What is the Flowerings Project?
The Flowerings Project: a Library in Transformation is a generous $150,000 planning grant to James Madison University (the Furious Flower Poetry Center and JMU Libraries) from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This grant is enabling the development of a partnership model for digital library support of a living center for Black poetry. (See our full Press Release).
Principal investigators are Dr. Joanne Gabbin and Dr. Bethany Nowviskie. Due to the impact of the pandemic, our grant period has been extended through the 2021 calendar year.
Areas of Focus
Our initial proposal to the Mellon Foundation outlined nine Key Areas of inquiry. These are being explored and refined, and new goals are emerging as part of the planning grant process. Our deliverable is an open access publication outlining the partners’ goals, process, experience and preliminary outcomes, not just for the benefit of JMU but also for other university libraries, digital humanities centers and campus educational technology providers who wish to partner more authentically and equitably with collaborating organizations and communities.
Learn More About
- Our partners and advisors
- Innovating the Archives
- Furious Flower Poetry Center
- Furious Flower Inaugural Conference – prototype of digital archive
Related Collections in JMU Libraries
- Joanne V. Gabbin Papers – a guide to the collection from JMU Libraries Special Collections
- The Furious Flower Poetry Center Records, 1990-2014
- Furious Flower Poetry Center Conference Records
- Furious Flower Poetry Center Video Collection (1994 and 2004) – JMU Scholarly Commons
Questions?
Contact Jody Fagan, project manager (faganjc@jmu.edu)
Mellon Award #: 1909-07155
The time cracks into furious flower. Lifts its face all unashamed. And sways in wicked grace.