Moreno Vega, President and Founder,

Creative Justice Initiative

Michelle Ramos, Executive Director, Alternate Roots

Stephanie Johnson-Cunningham, Co-Founder and Director, Museum Hue

Noon, Friday, November 13

This conversation will highlight how the Creative Justice Initiative and Alternate Roots are advocating for the preservation and support of community cultural spaces created and led by Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. These organizations make meaningful connections between the communities they represent and their offerings.

Click here to watch the recording

Colored Girls Museum

Essential Work in the Cultural Field

Mental Health

Chloe Hayward, LCAT, ATR-BC, Manager,

Education Programs, The Studio Museum in Harlem

Vashti Dubois, Executive Director, Colored Girls Museum

Stephanie Johnson-Cunningham, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Museum Hue

Noon, Friday, December 4

This conversation will highlight how the Studio Museum in Harlem and Colored Girls Museum provide a holistic approach to mental health and well-being. Their therapeutic approaches and techniques are rooted in the idea that creative expression can foster healing. 

Click here to watch the recording

Essential Work in the Cultural Field

Public Spaces

Jennifer Scott, Public Historian and Curator, Faculty at The New School

Cordell Reaves, Historic Preservation Programs Analyst, Division of Historic Preservation, New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation

Stephanie Johnson-Cunningham, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Museum Hue

Noon, Friday, December 11

This conversation will highlight how museums are shaping the future of public spaces and addressing the removal of controversial monuments and the reinterpretation of historically white spaces. These speakers will share all that is involved in changing the US landscape.

Click here to watch the recording

Stephanie Johnson-Cunningham works to paint a larger portrait of the museum sector and challenge racial inequities in the field. Her advocacy aligns with Museum Hue, an organization she co-founded and serves as Creative Director, supporting Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color. As a United Nations Human Rights fellow, Stephanie applies the UN’s ratification of cultural rights to her work and calls for greater recognition and representation in the arts industry. She also received the Americans for the Arts 2019 American Express Emerging Leader Award for her work. As the United States reckons with a legacy of structural racism, oppression, and discriminatory policies and practices; Stephanie centers cultural equity as an essential part of achieving social justice.

MANY's 2020 fall virtual programming is supported by: