“When I saw how Trump was stoking fear and division, I left the US for a job at the ROM”

Who: Jennifer Wild, 60, deputy director of engagement, Royal Ontario Museum
Known for: Bringing diverse perspectives to life for museum-goers Moved from: Detroit Institute of Arts in October of 2018

For 24 years, I worked at the Detroit Institute of Arts, one of the top museums in the US. Part of my job was to make sure people felt like the museum belonged to them. Museums can come across as elite spaces, and we worked to change that by reflecting the region’s diverse communities. That’s especially important in a city like Detroit and in nearby Dearborn, which has one of the largest Arab American populations in the country. The DIA has a collection of Islamic art and has worked with the community to highlight it.

Related: Trump’s Loss, Toronto’s Gain—Meet the artists, professors, scientists and other luminaries ditching the US and moving north

When the Trump administration introduced the Muslim travel ban in 2017, it was painful. I saw first-hand how it stoked fear and division. It went against the idea of social cohesion and the belief that diversity is a strength. By 2018, the political climate was weighing heavily on me. I grew up in Detroit, so Canada has always been a big part of my life. I watched the CBC as a kid, knew all the words to “O Canada” and often crossed the border to visit Point Pelee National Park. I’d always admired Canada’s health care system, and I saw Toronto as a thriving multicultural city. So when I got the offer to work at the ROM, an internationally respected institution that combines art, culture and natural history, I knew it was the right move.

My role is to focus on engagement, which means ensuring that exhibitions, public programs and learning initiatives resonate with visitors. Museums aren’t just about preserving objects—they are dynamic public places where anyone, regardless of background, can connect with art and culture. That’s why we involve community advisers, cultural experts and people with lived experience in shaping exhibitions. It makes the stories we tell richer and more relevant. Related: “It started to feel a bit too much like Europe in the 1930s”—Music producer Bob Ezrin on why he moved from Nashville to Toronto

A great example of that is Being Legendary, the 2022 exhibition by Cree artist Kent Monkman. It was an extraordinary answer to the colonial narratives that have historically dominated museums. The exhibition featured Monkman’s paintings alongside the museum’s Indigenous belongings and natural history specimens. Our job was to support his vision. The result was transformative, both for visitors and for us as an institution. Related: A look behind the scenes of Kent Monkman’s latest show

One of the things I love about our museum is how you can have a groundbreaking Indigenous art exhibition next to a T. rex installation and a show on the history of Canadian quilts. That diversity of ideas and perspectives is wonderful. Of course, I miss my family and friends in the US, and the changes happening there are breaking my heart. Lately, I’ve been thinking about a joint event that Detroit and Windsor hold every year called the International Freedom Festival. It’s a Canada Day and Fourth of July celebration that culminates in a massive fireworks display over the Detroit River. Thousands of people gather on both sides of the border to cheer and rejoice together. It’s a beautiful symbol of the connection between the two countries, and I’ve been hoping that the festival will happen this summer. I still believe in the idea of social cohesion—that communities, across borders and differences, are stronger when they come together. We should never lose sight of that.