Albany Museum of Art to host open discussion forum in July

ALBANY, Ga. – While many are celebrating Juneteenth, the Albany Museum of Art is getting ready to hold a major discussion next month: A conversation about race that’s normally for high schools, but are now trending to a different audience.

Public Programming Director, Annie Vanoteghem says that with Juneteenth now in its third year as an official federal holiday, they wanted their annual discussion to target an older audience…

“So this is a really great opportunity for people to hear about this program and hopefully say ‘ hey I fit in to that group and I want to better my communication skills. Learn more so I know what I’m talking about when I have these difficult conversations with these folks. Grow some confidence…” said Annie Vanoteghem, Dir. Public Programming, Albany Museum of Art.

This discussion has been held for years with the high school crowd, whether they were in a public or private school…

And, while that had its impacts, the museum is moving in a different direction to get the discussion rolling to everyone.

“That approach, the high schoolers, that’s kind of starting at the bottom. But we want to start from the top and maybe have a trickle down effect,” she said.

And, when it comes to handling the discussion topic, they want to put everything out in the open.

“We have amazing facilitators who travel to Albany to give us this conversation, to guide us, lead us, ask us challenging questions, and hopefully make it so that when you leave at the end of the day, you feel stronger in your position and you know how to communicate with others about difficult subjects,” she said.

And, it may be shocking, but they’re excited to hear from everyone’s point of view.

“I really hope that people come who are maybe a little skeptical of this program. We don’t want to be preaching to the choir. We want to equip our leaders and our educators with the knowledge they need to make our community a better place,” she said.

When the discussion takes place on July 22nd, they hope educators will be able to take something back to the classrooms, and the boardrooms.

Spots are limited and you can RSVP on the Albany Museum of Art’s Facebook page

Brian Roche reporting.

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