Introducing Maintenance Culture
Myriad is excited to announce we are the recipient of an NEH Education and Training Grant to support the Project “Maintenance Culture: Sustaining Digital Creative Works.” Work started on the project in March 2022, and will continue through February 2024. We will post updates here on the myriad magpie blog and on the project website as we work on the outcomes, including free workshops, skillshares, and more.
Press Release
For Immediate Release: 5/18/22
Myriad Receives National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
Funds Support the Project “Maintenance Culture: Sustaining Digital Creative Works”
Gainesville, FL: Myriad Consulting and Training received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Preservation and Access Education and Training Program to support the project “Maintenance Culture: Sustaining Digital Creative Works.” The funds, totaling $347,000, will address challenges small institutions face in preserving and sustaining access to born-digital creative works such as digital art, podcasts, virtual publications, and other at-risk formats. Myriad will work collaboratively with stakeholders, including creators and culture workers, to develop free training and resources to help memory institutions and creators ensure the longevity of their digital works.
“Myriad is thrilled to receive this grant award to support digital preservation training for institutions and creators,” said Myriad Executive Director Frances Harrell, “This project will address the lack of practical digital preservation resources available to help smaller institutions preserve complex digital works. We’ve noticed through our consulting and training work that there’s a need for opportunities for peer-to-peer conversations and community building in this area. The resources we’re developing will help us move beyond “it depends” as a common refrain in digital preservation, and towards actionable steps.” Results of the project include:
6 free digital preservation workshops and skill share events, in New Orleans, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, and Baltimore, focused on smaller institutions and independent creators
Field Guide and Workbook for preserving digital creative works
Zine about digital preservation for digital artists and creators
White paper mapping past and current projects addressing the preservation of complex, born-digital works, and recommending strategies for sustainability
“Caring for complex digital creative works is often considered a niche concern, even though we are increasingly living in a digital world,” says Joey Heinen, Digital Preservation Manager at Los Angeles County Museum of Art and contributor to the project, “This project has the exciting opportunity to take this ‘niche concern’ out of the gilded institutions and create stronger connections between creators and cultural stewards everywhere.”
Follow the project on Myriad’s website and at #MaintenanceCulture on social media.
Myriad is a national nonprofit consulting firm that specializes in collections preservation and planning for small- to mid-sized cultural organizations. From digitization project planning to organizational strategy and facilitation, it’s our mission to bring you practical plans and solutions to help you transform the way you share, manage and preserve your collection and the stories it represents.
About the National Endowment for the Humanities Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.
The Maintenance Culture project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this press release do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.