After protests from artists and museum staff a Museum's board member has resigned. Warren Kanders' company produces products used by the US Boarder Patrol and the belief by those in protest was that his presence on the board communicates the wrong message to the public and is counter to artists and staff's own values. Mr. Kanders was not voted off the board and the Musuem board did not ask him to resign (as far as I know). Nor did there appear to be pressure by other donors. However, the protests and even refusals by Artists to display their works served as a fairly profound distraction.
This particular resignation however does re-introduce the challenges to boards to be clear about what they believe and value and live stated beliefs and values. I of course do not know what is the stated values of the museum and don't know that they have enunciated in particular their willingness or lack thereof to question both the principles of those who serve as board members and/or donors and thus also question the origin of their donations. The museum has not, as far as it is reported, returned the donations by Mr. Kanders and indeed, offered he and his wife thanks. This would of course suggest that the board does not "feel" the same as the artists and donors. And, while artists and donors succeeded in making their case and in achieving a change, the next and even higher action should be to focus on ensuring that the current board should go through a soul-searching examination of core values and operating principles and be sure to include its constituents, donors, staff and artists in doing so and then, once done, consider redrafting its visions. Those then who might consider serving as board members and donors will have to be sure their values align as will the Museum itself in accepting gifts.
Here's the Wall Street Journal story.
Warren Kanders Resigns From Whitney Museum’s Board Amid Protests
Artists and museum staff have protested over his company's military products seen at the U.S.-Mexico border
A vice chairman of the board of the Whitney Museum of American Art resigned Thursday after months of artists’ protests over his company’s military products, including canisters used to hold tear gas.
In his resignation letter, Warren B. Kanders said he is stepping down with great sadness after 13 years on the board because attacks against him “threatened to undermine the important work of the Whitney.”
Mr. Kanders is chairman and CEO of Safariland LLC, based in Jacksonville, Fla. Safariland’s website shows it sells military gear such as gun holsters, bulletproof vests and tear-gas canisters.
His departure comes during the museum’s signature biennial exhibition, which runs through Sept. 22.
For months, artists and museum staff have protested Mr. Kanders’s involvement in the Whitney after news photos showed Safariland products at the U.S.-Mexico border where U.S. Border Patrol agents used tear gas to disperse migrants trying to enter the country.
Four artists sent a letter to the biennial’s curators last week, released publicly through the art news site, Artforum, saying they refused “further complicity with Kanders and his technologies of violence.”
“The power of art lies in its ability to express, to push boundaries, and to ask questions,” Mr. Kanders’ resignation letter said. “Art, as I know it, is not intended to force one-sided answers, or to suppress independent thinking. And yet, these recent events have illustrated how a single narrative, created and sustained by groups with a much larger and more insidious agenda, can overwhelm that spirit.”
The museum released a statement thanking Mr. Kanders and his wife, Allison Kanders, for their generous financial contributions and gifts of more than a dozen artworks.
Nicholas Galanin, an indigenous artist in Alaska who had pulled his two pieces from the biennial, said his work could now remain in the show.
Mr. Kanders’ resignation “was good news to hear for sure, I was in disbelief,” he said. “Artists and activists have power when we come together in shaping these institutions.”
Mr. Kanders’s departure comes as other philanthropists face pressure to withdraw from arts institutions.
In May, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York said it would stop accepting donations from members of the Sackler family associated with drugmaker Purdue Pharma LP, amid scrutiny of the drug company’s role in the opioid epidemic.
Write to Leslie Brody at [email protected]