Grant Goals
- ensure the preservation and ongoing stewardship of Furious Flower’s extensive and unique collection of Black poetry and spoken word video as part of JMU Libraries’ Special Collections
- provide enhanced discoverability and global access to these audiovisual treasures for teaching, learning, and research
- support vibrant programmatic activities and planning at the Center through a crucial period leading up to its fourth decennial conference
- to further develop and practice the new, reparative and integrated model for library support of a living, academic center for the arts
- the creation of a more sustainable and forward-looking web and scholarly publishing infrastructure for Furious Flower
Timeline and Activities
Inherent to the Flowerings project is an organic, iterative approach to our work, which is reflected in the below timeline. We will inevitably make changes in adaptation to our learning and growing even as we continue our trajectory within the Flowerings Framework.
Year 1 (2022)
- Recruiting new positions
- Furious Flower Communications Specialist (Megan Medeiros) – funded by the Mellon Foundation
- Director of Digital Scholarship and Distinctive Collections (Caitlin Birch) – funded by JMU Libraries
- Onboarding of L. Renée as Assistant Director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center and transition of Lauren K. Alleyne into the Executive Director role
- Procure equipment and technology
- Digital infrastructure setup and/or integration
- Implementation of Aviary for streaming archival A/V
- Integration of ArchivesSpace (our system of record for metadata) with Preservica (digital preservation system)
- Integration of ArchivesSpace with Aviary
- Integration of Preservica with Aviary
- Develop pilot archival and preservation workflows using the new integrations
- Assessment of priorities & needs related to the Furious Flower collections and the Furious Flower web presences
- Completing JMU’s initial AudiAnnotate project (funded by the Mellon Foundation through the AWE Project)
- Begin planning for 2024 Furious Flower Poetry Center Conference
- Travel to support outreach, dissemination, and professional networking
Note: Parallel to this work are Furious Flower’s regular suite of outreach, engagement, and scholarly programming and the design phase of a major renovation and expansion of Carrier Library, which includes new facilities for the Furious Flower Poetry Center.
Year 2 (2023)
Note: Furious Flower’s suite of programming will continue, and we anticipate the construction phase of Carrier Library’s renovation and expansion to begin in Summer, 2023
- Recruitment and onboarding – grant funded positions
- Digital Preservation Specialist (David Black)
- Digital Archivist (Layne Carpenter)
- Post-doctoral Fellowship in Black Global and Diasporic Poetry (Gbenga Adesina)
- Recruitment of Instruction Librarian and Curator for Black Arts and Culture (N’Kosi Oates) – funded by JMU Libraries
- Planning for the 2024 Furious Flower Poetry Center Conference
- Developing archival and preservation workflows for the digital archive
- Ideation and mini-projects related to Furious Flower web presences
- Travel to support outreach, dissemination, and professional networking
- Review our progress on all fronts and create revised plans and approaches to subsequent years’ work
Year 3 (2024)
Note: Carrier renovation and expansion continues; Furious Flower programming continues, with the focus on the decennial conference
- Focus shifts to the 2024 conference; work on continuing project threads may be constrained in light of final conference preparation activities and active engagement in the conference
- Conference video footage shot, edited, and delivered for archival assessment and incorporation into collections
- Continued work by project archivists and digital preservation specialists on establishing the digital archive
- Continued work on Furious Flower web presences
- Possible grant-supported faculty engagement for instructional development (e.g. course modules, digital humanities projects) with FFPC materials (e.g. to evaluate our implementation’s efficacy for supporting teaching, learning, and research)
- Ideation concerning publishing / digital imprint possibilities
- Discussion of sustainable staffing and programmatic models to continue work beyond the grant period
- Travel to support outreach, dissemination, and professional networking
- Review our progress on all fronts and create revised plans and approaches to subsequent years’ work
Year 4 (2025)
- Planning for move-in to Carrier Library; specify and order additional equipment to support reading room service for digital materials
- Continued work by project archivists and digital preservation specialists on establishing the digital archive
- Continued work on Furious Flower web presence (and possible digital imprint possibilities)
- Possible grant-supported faculty engagement for instructional development (e.g. course modules, digital humanities projects) with FFPC materials (e.g. to evaluate our implementation’s efficacy for supporting teaching, learning, and research).
- Seeking instructional partners’ input about transitioning and sustaining grant-related work beyond the grant period
- Travel to support outreach, dissemination, and professional networking
Year 4.5 (Spring 2026)
Note: We anticipate that the renovated and expanded Carrier Library will reopen in Fall 2026.
- Finalizing grant-funded projects or transitioning them to sustainable models
- Engaging with instructional partners in reviewing progress to inform report writing and next steps
- Travel to support outreach, dissemination, and professional networking
Libraries and Furious Flower Project Personnel
- The Flowerings Core Team: Lauren K. Alleyne, Jody Fagan, Bethany Nowviskie
- The Flowerings Project Coordination Team: Bodeene Cairdeas, Jody Fagan (convener & project coordinator), Rebecca French, Mark Lane, Yasmeen Shorish, Ari Short
- Founding members (2021-2023): Steven Holloway, Kate Morris
- Digital Infrastructure Working Group: Bodeene Cairdeas, Rebecca French, David Gaines, Mark Lane, Ari Short (convener)