How can a museum create a safe and inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ young people?
The Brooklyn Museum recognises the need for LGBTQ+ young people to use art and have a safe environment in which to explore issues surrounding gender, sexuality, race and class.
Twelve years ago, the Brooklyn Museum noticed that works of art that challenged heteronormativity were raising questions about gender and sexuality among young people. The museum wanted to offer young people an opportunity to explore these topics (and themselves) better, there not being a broadly accessible LGBTQ+ programme in existence as yet. This led to the first LGBT Teen Nights, an event designed for and created by LGBTQ+ young people, in collaboration with LGBQT+ artists and community organisations in order to guarantee a safe environment. This event grew into the LGBTQ+ Teen Night Planning Committee, when educator Becky Alemán noticed that young people were also reflecting upon the intersectionality of gender, sexuality, race, class and religion, and wanted to explore and discuss this through art. Aléman brought these young people together on a committee, through which they set up LGBTQ+ evenings, currently enriched by the interSEXtions internship: Gender & Sexuality (both paid in order to reach the most marginalised of young people).
The LGBQT+ programmes provide access to themes, knowledge and insights that have proven difficult to access elsewhere. All participants and stakeholders are LGBTQ+, which makes the museum a safe environment for young people who do not feel accepted or listened to elsewhere.
The Brooklyn Museum wishes to be an example of inclusive, socially aware programming where LGBTQ+ young people can feel they are seen, heard and represented, and are free to discover themselves in a safe environment.
To find out more about the LGBTQ+ Teen Nights or for advice on LGBTQ+ programmes, please get in touch with coordinator Lindsay Harris at lindsay.harris@brooklynmuseum.org.
To find out more about this subject, please see A Queer Glossary, a publication covering the topic.