Background:
The inaugural Steering Committee for the “Working Group on Collaboration, Collections, and Restitution Best Practices for North American Museums Holding African Objects” (CCRBP) emerged from a roundtable discussion held as part of Museum Day at the 2021 Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA) Triennial Symposium, which was held virtually from June 16 through June 20, 2021. In Fall 2021, the group’s inaugural Steering Committee held four listening sessions for African and North American stakeholders to broaden the conversation. These meetings provided a virtual international forum for museum professionals to share the relevant work happening at their respective institutions as well as their concerns, experiences, and goals regarding restitution and its processes. On December 3, 2021, the inaugural Steering Committee and a group of North American museum professionals gathered again on Zoom to review the feedback and to discuss next steps for formalizing the CCRBP Working Group (WG). A survey was widely circulated to invite individuals in North America, Europe, and Africa to participate in the new CCRBP WG by volunteering to join a new Steering Committee, five subcommittees, and two peer groups. At the same time, the inaugural Steering Committee asked the Board of ACASA to accept the CCRBP WG as an ad-hoc committee, a shift in status that was approved in January 2022. A new Steering Committee of thirteen individuals from Africa and North America now has been assembled, and the subcommittees will be confirmed in April. At present approximately 65 individuals based in Africa, North America, and Europe have volunteered to be part of the CCRBP WG. The new Steering Committee is working on a draft of the mission statement for the CCRBP WG.