This year brought a resurgence of putting Black pride onstage and a national recognition of Juneteenth—and it was also the first in many years that the Bronzeville Children’s Museum did not have its annual celebration.
Today, four months after Illinois museums closed their doors for safety, there’s no clear end in sight for the pandemic still upending daily life in the U.S. Some museums have reopened, but many that have interactive exhibits and are classified as “high touch”—like children’s museums—have not. These prolonged closings have dealt a hard blow to the nation’s nonprofit museums that are relying on admission, memberships, and philanthropic gifts to survive. About half of museums across the country don’t have the funding to cover operating costs for more than six months, according to an American Alliance of Museums survey.
And that’s not an overstatement. Peggy Montes’s long list of accomplishments and service to the cultural scene is extensive. She’s chairman emeritus of the DuSable Museum of African American History, where she worked with museum founder Dr. Margaret Burroughs for decades. She’s also a member of the Illinois Arts Council, one of the founding members of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Leadership Advisory Committee, a member of the Museum of Science and Industry’s Black Creativity program, and is active with the African American Association of Museums.
“[With] little children, it is our responsibility to help develop self-esteem,” Peggy Montes says. “Let them know that they are of worth, that they are somebody, and hopefully, establishing that at an early age will motivate them to go on and want to do something with their lives but also to want to help others. That’s the beauty of it.”
“We do have interactives, but that’s not the primary goal of why we are here,” Peggy Montes says. “So in preparation for the children coming back to the museum, we don’t really have to do that much. We have to just move around a few chairs and tables, and then they will be able to feel safe and we can protect them in terms of their visit to the museum.”
