An Open Letter to the SFMOMA Board of Trustees

— Originally released on July 15, 2020

In solidarity with the No Neutral Alliance, the Nure Collective, and Taylor Brandon, we, a multi-racial group of black, brown and white former SFMOMA workers, condemn the museum’s racist censorship of Taylor Brandon and call on the museum to fulfill the demands made by Taylor and No Neutral Alliance. We write to you in your capacity as a member of the museum’s Board of Trustees: as stewards of the institution’s mission and finances, obliged by your fiduciary duty of care, it is imperative that you acknowledge, support, and participate in a long overdue examination of the museum’s operations, management, hiring practices, governance, and exhibition and collection acquisition strategies. A version of this letter was initially published on June 23, 2020. You are receiving it now with updates that specifically pertain to the Board and its role in the current crisis at SFMOMA.

The recent appalling treatment of Taylor Brandon is not an isolated incident at SFMOMA. Workers have been explicitly and consistently condemning and documenting discrimination towards BIPOC, disabled, queer and trans staff for years, while demanding transformative action at the museum. They have never been given the opportunity to directly address the Board of Trustees, who are sheltered from the realities of the museum’s daily operations by the very leaders who are enacting and enabling harm. Workers who attempted to offer guidance to the museum’s largely white staff leadership on issues of Diversity & Inclusion have been rebuffed at every turn, treated as naive, hysterical, or threatening and often forced to leave — ultimately reinforcing the abusive power dynamic racist leadership directs toward their BIPOC, disabled, queer and trans staff. Any attempts at challenging a museum’s hierarchical structure, racist programming, or inaccessible resources are met with placating bureaucratic systems or outright denial.

The Board itself is also culpable — the ongoing violent treatment of BIPOC, disabled, queer and trans employees and the continued development of a white supremacist exhibition and collecting program are products of systemic institutional racism that has long favored those in positions of power. You must ask yourself: How has my role and direction on this board allowed or encouraged this harmful behavior?

We are calling for a radical reexamination of the governance structure of museums, at SFMOMA and across the United States. In conjunction with the demands made by No Neutral Alliance of the museum at large as well as the demands of our letter of June 2020 we also demand the following of the Board of Trustees:

• That Neal Benezra be removed from his role as director of the museum; Neal, has proven to be ill-equipped to do the work necessary to rehabilitate SFMOMA as an equitable and just workplace, most recently exemplified in his exchanges with No Neutral Alliance and in his apology on behalf of Gary Garrels.
• That the museum’s leadership named in our June 2020 letter be held accountable for their action and inaction; any of the following named members of the executive team should not be permitted to lead or facilitate conversations about racism or other forms of discrimination: Chad Coerver, Megan Brian, Noah Bartlett, and Cary Littlefield, as well as the rest of the Director’s Cabinet​ and Curatorial Leadership must be held responsible for the harm they have caused. Institutions cannot change when the same faces who enact harm continue to direct the work being done.
• That a representative or representatives elected from the museum’s membership be established as voting members of the board. Nearly a quarter of SFMOMA’s revenue comes from admission and membership fees, yet ordinary people, like visitors and members, have no representation in the museum’s governance. The number of Members’ Representatives relative to the total number of Board members should be commensurate with the percentage of the museum’s total revenue generated by membership and ticket sales.
• That Board members whose political fundraising and campaigning directly undermine the community-oriented work of the museum and endanger its workers resign or be removed. SFMOMA cannot in good faith support the strategic plan and any attempts at racial equity, let alone inclusion, when Charles Schwab and other leaders are actively supporting Donald Trump, who recently referred to Black Lives Matter as a terrorist group. Beyond the current president, members of SFMOMA’s board have built their wealth off of arms production and tools of mass surveillance and aligned themselves against LGBTQIA+ equality, actions fundamentally in conflict with SFMOMA’s supposed mission and goals.
• That Helen and Charles Schwab’s names be removed from the Executive Director’s endowed title and that the Schwab name be removed from the museum’s walls. This kind of acknowledgment of their financial investment in the museum makes it a necessarily unsafe space for many employees and visitors.
• That the Board commit to reexamining the museum’s prior commitment to the Fisher Collection; without a reevaluation of this agreement the artists on the walls of the museum will remain predominantly white, male, and dead.
• That formal channels be created that facilitate direct communication between museum staff from all levels and departments and the Board. This communication and the responses to it must be transparently reported to all staff after every Board meeting.
• That HR establish a process for staff to report and document interactions with Board members without fear of retaliation.
• That only trained professionals facilitate formalized group conversations about race, including staff meetings, and that Board members who make racist, classist, or otherwise oppressive comments in race training settings with staff be removed from the Board.
• That senior and executive staff salaries during the pandemic be capped at the highest union rate and that the difference be reallocated to payroll for all employees laid off and furloughed due to COVID-19 (including back pay for the time since layoffs began). Any shortfall must be made up via donations from board members, until all salaries are met, including back pay. If Board members do not commit to donating money specifically earmarked for employee salaries, they must vacate or be removed from their seats.
• That a relief fund supporting all laid off and furloughed workers be established and funded by Board members until funds are reallocated for back pay.

In addition to the previous demands made of the museum at large, we ask that the Board of Trustees and museum leadership both commit to the following:

• Upon the museum’s reopening, an immediate implementation of Hazard Pay for all frontline workers during COVID, as well as providing PPE, chairs, and other accessibility resources for Security and any frontline workers
• Publicly releasing an annual report that includes: Survey results of employee satisfaction and engagement, broken down by department and demographics, including race, gender, pay grade, and union status; Documentation of visitor demographics, including but not limited to, county of residence, race, gender, and income; Demographics of artists whose works are on display at SFMOMA in that year; Demographics of artists whose works have been acquired by the museum in that year; Disclosure of the prices the museum paid for new acquisitions; Progress made on the demands laid out by No Neutral Alliance; The results of previous visitor and staff surveys conducted in the past five years, including those commissioned by the Marketing department, in order to provide a baseline for comparison
• That hiring managers whose direct reports have filed labor grievances, including records of exit interviews, be audited to determine if patterns in hiring practices exist, and be reprimanded if a pattern of discrimination is established

We unequivocally support the demands of Taylor Brandon and the No Neutral Alliance, and are deeply grateful (as SFMOMA should be) for their willingness to guide the museum in a process of radical transformation and accountability that those in power have been unwilling or unable to undertake on their own. xSFM0MA is but one group of museum professionals speaking out in this moment about the systemic issues in the art world. SFMOMA has an opportunity here to radically remake itself into a just and equitable institution, to admit its shortcomings and help to pioneer a new way forward for the field. The museum’s current leadership, however, does not possess the knowledge, skills, or humanity to steer the institution toward an anti-racist future. They have shown us this repeatedly.

We hope that the Board, in serving its fiduciary civic duties to its beneficiaries — the public — will take the necessary steps to enact widespread and long-lasting change, while listening to the current and former workers who know the details of the museum better than anyone. Accountability is an attempt for a better future where all people can feel empowered, seen, and loved. We urge SFMOMA and all institutions to move forward with us toward a collective liberation.

— xSFM0MA Workers

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