Episode 1: What is Readying The Museum?

Readying The Museum

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Readying The Museum podcast. Co-directors Xaviera Simmons and Miki Garcia get personal in conversation with each other about the work that has transpired over the last four years with the Readying The Museum cohort, a solutions based methodology funded by the Ford Foundation and Mellon Foundation.
Miki Garcia has served as the Director of the Arizona State University Art Museum since December 2017, having previously led the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara from 2005 to 2017. With experience at the Public Art Fund, NY, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, among others, Garcia has curated exhibitions featuring notable artists and contributed to numerous scholarly publications and panels. Her leadership at ASU focuses on using art to advance community well-being and social good. A native of Brownsville, Texas, Garcia holds degrees from Vassar College and the University of Texas at Austin. Fluent in English, Italian, and Spanish, she is dedicated to making art museums more equitable and civic-minded.
Xaviera Simmons is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose practice includes photography, performance, text, video, sound, sculpture, performance and installation. Her work explores themes of experience, memory, abstraction and empire challenging linear narratives by treating landscape as a cyclical concept. Simmons’s artistic approach is dynamic and rotating, shifting focus between various mediums throughout the year. A Bard College alumna, she has also studied at the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program and The Maggie Flanigan Studio. Notable exhibitions of her work include the The Museum Of Modern Art, ICA Boston, SFMOMA, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. Recognized with numerous awards including The Charles Flint Kellogg Arts and Letters Award from Bard College. Simmons has held teaching positions at Harvard, Yale and Columbia Universities. Her works are housed in major museum and private collections worldwide, including The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim Museum, UBS and Deutsche Bank’s Art collections and The Agnes Gund Art Collection. Simmons has exhibitions and performances scheduled through 2026. She is pleased to be the host of the Readying The Museum podcast series alongside her fellow cohort members.

In This Episode:

• (00:00) Introduction to the podcast, backgrounds of Miki and Xaviera
• (07:58) The pandemic, protests, demands from social media, press attention
• (15:58) Diversity, inclusion, a broken system, poor museum representation
• (19:59) The pattern - Black women are the bellwether, a woman of color enters the museum sector…
• (27:04) Ideas for solutions and accountability
• (33:03) Developing the core principles of Readying The Museum
• (40:21) Accountability, museums must “do their job”
• (45:37) Naming the team members who participate, sharing our story
• (48:54) Check the website, join the community, share your experiences, check the FAQs first
• Like and subscribe to hear all of our informative upcoming episodes!

About the show:

The Readying the Museum podcast is hosted by co-director Xaviera Simmons who, alongside her fellow cohort members, delves into the evolution of this transformative project over the course of four years into the present. Each week, they share personal stories and insights about the cohort’s journey, including an authentic, behind-the-scenes look at how they are addressing accountability and systemic change in the arts and museum sectors by providing practical solutions and methodologies for artists, arts workers, boards and trustees, funders and community members. Tune in to hear an intimate exploration of their deeply personal experiences and how those experiences shape the RTM methodology.

Resources:

Readying the Museum Website

ASU Art Museum

Miki Garcia LinkedIn

About ASU Museum:
The ASU Art Museum, integral to Arizona State University (ASU), highlights the university's dedication to innovation and community impact. While ASU, recognized as the most innovative school by U.S. News & World Report for nine years, operates across multiple campuses and locations worldwide, the museum specifically focuses on art and its role in societal well-being. It serves as a teaching institution, offering interdisciplinary learning opportunities and training future arts professionals. Unlike other regional non-profit art museums, it uniquely harnesses ASU’s extensive resources to foster community engagement, integrate scholarly research with local needs, and create accessible cultural opportunities.