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Kelly Wilson/Catalyst
The Activist Newsletter BY ANYA MARÍA CONTRERAS-GARCÍA This week (4/19 – 4/27), activists have the opportunity to participate in marches, panel discussions, workshops, film screenings and meetings! Read on if you want to get involved in the community regarding science, environmental issues, gun violence, healthcare or racial equality. Check out ncfcatalyst.com every week for an extended calendar of events! Sat., April 22 Sarasota March for Science @ 10:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Five Points Park, 1 Central Ave, Sarasota, Florida 34236 The March for Science is a peaceful call to safeguard the scientific community in response to recent federal policies. Local activists will assemble at 5 Points Park and march to Hamel Park to save the planet, to stand for facts and to bring environmental issues to the forefront for Earth Day. For more information, check out the event page on Facebook. Sat., April 22 Dancing for Parkinson's Performance and Panel Discussion @ 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. College Hall Music Room, New College, 5800 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota FL 34243 Embodied Cognition in (Inter) Action, a multiple-disciplinary event, will explore the intersections between movement therapy, art and cognition theory and research. Dance classes offer a unique opportunity for philosophers and neuroscientists studying cognition while offering people with Parkinson’s Disease improved motor skills. To RSVP for this free event, check out the event page on Facebook. Sun., April 23 Racism 102: Deconstructing & Addressing Racial Bias @ 2 – 5 p.m. Allendale UMC, 3803 Haines Rd N, Saint Petersburg, Florida 33703 This workshop will be a racial justice solidarity training to provide skills and context to white folk who want to become allies and comrades towards the liberation
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2017 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst
of People of Color. Activists will discuss, deconstruct and address racial bias. To reserve your tickets, check out the event page on Facebook. Mon., April 24 Newtown Film Screening & Panel Discussion @ 6 – 10 p.m. Fogartyville Community Center, 525 Kumquat Ct, Rear, Sarasota, Florida 34236 A screening of the film "Newtown" will be followed by a discussion on gun violence led by panelists Professor Frank Alcock, Mayor Willie Shaw, Patti Thompson LMHC and SRQ School Safety Director Michael Andreas. Filmed over the course of three years, the film weaves together testimonials from diverse community members to document a traumatized community seeking healing. Tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at the door. For more information, check out the event page on Facebook. Tues., April 25 What the New Health Care Proposal Means For You @ 6:30 – 9 p.m. Fogartyville Community Center, 525 Kumquat Ct, Rear, Sarasota, Florida 34236 This discussion is the first of three led by Becky Martin, an experienced community organizer who joined the National Physicians Alliance staff in 2009. Martin will guide a conversation examining the American Health Care Act and what it means for families and individuals across the US. For more information, check out the event page on Facebook.
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Art + Feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon breeds C4 collaboration BY MAGDALENE TAYLOR
Less than 10 percent of Wikipedia contributors identify as female. How might this lack of gender diversity impact the knowledge shared on the collaborative online encyclopedia? This is something Art + Feminism seeks to address - and something that the local academic community addressed this weekend. Art + Feminism is an organization founded by four art historians who strove to make narratives of art and feminism more visible on the site. Since 2014, students, artists, librarians and more across the globe have gathered together to edit Wikipedia articles in groups. While the Edit-A-Thons as they’re called - are usually held in March, one was held in town on April 15 at Goldstein Library at Ringling College of Art and Design. Though it happened on the Ringling campus, it was the collaborative creation of New College faculty and librarians. The basic goal of an Art + Feminism Edit-A-Thon is to increase the diversity of voices contributing to public knowledge. The organization puts an emphasis on gender diversity, emphasizing an inclusivity toward all genders and a need for intersectional feminisms. “We have different perspectives and practices but share the belief that art is fundamental to thriving societies and strive to make visible the lives and work of underrepresented artists,” Art + Feminism states on its website. The local Edit-A-Thon was inspired by a new push to make connections between Ringling College and New College in the Colleges of the Creative Coast Consortium, or C4. Humanities Librarian Theresa Burress, Art History Professor Dr. Katherine Brion and Ringling Professor of Renaissance & Baroque Art & Architecture Dr. Chrystine Keener, along with other librarians and faculty from Ringling, gathered with their laptops to work together on the event. Theresa Burress had previously gotten New College students involved in the practice of editing Wikipedia with a group Independent Study Project (ISP) in January she has organized and led for the last three years. Burress also serves as executive council of the Florida Digital Humanities Consortium. With the help of Burress, Brion has also begun incorporating the digital humanities into her classes, including Wikipedia editing. In order to edit Wikipedia, one must simply make an account with the website. The initiative is entirely volunteer based, but it’s often a great deal of work in order to do it well. Brion and the other librarians each had stacks of books next to them, researching details and citations in order to make
small edits on the pages of artists. There’s various sources within Art + Feminism that suggest certain pages that require editing or further detail. Brion, for example, noted that a section of African American artists’ Wikipedia pages needed contribution, and was making edits on the Wikipedia page of artist Renee Green and a project she did on racialized human display of the 19th century. This specific project focused Sarah Baartman, a Khoikhoi woman from what is now known as South Africa who was featured in circus-type shows in England by the name of Hottentot Venus. Her body was displayed as a spectacle to the British, and was further used in medical journals to assert scientific racism. Renee Green created various installations to reflect upon that history. “I looked at her page, and there were various things on it, a list of her works. I noticed in the projects that are listed, that part of her work about those installations wasn’t included,” Brion said. “So I thought, that’s a small piece that I can contribute and know sources for. So I’m adding that in her list of projects and am giving a brief description and then because I’m there, I’m editing more for stylistic things,” Brion said. “If you find typos, you can clean up some things and take a look at citations. It’s just a tiny piece because that’s just something that can fit within this time frame. “There is something about adding and improving these entries and getting information out into this public space which is cool.” The Edit-A-Thon this last weekend was a bit of a test-run for more events like it in the future. Scheduling between the two schools can often be difficult, with Ringling and New College running on entirely different schedules. However, partially with help of the Mellon Grant that New College received last year in order to bolster collaborations within the humanities, Ringling and New College professors may be the first to begin working together. Brion and Keener have created a proposal to use Mellon Grant funds for a faculty seminar on art history pedagogy and engagement. The seminar would re-iterate many of the themes of Art + Feminism edit-a-thons, as well as the overall focus on the digital humanities that Burress and others have been creating at New College. There is furthermore an early initiative within the C4 on the topic of gender, which Keener is involved in. With this new push toward the humanities and collaborations between the C4 colleges, Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-A-Thons are a perfect fit.