Art+Feminism User Group/Reporting/FinalReport2023
This report summarizes the milestones, activities and achievements of Art+Feminism in the 2023 cycle.
Background[edit]
Staffing Plan and Org Chart[edit]
Program story[edit]
In 2023, we celebrated Year 10 of Art+Feminism! Our theme for the year was Collective Action.
Year 10 Hybrid Celebration in Houston[edit]
On April 15, 2023, we hosted editing workshops, art creation, and interactive sessions virtually and in-person at the Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church in Houston.
Overall, this was a successful event that accomplished our goal of celebrating Year 10 of Art+Feminism in a new place. We were able to create space for a Regional Leader to organize and create a symposium that integrated local activists and arts community members with a pathway for hybrid/virtual participation from anywhere. We created a hybrid schedule that had some programming specific to the in-person attendees in Houston and some specific to the virtual participants, with some spaces created for both to come together. We also worked with two language co-ops to provide Spanish and French interpretation, featuring some conversations in Spanish. We did experience some technical difficulties with Zoom in the first session, but have plans to circumvent those challenges in the future and despite those challenges the audio and translation were clear throughout the program (arguably the most important aspects).
Overall numbers of attendees and edits were not objectives of the event (but we do have some notes to consider on how to possibly improve attendance in the future), a few qualitative highlights:
- 100% masked in-person event. This was achieved with clear communication in the event description, social posts and communications leading up the event, and event signage with PPE at registration at the event. We received feedback such as:
“If I had any significant amount of money, I'd give it to yall for promoting masking and Prevention like yall are doing. Requiring masking?! Promoting hygiene practices that minimize spread of infectious disease?! Yall kick ass. It's so refreshing to see disabled ppl not be discarded for once.
“Wish more events took this many precautions! If I was in Houston, I’d pull up in a heartbeat 💖”
- Leading up to the event, we experimented with highlighting some Houston artists, The Houston artists features were exciting to feature
- One of the artists we featured attended virtually: https://artpace.org/exhibitions/no-mans-land/
- Another artist we highlighted was added as a wikidata item - Letitia Huckaby
- Working with other orgs in the Wikiverse and local Houston activists
- Keynote conversation featuring Paula Dominguez Font (Wikimedistas de Uruguay), Mariana Fossatti (Whose Knowledge?), Maru Vidal (Centro de Exposiciones SUBTE, Montevideo), and Lorena Luengas and Liliana Angulo (Museo Afro de Colombia)
- Breakout session featuring Wikipedia y las biografías de personas LGBTT+ presentation with Vic Sfriso (WMAR), Owen Blacker (Wikimedia LGBT+), and Sofia Stancioff and Kira Wisniewski (Art+Feminism)
- Black Lunch Table photobooth in Houston, working with photographer from Project Rowhouses; a fellow Ford Foundation grantee
- Sherry from AfroCROWD helped facilitate the virtual editing table
- Houston facilitators from Arte Público Press and SAID Pan-African Library
- Satellite event in Ghana with many first time editors that mostly worked on Wikidata translations as an entry point
- Giving back to local community
- With COVID safety precautions being a pillar of our event, we purchased PPE, air filters, and ordered box lunches to help mitigate safety. At the conclusion of our event, we organically were able to redistribute those resources directly back into the local Houston community (and not just leave the carbon footprint of our event). This experience is something we want to continue with intention at future Art+Feminism main events.
- air filters were donated to West Street Recovery - a non-profit in Houston self-described as: “a horizontally structured grassroots organization which aims to use the disaster recovery process to build community power”
- PPE (KN95 face masks and hand sanitizer) and leftover box lunches were brought to a The Montrose Center for the community event “Sex Workers Speak” that was happening directly after our symposium ended
2023 ArtFem Newsletter of Wiki Advocates PH UG
- With COVID safety precautions being a pillar of our event, we purchased PPE, air filters, and ordered box lunches to help mitigate safety. At the conclusion of our event, we organically were able to redistribute those resources directly back into the local Houston community (and not just leave the carbon footprint of our event). This experience is something we want to continue with intention at future Art+Feminism main events.
Celebration Fund Projects[edit]
Over the years, the Art+Feminism community has worked on closing information gaps related to gender & the arts worldwide. So far, we have witnessed traditional edit-a-thons, collaborative zine making, panel discussions & other interesting approaches.
For Year 10, we created a “celebration fund” that enabled returning organizers to produce an openly licensed resource that showcases “how you do Art+Feminism.” We put out a call for returning organizers to show what Art+Feminism looks like in their community.
We funded 13 projects ranging from videos to zines to a magazine to captioning videos in an archive.
“Wikipedia and LGBTT+ biographies”: a new translated guide from Wikimedia Argentina and friends[edit]
In 2022, Wikimedia Argentina released the important guide “Wikipedia y las biografías de las personas LGBTT+”: una guía de reflexiones y herramientas de Wikimedia Argentina. The guide, written in Spanish and localized to Argentina, includes reflections and tools on Wikipedia and how to present biographies of LGBTT+ people. The guide invites reflection on the writing of biographies of trans, non-binary and other members of the LGBTQIA+ community and what it means to write about their lives on Wikipedia, from a human rights perspective.
Following its release, a new collaboration was created to work on an English translation of the guide to help broaden its reach. The English translation was generated in cooperation with Vic Sfriso of Wikimedia Argentina, Owen Blacker of Wikimedia LGBT+ User Group, and Sofia Stancioff and Kira Wisniewski of Art+Feminism. The team were excited to launch this translation at Queering Wikipedia in May 2023.
A diff post was written about the experience.
Program Progress[edit]
Annual Campaign[edit]
According to the Program and Events dashboard, in 2023 we had over 2000 participants at 145 events hosted in 27 different languages. Thanks to this community, we’re one more step towards closing the information gaps related to gender, feminism, and the arts on Wikipedia.
Working with a consultant, we created an infographic that showcased many of the campaign highlights.
We continue to uplift and center COVID safety within the ongoing global pandemic. We update our Community Care statement annually. Our microfunding continued to provide funding for safety precautions around COVID safety and we maintained and updated our guide with information for event organizers to organize safer in-person.
Let's Connect: Embedding Equity in Collective Action[edit]
On May 16, 2023 Kira Wisniewski, Executive Director, and Melissa Tamani, Lead Co-Organizer, presented a Let's Connect clinic where we discussed how we center equity and community care when working with volunteers in our global community. It was moderated by Lucy Hinnie and Selene Yang. The session was presented in both Spanish and English with live interpretation in French and Portuguese.
The three learning objectives were:
- Learn about Art+Feminism’s approach to centering equity particularly when working with teams and volunteers around the world, with a focus on creating community care and support..
- Learn about further practices that have been important for Art+Feminism, including the act of “unlearning”, embedding equity within organisational values and culture, and working with outside consultants.
- Activities and reflection on your own experience of equity, support and volunteer organisation, and how this could be improved.
Participation at Conferences[edit]
Queering Wikipedia 2023[edit]
- Learnings from Art+Feminism's inaugural report on reliable source guidelines and marginalized communities in English, French, and Spanish Wikipedias co-presented by Melissa Tamani and Monika Sengul-Jones, two of the lead researchers
- Lectures and conversation on LGBTQ+ biographies co-presented with Sofia Stancioff, Art+Feminism Regional Ambassador, Vic Sfriso, Owen Blacker, Kit Heyam, and An Millet
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Wikimania 2023[edit]
- Sadik Shahadu, West African Indigenous Language Coordinator, and Kira Wisniewski, Art+Feminism Executive Director, shared a short presentation about the Art+Feminism West African Indigenous program as a part of WikiWomen Summit
- Kira Wisniewski, Executive Director, participated in a pre-conference Learning Circle facilitated by Whose Knowledge?
- Art+Feminism hosted a lunch meet-up during Wikimania with over two dozen people.
GLAMWiki 2023[edit]
Michaela Blanc and Paula Domínguez Font, both Regional Ambassadors, presented in person "GLAM Wiki 2023/Program/Art+Feminism and Cultural Institutions at the Forefront of Media Literacy". A recording of the talk is available on YouTube.
New and Updated Resources[edit]
- COVID Precautions for In-Person Events
- Wiki Interlinking Training developed by Miranda Pratt
- Wikipedia and LGBTT+ biographies translated in collaboration with WikiArgentina, WikiLGBT, and Art+Feminism