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Review of The Smithsonian Associates

While the evening and day-long weekend programs I'...

While the evening and day-long weekend programs I've attended as a member have been been outstanding over the last two years, I can only give the organization 3 stars because of the lack of culturally-related programming dealing with the past or present contributions of any non-White (whether European or American) group of people. There have also been very few culturally-related programs related to past or present cultural contributions of folks who are Black, Spanish/Spanish-speaking Latin American/ Latino American, LGBTQ, or those of people with disabilities. While I understand that the majority of Smithsonian Associates are White (the author of this post included), the Smithsonian Associates shouldn't merely be devising programming based entirely on what the members want (and to be clear, I'm making an assumption that most members are interested in cultural programs dealing principally with the past and/or present contributions of heteronormative, able-bodied, English-speaking White folks, since this is who many of the group members are); that as one of the premiere associations in the area that's dedicated to offering informative and entertaining cultural programming to the DC area, they should also be "moving the ball forward" by exposing their audience to more culturally-related programs dealing with the cultural contributions of people who were not, or are not, White. Witness, for example, the paucity of programs over the past two years dealing with cultural contributions of non-White groups: there are a few programs dealing with Black American cultures; even fewer programs dealing with Spanish, Spanish-speaking Latin American, or Latino American cultures; and an even smaller number of programs dealing with the cultural contributions of LGBTQ folks and folks with disabilities, among others. It's really a shame, but the good news is that they can rectify this situation by hopping to it and creating some exciting programs dealing with the cultural contributions of these (and others whom I failed to mention here) groups! I will continue to attend the programs that interest me, and I hope I can revisit this review and award more stars. But that's only going to happen if they follow the advice I gave above. And for what it's worth, I know there are other Smithsonian Associates members who feel the same way that I do (including one outspoken older woman who made her views on this subject abundantly clear to the relevant people at the Smithsonian Associates). Don't let us down, Smithsonian Associates! :)