Good evening, everyone.
 
First, I want to thank Manu Chander, our Board Chair, for that introduction. I also want to acknowledge that the Curationist Foundation supports us, and we are honored to have some of our board members here with us tonight.
 
 
#### Art, Access, and the Power of Cultural Memory
 
Before I tell you about the launch of Curationist Museum Services, let me share a quick story.
 
This week, with our team all here in New York City for this launch, we visited an art revival called Luna Luna at a local venue called The Shed. Luna Luna is this ambitious project by artist André Heller. Back in 1987, in Hamburg, Germany, he built a theme park designed by artists – he had convinced 33 of the Western world’s most popular contemporary artists—Basquiat, Hockney, Dalí, Lichtenstein, Keith Haring—to create something remarkable. A carnival of art, where visitors could ride a Ferris wheel covered with Basquiat’s drawings, walk through a pop-art labyrinth made of glass by Roy Lichtenstein, or waltz inside a pavilion by David Hockney. A place where art wasn’t just viewed—it was experienced. And then, after one summer in 1987, Luna Luna vanished. It was packed away in 44 shipping containers that ended up in Texas, forgotten for over 30 years - until it was rediscovered by the world again for this new exhibition.
 
I knew this story before going in, but I brought the team there because I saw the clear alignment with Curationist. And this was really reaffirmed when we walked through the door and they had this quote from Heller painted on the wall: "Art should come in unconventional guises and be brought to those who might not ordinarily seek it out in more predictable settings." That captures exactly what we believe at Curationist. Art and cultural heritage should not be reserved for a select few or locked inside of institutions with limited access. It should be open, dynamic, and participatory—made available to everyone in ways that challenge traditional, exclusionary narratives.
 
 
#### Understanding Each Other Through Art and Culture
 
Because here’s the thing—access to art and culture isn’t an aesthetic issue. It’s about understanding one another. It’s about connection. It’s how we recognize ourselves in one another, bridge divides, and make sense of the world. When we don’t have access to art, we don’t have access to each other.
 
When access to cultural heritage is restricted—whether by physical barriers, digital inaccessibility, or historical exclusion—it deepens the divides between us. In a time when polarization and misunderstanding are so prevalent, ensuring equitable access to art and history isn’t just about preserving culture—it’s about fostering empathy, social cohesion, and a shared sense of belonging. The ability to see oneself in history, to recognize connections across cultures, is essential to countering division and building a more just world.
 
Historically, museums have played a central role in fostering cultural understanding. But we must also acknowledge that much of this has been done through problematic means—looting, colonialism, and exclusionary narratives that have shaped how we talk about and study cultural objects. Many collections that exist today were built through systems of power that took artifacts and histories from their places of origin and reframed them through a Western-centric lens.
 
This is where Curationist comes in. Since our launch, we have played a vital role in the** open culture movement**, making it possible for people to explore millions of digital images of cultural heritage. But we’ve done more than that. We’ve created a space where users engage with objects in ways that challenge colonial legacies, reframe historical narratives, and uplift cultures that have been erased or marginalized.
 
Through editorial work, metadata enhancements, and collaborations, we help people find meaning beyond traditional institutional narratives. But as we’ve built this platform, we’ve come to a deeper realization—while we were making existing collections more accessible, we were missing critical voices. The voices of those whose histories have been systematically erased or overlooked were not reaching our platform in the way they needed to.
 
The reason that we uncovered was that many of the institutions that could share those voices lacked the tools, the resources, and the infrastructure to participate in the digital cultural space. We’ve seen firsthand that simply having a commitment to open access isn’t enough if the people who hold these histories are left without the means to contribute. The institutions we’ve worked with so far—many of them large, well-resourced, and well-established—have been invaluable in expanding access, but their collections alone cannot tell the full story.
 
To make a real impact, we need to go beyond working with those who already have access and start supporting those who don’t. We need to build new pathways for underrepresented institutions and communities to share their knowledge, to bring their digitized collections into greater public reach, and to take ownership of their own cultural narratives. We need to expand access, and we need to do so in ways that correct the inequities of the past.
 
 
#### Introducing Curationist Museum Services
 
That’s why we’re launching something new.
 
_Curationist Museum Services_ builds on what we’ve already created and expands our work to support the creation of new digital collections, ensuring that smaller institutions, underrepresented communities, and forgotten archives become part of the conversation. 
 
Here’s what we’re doing:
• **Helping museums build sustainable digital strategies **so their collections remain accessible and properly maintained for future generations.
• **Providing hands-on training **in best practices for metadata enhancement, licensing, and increasing visibility of digital assets.
• **Expanding collections beyond a museum’s own digital footprint **by helping them share their collections not only on Curationist, but also on other popular open culture platforms such as Europeana, Wikimedia Commons, and Flickr Commons.
• **Focusing on smaller institutions and marginalized collections,** ensuring their histories are not locked away or lost to time.
• **Offering a co-application process for grants,** so institutions aren’t forced to bear the financial burden alone.
• **Sourcing funding **for institutions that lack financial resources to expand the reach of their digitized collections.
 

In short, we are seeking to remove the barriers that have historically kept smaller institutions from participating in the **open culture movement.** At Curationist, we believe that, whenever possible, cultural knowledge should not be confined. It should not be locked in storage containers or hidden behind paywalls. It should be alive, participatory, and accessible to all.
 
 
#### Building the Future Together
 
We are at the outset of something ambitious. We are working to build a structure that ensures cultural treasures are not lost due to lack of resources or visibility. Just as Luna Luna was tucked away in storage for decades, we cannot let these vital cultural narratives be forgotten or hidden.
 
This is a vision that requires a community—institutions, funders, and supporters who believe in the transformative power of access to culture.
 
We are ready to engage institutions now, to work alongside them in ensuring that their collections reach wider audiences and are framed in ways that better reflect the richness and complexity of the histories they hold. But this work also needs those who will help us build and sustain it—those who recognize that cultural knowledge should not be confined but should be alive, participatory, and accessible to all.
 
 
#### A Call For Collaboration
 
After I wrap up, you’ll hear from a panel about the promise of what we are building, you will get a demo of the platform from our Platform Director, Amanda Figueroa, followed by an exciting panel discussion. I invite you to stay, engage, and imagine with us what the future of cultural accessibility can be.
 
I also want to mention that the Curationist Foundation is looking for more fiscal sponsors to help expand this vital work. If you are interested in supporting this mission, let’s chat during the reception after the demo!
 
Thank you. Now, let me introduce you to our Platform Director, Amanda Figueroa.

 A mosiac comprised  of 6 works of art, a teal circle and a yellow circle

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Read Executive Director, Christian Dawson's remarks at our Curationist Museum Services Launch Event in New York City on January 30, 2025. 



Executive Director Remarks on Curationist Museum Services Launch

#### About Curationist
 
[Curationist](https://www.curationist.org/) is a free online resource that enables users and communities to seek, find, and reimagine cultural heritage through our vast archives of open access images, radical work with metadata, and editorial features shining light on marginalized histories of art and objects. For select items, the Curationist team enhances the metadata, adding more information or providing a different perspective, which is often rooted in a concern for social justice.
 
#### Job Overview
 
The core building blocks of the cultural data on our site are the [Works](https://www.curationist.org/works), or digital objects. The Digital Archivist will create and refine metadata through a social justice lens for our Works, ensuring accuracy and alignment with Curationist’s editorial and style standards. Curationist’s Digital Archivists can also propose new metadata enrichment projects according to their own interests and experience. This role also involves fact-checking and research in support of our editorial content team. As an integral part of our distributed workplace, the Digital Archivist will report to the Managing Editor and collaborate with the Metadata Manager and Senior Digital Archivist. 
 
Examples of projects/works we have enhanced with additional metadata : 
- [The Learned Courtesan in Edo Japan](https://www.curationist.org/editorial-features/article/the-learned-courtesan-in-edo-japan)
- [Industrial Optics: How We See Labor and Why It Matters
](https://www.curationist.org/editorial-features/article/industrial-optics:-how-we-see-labor-and-why-it-matters)
More on how we work:
- [Words Matter: Reconciling Museum Metadata with Wikidata](https://www.curationist.org/editorial-features/article/words-matter:-reconciling-museum-metadata-with-wikidata)

#### Responsibilities
- **Metadata creation**: Create new metadata for Works, including detailed object descriptions and alt text. 
- **Wikidata and Taxonomy Management
Research and Fact-Checking
Support for Writers**: Conduct searches in Wikidata for relevant terms, add synonyms, or create new entries; oversee the management and growth of Curationist’s custom taxonomy. 
- **Research and Fact-Checking:**: Research Works and verify source metadata accuracy; review and edit any metadata created by writers to ensure consistency and completeness. 
- **Support for Writers**: Provide research and archival support, fielding questions and conducting rights research with external institutions as needed. 
- **Collaboration and Communication**: Maintain consistent communication through email, Slack, and Asana, and participate in regular meetings. 
- **Outreach and Education**: Participate in the [Metadata Learning and Unlearning Summit](https://www.curationist.org/editorial-features/article/metadata-learning-and-unlearning-summit-2023).


#### Qualifications
- **Education and Experience:** Degree or equivalent experience in Archives and/or Library Science, with a strong background in art or cultural heritage.
- **Technical Skills**: Experience with metadata standards in cultural heritage, familiarity with Creative Commons and linked open data (Wikidata knowledge preferred). 
- **Cataloging, Writing & Research**: Experience with cataloging for cultural heritage and/or museums; strong writing, proofreading, and research skills.
- **Additional Expertise**: Proficiency in remote project tools (Slack, Asana, Notion, Google Workspace), knowledge of controlled vocabularies, and interest and understanding of critical/postcolonial museum studies.

#### Preferred Attributes
- Self-motivated and able to direct one’s own research and project work. 
- Ability to work effectively and collaboratively in a distributed workplace.
- Additional experience in accessibility writing, online content creation, and non-profit work.
- Familiarity with SPARQL, SQL, JSON, or similar data tools and formats. 

#### To Apply
 
**Please send us a cover letter and resume, including any relevant links or PDFs of your work and writing samples. Please collect all materials into one PDF and name the PDF with your "Firstname Lastname Digital Archivist Position" and email to: [pitch.us@curationist.org](mailto:"pitch.us@curationist.org") **

 
In your letter, please include mention of any research interests that overlap with Curationist’s archives, past experience working with art objects and cultural heritage, and your availability to work up to 50 hours per month.

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Part-time, Remote Digital Archivist
Up to 50 hours/month
$40/hour
 
Applications accepted until February 28.

Seeking Part-time, Remote Digital Archivist

This call for feature proposals is open to arts writers, artists, historians, curators, librarians, archivists, and anyone in the GLAM field with an interest in engaging with our readers and our mission. We seek to expand our network of guest contributors and to build on existing relationships.
 
Invited guest writers will be welcomed to the Curationist community. They will have the opportunity to develop their proposal into an essay which will be published as part of our Editorial Features. In the process, guest writers will also learn about image rights and the open knowledge movement; and have the feedback and research assistance of our experienced editorial team and digital archivists. 
 
The ideal guest writer will have an interest in the history and contemporary context of cultural objects and materials. This is an opportunity for writers at any stage of their career to engage with open access digital collections through Curationist and to have their writing expand cultural discourse. 
 
One of our goals is to support writers who are underrepresented globally and topics that are underexplored in mainstream arts writing. Curationist promotes storytelling and curiosity through a social justice lens that is anti-racist, anti-colonial, feminist, queer, and anti-ableist. The Curationist team is committed to diversifying perspectives, decentering colonialist cataloging, and supporting Indigenous data sovereignty. 
 
#### Curationist Invited Guest Writer, Specifications:
• 3-month timeline from accepted proposal to publishing on site
$1500 flat rate for essay (aiming for ~1500 words), paid upon submission of final draft
• Full editorial support from our editors 
• Research support from our digital archivist
• Expect to go through at least 2 drafts with editorial feedback and revisions
• Proposals/abstracts should critically engage Works in our archives
• Topics should take into consideration our mandate to revise/amend/improve metadata of Works.
 
#### Curationist Features Topics Themes for 2024/25:
• We seek proposals for new feature essays that address topics that are not already well-covered in our editorial features, delving into new corners of the archive. We ask that you peruse our editorial essays and the website to gain a better understanding of our ethos and publishing history.
• Some topic suggestions for 2025: film, animals and taxidermy, botany and plants, architecture, interior design and furniture, museum conservation, cookbooks, the nonvisual senses.
 
#### Proposal Guidelines
To submit a proposal for a guest editorial feature, please email [pitch.us@curationist.org](mailto:"pitch.us@curationist.org") with a PDF containing:
• An abstract of your essay (200-300 words). Please note: We intend to publish new writing, developed for our platform. Do not send finished drafts or work that is published elsewhere. 	
• Link/s to at least one Work in the Curationist archive that will be referenced in your essay.
• Links or PDFs of published writing or other writing samples. No more than two or three.
• CV or resume.

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Open Call, February 1 through March 30.
 
We seek proposals to publish new writing on our platform.

Call for Proposals for Editorial Features 

Grace brings extensive experience as a tech policy strategist, most recently serving as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). There, she oversaw $50 billion in broadband infrastructure grants, led initiatives on AI policy and global Internet governance, and represented NTIA internationally, including in Kyiv for the U.S.-Ukraine Cyber Dialogue. In the private sector, she helped grow and sell the AI startup Element AI (acquired by ServiceNow).
 

At the Curationist Foundation, we strive to connect people with global cultural heritage through open-access tools, metadata innovation, and editorial storytelling. By uniting millions of digitized works from museums and archives worldwide, we empower users to explore cultural history and discover new perspectives. With Grace’s leadership, we look forward to exploring an ethical AI path that aligns with our mission, leveraging her expertise to ensure our use of new technologies support inclusivity and responsible cultural stewardship.
 
We are excited to work with Grace as we deepen our partnerships, enhance our metadata initiatives, and support cultural institutions in overcoming digitization challenges. Together, we aim to create a more inclusive and collaborative digital space for cultural knowledge.
 
Please join us in welcoming Grace to the Board of Directors!
 
Christian Dawson
**Executive Director
Curationist Foundation**

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The Curationist Foundation is proud to welcome Grace Abuhamad to its Board of Directors. Her expertise in tech policy and global strategy will support our mission to expand access to cultural heritage and foster inclusivity in the digital space.


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