Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Centre A 2025 Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (ID: 22895799)/Final Report
Application type: Standard application
Part 1: Project and impact
1. Describe the implemented activities and results achieved. Additionally, share which approaches were most effective in supporting you to achieve the results. (required)
Artwork Discussion Group (March 8): Participants explored the works of Hadassa Ngambi and Antalya Mbafumoya Tchomba, focusing on African women's artistic responses to genocide and occupation. The group engaged in critical reflection and contributed to the artists’ visibility by editing their Wikipedia pages.
Reading Group with Rahat Kurd (March 15): This intimate gathering centered on diasporic identity, language, and place, featuring poetry and essays by local writer Rahat Kurd. Kurd's participation enabled deeper audience engagement and enriched the discussion with her insights. Visitors also had the opportunity to engage with our event partner, Rungh’s own digital archiving platform Rungh Redux, as well as their website where they can find essays and reviews by our visiting artist Rahat Kurd alongside other writers. Rungh is introduced as a research resource for Wikipedia citation.
How To Edit Workshop (Online) (March 22): Designed to lower technical barriers to participation, this workshop introduced new editors—particularly from underrepresented communities to Wikipedia editing tools and protocols.
Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (March 29): Our final event invited the public to collaboratively edit and create Wikipedia pages focused on artists and cultural movements resisting genocide and occupation. This hands-on session supported the broader Art + Feminism mission of closing knowledge gaps.
Results Achieved:
Participants across all events deepened their understanding of systemic injustice, cultural resistance, and digital activism.
New Wikipedia pages and edits increased the visibility of marginalized artists and movements.
All programs fostered accessible, dialogue-driven spaces for learning and exchange.
The March events strengthened Centre A’s role as a platform for critical conversations at the intersection of art and politics.
Some of the effective approaches we found were:
Community-Centered Programming: Co-creating events with artists, scholars, and organizers ensured relevance and authenticity. Introduction of Rungh and their online rolodex as a resource for Wikipedia editing.
Skill-Building Through Access: Wikipedia workshops empowered participants by demystifying knowledge production and offering tangible tools.
Platforming Marginalized Voices: Highlighting artists resisting occupation and genocide contributed to both public education and cultural preservation.
2. Documentation of your impact. Please use space below to share links that help tell your story, impact, and evaluation. (required)
Share links to:
- Project page on Meta-Wiki or any other Wikimedia project
- Dashboards and tools that you used to track contributions
- Some photos or videos from your event. Remember to share access.
You can also share links to:
- Important social media posts
- Surveys and their results
- Infographics and sound files
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects
Centre A Web Page for A+F: https://centrea.org/2025/02/13/art-and-feminism/
Additionally, share the materials and resources that you used in the implementation of your project. (required)
For example:
- Training materials and guides
- Presentations and slides
- Work processes and plans
- Any other materials your team has created or adapted and can be shared with others
Training Material (for Artwork Discussion Group): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1v_r4Fit1jXru7xDTq-PLoGTvAPexRFJ31uLsB1oDfDk/edit?slide=id.g32d08789110_0_0#slide=id.g32d08789110_0_0
Training Material (for How to Edit Workshop): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Rd4E5qsA1M3QXPx4nwomaQ0nsQrMoJQ1eKwvyl8r4S0/edit?usp=sharing
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with this Rapid Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals. Required. Select one option per question. (required)
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Strongly agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Strongly agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Strongly agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Strongly agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Strongly agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | Strongly agree |
| F. Other (optional) |
Part 2: Learning
4. In your application, you outlined some learning questions. What did you learn from these learning questions when you implemented your project? How do you hope to use this learnings in the future? You can recall these learning questions below. (required)
You can recall these learning questions below: 1. Engage with more diverse communities in Vancouver / enable cross-cultural solidarity through the sharing of stories
How can Centre A better support and uplift diverse, systemically undervalued perspectives and communities in Vancouver?
What has prevented or limited this cross-cultural space and story sharing in the past? To what extent has / can Art and Feminism events help build solidarity?
2. This year, community members are motivated to produce open-access research around arts and culture as resistance to genocide and occupation through increased skills, knowledge, and building wikimedia community.
What barriers to informational freedom and access are particularly concerning for arts and culture workers resisting genocide and/or occupation through their work? How can Wikipedia contribute to this movement to fill informational and institutional gaps?
To what extent have our workshops removed barriers for communities to access and contribute knowledge on Wikipedia? How has an increase in research skills and historical literacy affected communities’ desire to continue producing knowledge?
How are our communities engaging with alternative methods of documentation and knowledge transference?
Learning Question 1: Cross-Cultural Solidarity and Story Sharing We learned that creating intentional, dialogue-based programming with clear political and cultural grounding was key to supporting cross-cultural solidarity. Events like the BDS workshop and artwork discussion group provided space for participants to engage with diverse narratives of resistance and survival, and to draw meaningful connections between global struggles, particularly among Indigenous, Black, and racialized communities in Vancouver.
Participants expressed that these events offered a rare and needed opportunity to explore how histories of colonialism, occupation, and resistance intersect across contexts. We also recognized that past limitations to cross-cultural engagement stemmed from lack of access, language and cultural barriers, and a shortage of platforms that center historically marginalized voices.
Our ongoing Art + Feminism programming proved to be an effective framework for building this solidarity, offering shared language, accessible tools (like Wikipedia), and community-focused learning environments that encouraged both individual expression and collective action.
Learning Question 2: Open Access, Wikipedia, and Resistance The Wikipedia-focused workshops revealed that while community members are highly motivated to contribute to public knowledge, many face initial barriers such as unfamiliarity with editing tools, self-doubt about expertise, and lack of institutional recognition for community-generated knowledge.
We found that once these barriers were addressed, through guided workshops and accessible entry points, participants were eager to continue researching, documenting, and sharing knowledge related to arts and culture as resistance. Many expressed increased confidence and a stronger sense of agency in contributing to public platforms like Wikipedia.
Additionally, the events demonstrated that Wikipedia can be an effective tool for reclaiming narrative and filling institutional gaps, particularly when paired with critical pedagogy and community-building. However, it also became clear that Wikipedia alone cannot fully hold the complexity of alternative or marginalized ways of knowing. Participants expressed interest in exploring other forms of documentation such as oral histories, zines, and digital archives that allow for nuance and contextualization.
Looking Forward: These learnings will inform our future programming in several ways:
We plan to continue building sustained relationships with diverse communities, co-developing programs that prioritize cultural relevance and accessibility.
We aim to deepen our engagement with alternative knowledge systems, including non-Western and community-based documentation methods.
We will continue offering Wikipedia workshops, while also critically examining the platform’s limits and supplementing it with other forms of open-access publishing.
Lastly, we are committed to fostering solidarity by holding space for dialogue that connects struggles across geographies, identities, and movements.
5. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities? This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences? (required)
One unexpected outcome during the implementation of our 2025 programming was slightly lower attendance compared to previous years, particularly for some in-person events. While the quality of engagement remained strong and feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, we had anticipated slightly higher turnout based on past participation in our Art + Feminism programming.
Upon reflection, we identified a few possible contributing factors: overlapping community events, the timing of the sessions during a busy period, and broader community fatigue related to ongoing political crises and emotional burnout. This highlighted for us the importance of not only offering meaningful content, but also being attentive to community capacity and energy.
At the same time, a positive and somewhat surprising outcome was the depth of engagement from those who did attend. In smaller groups, conversations were often more intimate, allowing for deeper reflection and exchange. For example, during the BDS workshop and the reading group with Rahat Kurd, participants engaged in long, thoughtful discussions that extended beyond the formal program time. We also saw strong individual commitment during the Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, with several attendees continuing to edit pages after the event concluded.
6. What is your plan to share your project learnings and results with other community members? If you have already done it, describe how. (required)
We plan to connect with other local organizers and organizations working at the intersections of art, activism, and open-access knowledge to share insights and compare experiences. These informal conversations and knowledge exchanges are a key part of our ongoing learning process and help strengthen the broader network of cultural workers committed to equity and justice. We’re especially interested in learning how others are navigating similar challenges related to community engagement, burnout, and documentation. Some organizations we plan to reach out to include: Rungh Magazine, Vancouver Black Library, Surrey Art Gallery, Helen and Morris Belkin Art Gallery, Emily Carr University, University of British Columbia, etc.
Part 3: Metrics
7. Wikimedia Metrics results. (required)
In your application, you set some Wikimedia targets in numbers (Wikimedia metrics). In this section, you will describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used.
| Target | Results | Comments and tools used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 60 | 81 | Counting by hand total number of participants |
| Number of editors | 20 | 8 | Dashboard |
| Number of organizers | 6 | 6 | Counting by hand total number of organizers |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 55 | 2 | 23 |
| Wikimedia Commons | |||
| Wikidata | |||
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | |||
| Wikivoyage | |||
| Wikibooks | |||
| Wikiversity | |||
| Wikinews | |||
| Wikispecies | |||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
8. Other Metrics results.
In your proposal, you could also set Other Metrics targets. Please describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used if you set Other Metrics in your application.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
9. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? (required)
No
9.1. Please state what difficulties you had. How do you hope to overcome these challenges in the future? Do you have any recommendations for the Foundation to support you in addressing these challenges? (required)
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]10. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency. (required)
6608.9
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
4833.64
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Provide the link to the financial report https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1N8bj-uT9DcMwtjLIP4-tHu6jX6RjKfj20jeNC1ueWds/edit?gid=928458698#gid=928458698
12.2. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
Some changes included an increase in costs for materials, supplies, refreshments, and honorarium for the project manager as childcare services were not requested. Additionally, at Wikimedia’s request, we reallocated the funding originally intended for the BDS workshop to cover these increased expenses.
13. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
No
13.1. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
N/A
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
N/A
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
14.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
Yes
14.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
14.3. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
Yes
15. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. (optional)
Review notes
[edit]Review notes from Program Officer:
N/A
Applicant's response to the review feedback.
N/A