About
*Engaging Collections is a residency and publication at the intersections of art + representation with libraries, archives, and special collections.
LEA EN ESPAÑOL AQUÍ
Mission:
Engaging Collections seeks to demystify access to special collections and archives, and amplify the indispensable role artists play as cultural translators within community.
We fund artists who share untold narratives through public artworks that build community and demystify historical collections, in collaboration with libraries, archives and special collections. This framework enables artists to act as conduits of truth-telling while grappling with an incomplete public history, which makes way for community engagement with the complicated and rich dynamics of history.
Initiatives:
Artists in Residence - Engaging Collections facilitates AiRs through funding, resources, and advocacy in the making of public artworks which address underrepresented histories, non-dominant narratives, and community-based legacies. The residency process facilitates artists in the creation of free cultural and artistic programs within their community, which encourages engagement in public libraries, archives, and special collections, and amplifies the narratives that are often left out of dominant histories.
Fellowships - Fellows are supported with funding and collaboration in the creation of new works or research which expands upon the concept of the archive and its intersections with art and representation.
Publication - Contributors to the publication are always compensated. In digital form for the time being, and published tangibly in the future, the publication acts as an accessible point of entry to some of the brilliant and innovative ways in which creatives are writing, photographing, making, unmaking, producing artworks, and learning at the intersections between art and archives.
Commitment to Anti-Oppression
Engaging Collections supports artists in locating, researching, and responding creatively to legacies of underrepresented and historically oppressed people, groups, and communities. With this as a basis for our work, it is important to articulate our understanding of, and stance on oppression and racism, and how we are committed to anti-racist and anti-oppressive work.
We are an anti-oppressive organization. This means that we are working towards ending racial and socioeconomic oppression.
Anti-oppression is the policy or practice of actively, vocally, and continually identifying, opposing, and eliminating oppression.
Anti-racist and anti-oppressive action is implemented in many ways, and includes individual behaviors as well as systemic changes such as altering systems, organizational structures, policies and practices, and addressing attitudes and stances of those around you in order to redistribute power more equitably. The redistribution of power is a necessary aspect of anti-racism, as non-racialized/white individuals have long benefitted from unearned privileges - commonly referred to as white privilege or a culture of white supremacy.
Engaging Collections works towards dismantling oppression:
+ through our commitment to financially and professionally supporting artists from historically marginalized backgrounds;
+ by working toward further demystification of the collecting practices of regional, specialized, and community-based archives and special collections, and dismantling the perception of intimidation around accessing these collections;
+ by facilitating self-education opportunities, mentorship, and support for anyone who wishes to participate in artistic or creative research in libraries, archives, or special collections;
+ through encouraging participation from, and offering support to, individuals and communities who do not see themselves represented in their dominant local or regional narratives.
As an organization, Engaging Collections recognizes the deep and systemic affliction of white supremacy, and its influence on how, why, and what we collect, preserve, and contextualize into archives, libraries, special collections, and museums. We are committed to demystifying the process of accessing these collections, and also the process of making new ones.
It is our belief that through working toward collective empowerment around naming the problematic aspects of history defined and maintained within a culture of white supremacy, and supporting a reframing of these narratives, that we can make way for deeper community engagement with the complicated and rich dynamic of a more representative history.
This is a working document, rooted in our founding as an equity-based, anti-racist, anti-oppressive organization and our belief that equity work is ongoing and always evolving. As such, we welcome feedback and suggestions for improvement.
For more information, please visit our Anti-racism Resources and our Glossary.
Collaborators
lydia see
// Directorlydia see (she/they/y’all) works across fields as an artist, photographer, educator, curator and serial collaborator, and is passionate about the uses of art for social justice + civic engagement
lydia started Engaging Collections to connect creatives to collections accessibly and inclusively, inspired by deep well of appreciation for libraries and archives, and after spending time as a resident artist in Spartanburg County Libraries in 2016-2017. Engaging Collections officially launched supported by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in summer 2019.
Gui Portel
Gui Portel (they/them) is a queer immigrant and multi-tasking leader with over 4 years experience in arts organizing, event coordination, group learning facilitation, theatre production, and photography.
Portel lives on ancestral lands of the Cheraw and Occaneechi Band (Greensboro, NC). As a descendant of both Guaraní matriarchs and Spanish colonizers, they often think about visualizing the amplification of marginalized narratives, collective deviation within social constructs, disruptions of art presentation, and 'new' recipes.
Ami Worthen
Ami Worthen is a writer and collaborator dedicated to collective liberation.
She believes, as Fannie Lou Hamer said, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” Her writing illuminates, amplifies, and fortifies this belief. As a collaborator, she chooses projects based on their potential impact. Over the past two decades she has worked with a range of transformative social enterprises and organizations, providing communications and production support and consultation.