For my Community Service Project (CSP), I am creating a digital storytelling project working in partnership with an organization that I co-founded with Erin Bailey, Queering the Museum (QTM). My project addresses a lack of historical representation of LGBTQ people’s lives. My research is grounded in museums where a consistent failure to include LGBTQ stories is evident. This is significant because the lack of representation indicates to all peoples that LGBTQ individuals and communities are outside the range of what is normal and important to society. This project not only creates stories that will be added to historical archives and available for use in online and exhibition spaces, this project also tells LGBTQ peoples that their stories are important. The act of narrating your own representation is a significant act that illuminates the power of one person’s story while connecting that individual to a larger historical narrative of LGBTQ inclusion.
Queering the Museum invites applications for our first Digital Storytelling Workshop! The workshop will take place April 6-7 and 13-14 at the University of Washington campus in Bothell, WA.
Participants will leave the workshop with a 3 minute video narrating a significant life experience. The videos will be screened publicly at a symposium on Saturday, June 8 at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI). Participants will have the opportunity to contribute their videos to archive and library collections and for consideration in the queer-themed history exhibit which will open at MOHAI in 2014.
We seek individuals 18 years or older who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or somewhere in this spectrum and who either live in or are from the greater Puget Sound area of Washington State. We are particularly interested in individuals whose stories usually get left out of historical records due to race, ethnicity, class, ability or gender. Due to liability issues, we regret that we are unable to include individuals under the age of 18 at this time.
Read more details and submit an application. You may apply yourself or use the form to submit a nomination.
Applications must be received by 5:00 pm Friday March 8.
| This post was written by Nicole Robert | |
| Nicole, the proud mother of two young children, came out later in life and grappled with her own shifting identity. She found herself having to confront the limited representations of gender and sexuality that exist in the world at large and in museums specifically. Responding to these gaps, Nicole earned an M.A. in Museology from the University of Washington and is now pursuing a PhD in Feminist Studies. Her research focuses on the intersections of race, gender and sexuality in U.S. history museums. Learn more about Nicole. | |