Office of Institutional Safety & Equity (OISE) October 2021

IN THIS ISSUE Message from Dr. Biagas PAFA - We Hear You Campaign! Video: The Heritage of Diversity & Inclusion at PAFA Disability Awareness Month On Disability Inclusion Looking Forward DEIB Conversations in the Museum & HigherEd Women's Equal Pay Day What is the pay disparity for Native and Latina Women? Indigenous Peoples' Day Join IPD, Philly for their Week of Action From Our Collection Historic Landmark Building by Kambel Smith In the United States, the month of October is an annual recognition and celebration of National Disability Employment Awareness, Women's Equal Pay Day, World Mental Health Day, National Coming Out Day, and the observance of Indigenous Peoples' Day. Maya Angelou (1928-2014) famously said, "you can't really know where you are going until you know where you've been." Over the past few months we have been thinking about the PAFA story and clarifying our vision of the future of PAFA. In June 2021 Senior Staff, in conjunction with The Office of Institutional Safety & Equity (OISE), launched the PAFA - We Hear You! campaign. This campaign was part of a shared commitment to be responsive, forward thinking and solutions driven. We have been able to share with you our progress to date, since beginning our collective efforts to address challenges raised by our internal community and shape PAFA's culture to be on track to achieve Key Objective #5 and be recognized as a diverse and inclusive cultural institution and workplace. In case you missed these announcements and progress reports, we have included the links below. PAFA-We Hear You! - Compensation Statements PAFA - We Hear You! - SemiAnnual Performance Reviews PAFA - We Hear You! - Belonging Scorecard, Key Objective #1 PAFA - We Hear You! - Belonging Scorecard, Key Objective #2 PAFA - We Hear You! - Belonging Scorecard, Key Objective #3

The Office of Institutional Safety & Equity (OISE) is honored to share with you a new video highlighting many of PAFA’s “firsts”.  The Heritage of Diversity and Inclusion at PAFA video highlights the complicated history of diversity and inclusion over PAFA’s 216 years, noting what went well, what didn’t, and a commitment to the future to increase diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

As the video points out, PAFA has been a leader in many areas of inclusion, from educating women and African American artists to our exhibition practices. PAFA has also fallen short at times, which must be acknowledged to move forward. And moving forward is what we are doing. Thank you to the many individuals who helped make The Heritage of Diversity and Inclusion at PAFA: Al Gury, Anna Marley, Kevin Richards, CJ Stahl, Hoang Tran, and Brittany Webb. It was truly an inclusive effort.  In the July issue of our monthly Diversity Awareness newsletter we introduced our Looking Forward section, dedicated to highlighting diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and accessibility conversations in the Museum and HigherEd. These articles represent current advances in the way these spaces incorporate these principles in their thinking about the future of these institutions and amplify voices and experiences that have been historically left out of the conversation. As we move forward, we encourage you to watch the video and know that PAFA continues to be committed to creating a pluralistic environment for all of us.  -- Dr. Lisa Biagas The Office of Institutional Safety & Equity http://oise-hr.pafa.org

National Disability Employment Month

Disability Inclusion In the July issue of our Diversity Awareness Newsletter & Calendar we celebrated the 31st anniversary of the passing of the American's with Disability Act (ADA). As we shared, the ADA protects individuals with disabilities from employment based discrimination, requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations, and imposes accessibility requirements on public transportation. Throughout the month of October we celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). NDEAM commemorates the many and varied contributions of people with disabilities to America’s workplaces and economy. According to the Center for Disease Control, 1 in 4 Adults living in the United States, has a disability. Philadelphia has the largest disability population of any large city in the country and the highest percentage of individuals with ambulatory and cognitive disability. The 2021 theme for National Employment Disability Awareness Month is America's Recovery: Powered By Inclusion. The tendency when discussing disability in the workplace is to focus on accessibility. While accessibility still remains an important focus area and ensures equitable conditions for all members of our community, disability inclusion allows us to consider whether persons with disabilities experience all activities the same way as persons who do not have a disability, and ensures that our practices and policies are not ableist or able-bodied centric. Disability inclusion means understanding the relationship between the way people function and how they participate in society. Disability inclusion means that we give equal recognition to invisible and visible disabilities. Disability inclusion means that we give equal consideration of learning disabilities and neurodiversity in our curriculum, exhibitions, and pedagogical practices.

Understanding invisible disabilities in the workplace If you see someone at work using a wheelchair, wearing a hearing aid, or using an assistive device, you likely are aware the person has a disability. But not all disabilities are obvious to the eye. These are known as invisible disabilities. Read more www.understood.org

Looking Forward: Museum Philly artist with autism whose work sells for $25,000... For years, Lonnie Smith would gather the artwork made by his son, Kambel, and set up small shows at senior centers, libraries, and YMCAs across the Philadelphia region. Lonnie knew his son had a gift, but he couldn't get anybody else to see it.... Read more www.inquirer.com Looking Forward: HigherEd Students With Disabilities Say No Thanks to Return to Normal Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Rochelle Bowyer, a fourth-year student with dyslexia at the University of Washington, did everything she could to make her education accessible. She enrolled in courses a month early so that course videos could be... Read more www.chronicle.com

Women's Equal Pay Day

October 1st is Native Women's Equal Pay Day October 29th is Latina Women's Equal Pay Day

Source: California Commission on the Status of Women & Girls On average, Native women make 57 cents to every $1 a white man makes.

Source: @WeAllGrow Latina On average, Latina women make 55 cents to every $1 a white man makes.

Indigenous Peoples' Day

Rethinking How We Celebrate American History-Indigenous... Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! On Monday, more states, cities, and communities than ever will observe Indigenous Peoples' Day in place of or in addition to Columbus Day. They're part of a larger movement to see a more complete and accurate... Read more www.smithsonianmag.com Special thanks to PAFA faculty member, Dr. Ashley Caranto Morford (Liberal Arts Department), who has a partnership with IDP, Philly and has helped curate this year's list of activities.

Unlearning Columbus Day. For Native Americans, Columbus Day is an annual reminder of the violent history of 500 years of colonial oppression at the hands of European explorers--those who settled here and all who still occupy these lands today. Indigenous People's Day. Indigenous People's Day is a holiday that celebrates and honors Native American peoples and commemorates their histories and cultures. This day recognizes that Native people are the first inhabitants of the Americas, including the lands that later became the United States of America. Indigenous People's Day encourages Americans to learn and unlearn their history. Learn More: The Decolonial School at the California College of the Arts (CCA) is an interdisciplinary cohort of CCA faculty committed to building a new curricular model for art and design education that foregrounds Indigenous practices and acknowledges decolonization as a continuous process. The Decolonial School provides resources, presentations, and foundational scholarships to help others get started in the decolonialization process. Indigenous People's Day, Philly Inc., is a Philadelphia based community network whose mission is to cultivate an active Native American/Indigenous presence in the city of Philadelphia through cultural, educational and community-building initiatives that uplift our Native traditions, creative economies, and histories. Since 2019, IDP, Philly has produced an annual cultural festival, awareness campaign, and a social justice movement held at Shackamoxon (or what is known as Penn Treaty Park).

Join IDP, Philly for their Week of Action October 7 - 11, 2021. Visit their website for a list of resources, readings, and events.

From Our Collection

Historic Landmark Building by Kambel Smith "Kambel Smith (b. 1986, lives and works in Philadelphia), who makes stunning, large-scale sculptural re-creations of iconic architecture. Here he focuses on Philadelphia examples, including Independence Hall, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. Working in cardboard, foamcore, glue, and paint, sourced mainly from the trash, Smith, who is self-taught, pays close attention to replicating architectural features like cartouches, flourishes on column capitals, cornices, fenestration, and other elements...." | Read More

Kambel Smith's sculpture is featured in the "Making A Landmark" exhibit Sept 16, 2021 - July 24, 2022 in the HLB

We challenge you to check PAFA’s Diversity Awareness Calendar monthly and attend monthly OISE sponsored events. The purpose of this calendar is to celebrate and raise awareness of religious obligations, ethnic and cultural festivities, and significant events that may affect students, colleagues, and friends in the PAFA community.  Office of Institutional Safety & Equity Being an ally for a S.A.F.E. Community at PAFA