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Community Listening

Final Report

Diverse Community Illustration

Dennis Maurice Dumpson

Founder & CEO, #InvestBLK

A message from Principal Consultant

#InvestBLK is excited to partner in the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s investment in its north star to create the city’s signature cultural institution for community-informed experiences that invite us all into a global art experience.


At its heart, #InvestBLK is a racial equity firm that believes that if, as a practice, we inform our action from what we hear and learn from those most proximate to inequities and the least heard, we inherently build culturally sustainable models that have no choice but to bend toward inclusion, equity, and accessibility. Our final report is the culmination of 11 months of direct community engagement and collaborative research and we are proud to share this with you.

Alex Peay

Project Manager, #InvestBLK

A message from Project Manager

Working on this community listening project with the Museum has been gratifying in so many ways. I have built my career on community as a nonprofit founder and executive director and as an influencer, reaching more than 1M followers across Instagram and TikTok; I am driven to create spaces that welcome people into a shared vision of change.


When Dennis hired me, I was ecstatic because this is my goal in life, and next to being a father to two beautiful daughters, engaging with communities often unheard in rooms and invisible among decision-making bodies to conspire a new vision for our lives is my heart’s joy. Thank you.

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Our Approach

#InvestBLK partnered with six municipal government offices and 16 organizations for 14 sessions across the city of Philadelphia that engaged predominantly Black, Brown, and Immigrant communities from a wide age demographic to elicit feedback on their impressions and experiences with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and arts & culture in the city. We provided lunch and engaged participants in surveys, artistic/creative responses, digital resources, open community dialogue, and kinesthetic and tactile programming that allowed people to share in safe and organic ways.

Timeline

February 2023

We begin the listening project

March

2023

We conducted a scan that analyzed the cultural community in Philadelphia.

APRIL - May

2023

We secured community partnerships with community organizations.

June

2023

We began our listening sessions and opened our virtual survey

December 2023

We completed our in-person and virtual sessions and reached more than 400 participants

January 2023

We submitted our final report, critical issues, and recommendations to the Museum.

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Our Audiences

Throughout this process, we achieved our goal of going into areas to learn with people who are historically marginalized in an effort to share fulfilling data about their relationships to art, culture, and the Museum.


We partnered with 16 CBOs, governmental offices, and more than a dozen community leaders to meet with 400+ people who have diverse demography and lived experiences that represent more than 70 of Philadelphia’s 87 zip codes.

Community Scan

At the beginning of this project, we produced an environmental scan of the Philadelphia Arts & Culture landscape that analyzed four of Philadelphia’s premiere cultural institutions.

Our Impression

73

zipcodes represented out of 87 in Philadelphia

14

Community Listening Sessions (in-person & virtual)

413

Community Participants

86%

in-person listening sessions

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Themes

Accessibility & Ease

Whether it was elderly Philadelphians or people with young children, an ease to access the museum was heard loud and clear

Cultural relevance

People want to see their Philadelphia experience in the Museum. In a World Heritage city with diverse representation, this is no small task.

Community Investment

The Museum is perceived as a wealthy institution that can answer the visionary call of the community. There was interest in investing in the community.

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Outcomes

Take a look at our findings, executive summary, and our quantitative and qualitative learnings.

Given what we have heard and analyzed from the survey data, there are some things to keep an eye on.

Our survey data, interviews, scan, and experiences supports us in defining five key recommendations.

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Digital Resources

To ensure that our research and listening had various ways for people to engage, we also utilized technical tools like Miro, Google Classroom, Google Forms, Zoom, and others to ensure that people could engage in-person, virtually, and at any time of the day that worked for them.

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Thank You!

Questions?

e-mail:

founder@investBLK.org


phone:

267.603.3040 (office)