The Getty Foundation awarded $2.6m to US libraries, museums and archives through the Black Visual Arts Archives initiative, launched in 2022. The programme preserves and expands access to Black artists' archives and works via exhibitions, community programming and digitisation. Five of the 12 selected projects were part of a 2022 pilot and have advanced archival organisation and public accessibility. The New York Public Library's Schomburg Center created a digital zine and its first finding aid. Temple University developed a VR game and processed about 30,000 negatives. The Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum digitised portions of its archives. Individual grants range from $100,000 to $310,000.
"We need a fuller understanding of the influence of Black artists, architects and cultural institutions to tell a more complete history of American art and culture," Miguel de Baca, a senior programme officer at the Getty, said in a statement. "Black Visual Arts Archives delivers critical support to make these archives and the stories of creativity, resiliency and community they hold more accessible to researchers and the general public."
The New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, created both a digital zine and its first "finding aid" for its artist archives. Temple University in Philadelphia, meanwhile, is creating a virtual-reality (VR) game about its archives and has processed around 30,000 negatives from its collection of 20th-century photography documenting the city's Black communities.
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