MISSION & VALUES
True to the ambitious vision of its founder and her spirit of creative risk-taking, the mission of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is:
to bring to life and preserve the rich historic collection;
to cultivate talent in the pursuit of knowledge and acts of creation in the arts and humanities;
to support artists, landscape architects, musicians, scholars and students; and
to engage local and global audiences in a sanctuary of beauty and the arts where deeply personal and communal adventures unfold.
--Adopted by the Board of Trustees, 2014.
OUR VALUES
- Creativity is our legacy
- Community is our purpose
- The Collection is our catalyst
- Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion are our commitments
Land Acknowledgment
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum resides on the homelands of the Massachusett Tribe, who belong to this place and continue to regard these lands and waters as sacred.
This land acknowledgment is our recognition of the longstanding history and continuing presence of Tribes who were here before white colonizers arrived, pushed or forcibly removed Indigenous Peoples from the land, and changed the uses of that land. We recognize that Indigenous People remain and are an integral part of the land today and will be for many generations to come. After several years of partnership with members of the Massachusett Tribe in the development of programs, the Massachusett Tribe and the Gardner agreed to deepen its partnership with a long-term commitment to shared conversation and discovery. Together, we hope to shift the narrative to one of respect, reckoning, and, in time, reconciliation. We commit to a genuine exchange with our partners and to reflection on concepts of archive, collection, colonialism, and more. The land acknowledgment is not the end of this renewed partnership, but the beginning.