Out and About: The Library As Incubator Project

We believe the library is a place to connect and create.

The Library as Incubator Project was created by Erinn Paige, Laura Damon-Moore, and Christina Jones, and was inspired by a discussion about creative advocacy for libraries in one of their courses at the UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies.
The Project highlights the ways that libraries and artists can work together, and works to strengthen these partnerships. At a time in which both libraries and arts organizations are often having to do more with less, it makes sense for these two parts of our culture to support each other. The Library as Incubator Project calls attention to one of the many reasons libraries are important to our communities and our culture, and provides a dynamic online forum for sharing ideas.

Mission:

The mission of the Library as Incubator Project is to promote and facilitate creative collaboration between libraries and artists of all types, and to advocate for libraries as incubators of the arts. We serve this mission both through the Library as Incubator Project website and through other offline projects.

On our website, we:

• Feature artists, writers, performers and libraries who exemplify the “library as incubator” idea.
• Highlight physical and digital collections and resources that may be of particular use to artists and writers.
• Provide ideas for art education opportunities in libraries with our program kit collection and practical how-to’s for artists and librarians.

Other project activities:

• We work with artist organizations, libraries, and other cultural institutions to help develop meaningful partnerships and programs that promote the “library as incubator” idea.
• We provide professional development for information professionals who wish to incubate the arts at their institutions.  Get in touch with us to learn more about our  webinars and professional training materials.

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