Community Project: Scope and Plan
What Do I Plan To Do?
In my Community Engagement e-Portfolio (CE-eP) I analyze existing communication, information, and preservation offerings of Heritage Werks (HW) for various underserved groups (i.e., BIPOC communities, civil rights activists, and visual and performing artists and companies) within the Atlanta community, but also across the larger archival industry. By identifying existing and potential collaborators and partners in local, regional, national, and international communities in the physical setting and online I facilitate actual and/or planned activities of mutual interest to the company and the community.
Environment and Setting:
Heritage Werks is located in Duluth, Georgia which is north of Atlanta, Georgia, a major industry center with a rich social and cultural history. Atlanta is also home to many academic institutions like the Atlanta University Center Consortium, Emory University, Georgia Institute of Georgia and public memory institutions like Atlanta History Center, National Center for Human and Civil Rights, Jimmy Carter Library, and The King Center. While Heritage Werks is replete with top of the line digitization technology, research services, and quality processing techniques; they do not have a strong presence in the local or national archival community. Unfortunately, this presents challenges for an industry that is highly collaborative and that benefits immensely from partnerships. Right now.
Barriers & Obstacles/Challenges:
The current challenge of this project at Heritage Werks is that there is no internal blueprint or operating procedure for working with underrepresented populations. As a for-profit organization, the client is completely responsible for the cost and ongoing expenses of processing and servicing their collection. Therefore, currently there is no avenue for which underfunded groups can pursue. Additionally, the subjects I work with are performing artists from the African diaspora. Black performance artists encounter unique challenges because of the significance and lifespan of objects and concepts of provenance and original. In an article about the performance work of Otobang Nkanga, Nkanga’s emphasis on transmission through variability as well as on the relation with the environment requires us to widen our scope and to ask how non-Western theorizations of the archive could help to envision more inclusive, global approaches to archivization that are able to accommodate some of the artistic precepts that define Nkanga’s work”.
How Does Your Project Relate to This? How Does the Organization Perceive Your Role?
While Heritage Werks provides quality services for their high-end clientele, I believe they are interested in engaging with communities on social justice initiatives. In the past they have worked with non-profit organizations on smaller scale projects and felt their efforts were rewarded. As a Radical archivist with a social justice passion, I am committed to seeing more people and groups gain access to memory keeping resources. Andrew Flinn says, heritage professionals need to be prepared to actively seek out collaborations and form equitable partnerships with these social movements.
My position of Senior Archivist/Associate Director of Training and Development requires me to onboard new hires, design and implement the internship program, and establish standards for the ongoing improvement of the organization. In this position, I will support individuals' professional growth by exposing them to opportunities in archives outside of the company.
Methodological lens:
In this process, I propose a range of responsive strategies to further community needs, expectations, and representation in the specific setting and workforce environment. First, I need to work on how to create an inclusive environment for other memory workers outside of the company. In “Inclusion and Trust in Community-Engaged Scholarship: A Case Study of a County Visioning Project,” researchers show how trust and inclusion are key to enhancing the effectiveness and legitimacy of the process in addition to providing an opportunity for civic engagement.
What Results & Outcomes Do I Plan to Achieve?
I envision Heritage Werks to become a major force in the archiving and preservation industry. By expanding their offerings to underserved communities I believe they will be able to offer their high-end clientele opportunities to give back and contribute to the public memory in a more equitable way. I imagine The Radical Archive of Preservation partnering with Heritage Werks to lead this charge and change.
Disciplinary lens:
My work is positioned at the intersection of Feminist Performance Politics, Black Studies, Archival Science, Memory work and Social Justice. At The Radical Archive of Preservation, I explore creative ways of preserving memory or engaging with issues in the archive. I combine theories and methods from each of these disciplines to arrive at creative ways to give voice, make space, and give form to under-represented perspectives in and outside of historical narratives. My social justice project aims to provide access to resources and document people and perspectives. The major challenge for me in this project is that this archive is not a public use archive, but a private corporation. While the whole of society can benefit from the offerings as well as Heritage Werks for being in community with their local and regional peers, it is not duty bound to provide for those that cannot afford its products.
Theoretical/conceptual lens:
As part of my analysis, I critically evaluate: how HW engages with the local, national, and international archival community; the programs and services that HW offers to various underserved groups; and how HW works toward empowering these groups by making their voices and bodies visible to the local and global archival community for future enhancement of their civil rights status and the preservation of their history. I also plan to develop a strategic diversity action plan in order for HW to identify future directions of progressive growth and professional practice in consolidating future collaborations and partnerships.
I think it is important to immerse myself in the culture and community of Heritage Werks and avoid approaching the project with any theoretical lenses. Since this is not an academic or community archive they do not have the same commitments and/or aims. I may return to this with a different idea later, but at this point, I would not like to offer any.
References:
The Atlanta University Center Consortium is the world’s oldest and largest consortium of historically Black colleges and universities. Comprised of four member institutions – Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Spelman College. www.aucenter.edu
Bode, Lotte, and Timmy De Laet. 2021. “Breathing Air into the Archive: Preserving Otobong Nkanga’s Performance Art.” Performance Research 26 (7): 163–70.
Flinn, Andrew. 2011. “Archival Activism: Independent and Community-Led Archives, Radical Public History and the Heritage Professions.” InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education & Information Studies 7 (2): 1–20.Ryan, Ava, Mark Edwards, and J. Dusti Linnell. 2023. “Inclusion and Trust in Community-Engaged Scholarship: A Case Study of a County Visioning Project.” Journal of Extension 61 (2): 1–8.
The Radical Archive of Preservation website. www.theradicalarchive.com
Heritage Works Website. www.heritagewerks.com