The Toledo Museum of Art Walks Back Its ‘Nonpartisan’ Statement on the George Floyd Killing After Protests Erupt at Its Door

Protesters gathered outside of
the Toledo Museum of Art yesterday in response to a divisive
letter issued by the
institution’s director, Adam Levine, in the wake of the killing of
George Floyd. 

In the letter, which was sent to
internal staff on June 1 before being shared publicly, Levine
denounced rioting and looting and declared that the museum “does
not have a political stance.” 

“We exist to provide access to
the highest quality works of art from across time and space to
anyone, regardless of their beliefs or their appearance,” wrote the
director, who stepped into his role just last month. “These are not
empty words; this nonpartisan and disinterested approach is baked
into our institutional DNA.”

Critics on social media took the
museum to task for not taking a harder line against police
brutality and racial injustice. 

“This is not a neutral
stance,” wrote one commenter in
response to the museum’s message on Facebook. “To directly condemn looting and rioters and
then go on to ramble about museums, academia, and neutrality is in
fact taking a stance and infers that the status quo (which is built
on institutional racism) is neutral. I expect better from the
leadership of an art museum.”

Following the backlash, Levine
issued a follow-up
statement on June 5
laying out a series of initiatives the museum will undertake in the
coming months, including unconscious bias training for staff; an
appraisal of its exhibitions to ensure diverse programming; and a
formal diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion plan. He
also announced that the museum would hang a banner featuring a work
of art by Alison Saar on its facade.

But the response did little to
placate activists. “The
museum is an institution of creativity. They have to be the
charge,” Paul Verdell, a Toledo-based artist who organized
Tuesday’s protest told local news station WTOL 11. “They have to be
the leader in saying that this is not right and they can’t take a
neutral stance.” 

Verdell did not immediately
respond to a request for comment, but wrote on his own
Instagram that the
protests at the museum would continue today.

Levine apologized to the
protesters on Tuesday and issued a formal statement—his third in
nine days.

“There are two things that I
want to say clearly,” it began. “Number one—at the Toledo Museum of
Art, Black Lives Matter. Violence and oppression of black and brown
bodies is reprehensible. Number two—museums are not
neutral.”

The museum declined to comment
further.

The post The Toledo Museum of Art Walks Back Its
‘Nonpartisan’ Statement on the George Floyd Killing After Protests
Erupt at Its Door appeared first on artnet News.