It’s a familiar story.

Institution identifies a need. Institution applies for grant funding. Institution receives funding (or fronts the money themselves), onboards staff, works for months toward a viable outcome. Funding ends. The project sunsets, and workers find themselves on the job market once more.

While many initiatives find their footing, this cycle is all too real in the library, archives, and museum industry. Much-heralded project outputs fall into the rear view. New services end. Workers find themselves in an increasingly contingent labor market.

Please join us for a daylong symposium hosted by METRO Library Council (599 11th Avenue, 8th Floor) on Friday, June 14. We’ll gather to share the stories of projects that got their start with temporary sources of money, hear from grant-makers who are witness to our growing financial needs, and consider potential paths forward.

Agenda:

10:00 am - 11:00 am - Morning Keynote with Roger Schonfeld, Ithaka S + R

11:00 am - 11:15 am - Break

11:15 am - 12:15 pm - Case Studies

• Arden Kirkland, Design 4 Learning
• Natalie Milbrodt, Queens Public Library
• Sophie Gliddon-Lyon, La MaMa Archive
• Bonnie Gordon and Maggie Schreiner, Interference Archive

12:15 pm - 1:30 pm - Lunch (Offsite)

1:30 pm - 2:30 pm - Funders Panel

• James Neal, IMLS
• Laura Maher, SFE

2:30 pm - 2:45 pm - Break

2:45 pm - 3:45 pm - Breakout groups

• Nora Almeida, CUNY CityTech
• Megan Wacha, CUNY
• Grif Peterson, P2PU
• Christian Zabriskie, Yonkers Public Library

3:45 - 4:00 pm - Break

4:00 - 5:00 - Closing Keynote with Claudia Depkin, Haverstraw King's Daughters Public Library