Hello ARLIS/NA, ARLIS UK and VRA Members,

 

I’m pleased to announce that the third annual Art+Feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon will take place this weekend in New York and around the world. I’ve seen a lot of the node organizers posting their events on the ARLIS/NA listserv and I want to thank everyone in VRA and ARLiS who has made this happen. From the organizers, we truly appreciate your commitment and dedication, we couldn’t do this without you! And for those of you who aren’t organizing, please consider attending a local event and contributing your knowledge to the Commons. You can find a press release with more specific information below and a full list of events, taking place at over 125 venues in over 20 countries on every inhabited continent, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/ArtAndFeminism

 

Many thanks again,

Siân Evans, co-founder Art+Feminism

 

 

 

ART+FEMINISM

2016 WIKIPEDIA EDIT-A-THON 
SATURDAY, MARCH 5
AT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART 
WITH OVER 125 GLOBAL SATELLITE EVENTS

THIRD-ANNUAL EVENT TO FEATURE 
PANEL DISCUSSION ON CONTEMPORARY FEMINISM

Art+Feminism’s third annual Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, an all-day event designed to generate coverage of women and the arts on Wikipedia and encourage female editorship, will take place on March 5, 2016 at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Featuring tutorials for the beginner Wikipedian, ongoing editing support, reference materials, childcare, and refreshments, the much-anticipated event will take place at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Education and Research Building, 4 West 54 Street, on March 5, 2016 from from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Edit-a-thon will launch at 10 a.m. with an expansive conversation on contemporary feminisms and digital culture with writer Orit Gat, artist and activist Reina Gossett, and New York Times technology columnist Jenna Wortham, moderated by Fiona Romeo, MoMA’s Director of Digital Content and Strategy. Continuing this discussion, afternoon breakout groups will engage in focused conversations about related issues, including intellectual property, notability, and LGBTQ visibility on Wikipedia.

Node edit-a-thons will take place in the month of March at over 125 venues in over 20 countries on every inhabited continent, including Ashesi University Brekuso, Accra; Tate Britain, London; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City; Gus Fisher Gallery, The University of Auckland; Archives Nationales, Paris; The Menil Collection, Houston; SCAD Hong Kong; Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Lima;  Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC.

“Our focus this year is intersectional feminisms,” said the lead co-organizers, Siân Evans, Jacqueline Mabey and Michael Mandiberg. “Feminism is not just an idea, but a practice: a way of organizing that is inclusive, collaborative, horizontal, with consensus-based decision making. With this in mind, we have convened a group of experienced community organizers to review our materials and methods. Their findings will shape the form of our materials going forward. We did this to better serve Art+Feminism participants, and to create a welcoming space for all members of the public who wish to participate.” 

In March 2015, over 1,500 participants joined Art+Feminism’s second annual Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at The Museum of Modern Art in New York and more than 75 satellite events around the world, resulting in the creation of nearly 400 new pages and significant improvements to 500 articles on Wikipedia—including articles about female artists, feminist artistic movements, and feminist scholarship. Following the success of the inaugural event in 2014, the organizers were named to Foreign Policy magazine’s list of 2014 Leading Global Thinkers.

Art+Feminism is a rhizomatic campaign to improve coverage of women and the arts on Wikipedia, and to encourage female editorship. Wikipedia’s gender trouble is well-documented; in a 2011 survey, the Wikimedia Foundation found that less than 10% of its contributors identify as female. This lack of female participation has led to an alarming dearth of content about women and art in the world’s most popular online research tool. Art+Feminism’s Edit-a-thons and other initiatives make an impact on the gender gap through crucial improvements to art and feminism related subjects on Wikipedia. To facilitate the expansion of Art+Feminism in 2016, the Wikimedia Foundation has renewed their support with a $56,000 grant, supplementing $25,000 in previous funding.

Node edit-a-thons are being planned for the month of March at over 125 venues across every inhabited continent, including: National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth; Ashesi University, Accra; Gus Fisher Gallery, The University of Auckland; The Banff Centre; Kaskadenkondensator, Basel; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Interference Archive, Brooklyn; Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries, Cambridge; Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town; School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh; SCAD Hong Kong; The Menil Collection, Houston; Cornell University, Ithaca; Baexong Arts Kyoto; Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Lima; Kunsthaus Hafenstraße, Linz; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Tate Britain, London; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; México, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (UNAM), Alumnos 47, and Centro de Cultura Digital Estela de Luz, Mexico City; Canadian Women Art History Initiative, Concordia University, Montréal; McGill, Montréal; Yale University, New Haven; Newcomb Art Museum, Tulane University, New Orleans; Smith College, Northampton; Archives Nationales, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh; Yale Union, Portland; Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; California College of the Arts, San Francisco; New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe; Savannah College of Art and Design; Hallwylska museet, Stockholm; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Bibliothèque diocésaine de Tunis; Biblioteca Municipal Carmelina Sánchez-Cutillas, Valencia; Emily Carr University of Art and Design, The University of British Columbia, and Western Front, Vancouver; The Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Rose Art Museum and Rosebud, Brandeis University, Waltham; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; and online all month long as part of the Women in Red edit-a-thon. The complete list of venues can be found on the Art+Feminism meet up page. 

The 2016 Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon is organized by Art+Feminism, led by Siân Evans/Art Libraries Society of North America’s Women and Art Special Interest Group, Jacqueline Mabey/failed projects, and Michael Mandiberg, in collaboration with the Professional Organization for Women in the Arts (POWarts) and The Museum of Modern Art, with support from Tekserve, Wikimedia NYC and the Wikimedia Foundation.