We are excited to announce that METRO will be partnering with Seattle-based BKS Studio to host a series of Social Happenings and Outdoor Imaginings this Summer as part of METRO’s Library Field project. This series of events, both in person and online, will be opportunities for our member organizations and other partners to come together to develop a shared vision for what the Library Field will be. As a starting point, the Library Field is METRO’s plan for an open outdoor space that will serve as:
- A shared outdoor programming space for member libraries and partners; a traditional consortial model offering shared access to something that individual organizations do not each have. (Think community gardening, storywalks, etc)
- An experimental place to rethink ‘collecting’ and ‘preservation’ from diverse worldviews or perspectives; an exploration of ‘different ways of knowing.’
- A retreat, a communal location focused on well-being for library workers and community partners, but in a reciprocal manner that considers the well-being of the environment as well.
We imagine many opportunities for our members to benefit from this new METRO project, and already many delightful use cases have come up in planning for this summer’s events. BKS Studio and METRO are planning multiple chances for the community to share, envision, experiment, all of which are meant to surface even more opportunities and challenges for our project. Insights collected throughout the happenings and imaginings will ultimately help METRO make the best possible decisions for our Library Field site selection and potential future uses.
If you live and work in NYC or Westchester County and you think you might like to participate in one of these sessions or if you have any questions at all, please write to us at libraryfield@metro.org. Space will be limited, and we will be taking great care to identify diverse and thoughtful cohorts to participate. If for any reason we are unable to host anyone at these events, fear not! There will be many more ways to participate as we move the project forward. This is just the beginning.
Finally, check back here often and subscribe to our monthly newsletter to keep track of our progress and to learn more about other projects that inspire us.
About BKS Studio
BKS is a cultural heritage ideas laboratory and studio located in the traditional lands of the Duwamish, today known as Seattle. Consisting of Sarah Nguyễn and Itza A. Carbajal, this team works within and between the fields of galleries, libraries, archives, museums (GLAM), and information. Collectively, BKS brings more than 10 years of library and archives social and technical programming across the USA including NYC, SF Bay Area, Austin, Seattle, and New Orleans as well as Latin America and Việt Nam to inform the studio’s creative research and design centered techniques into cultural heritage consultations, communication, and communities. Through partnerships BKS offers the cultural heritage sector and GLAM practitioners and projects: 1) subject expertise, 2) people centered care, 3) original problem solving techniques and 4) creative conversations and programming. Grounded and guided by the theories and praxis of critical information studies, archives, libraries, and human-centered design, BKS provides support in research, pedagogy, multimedia artistry, communication, and community organizing facilitation. The studio’s design and consulting practices are grounded by critical and creative participatory co-design methods to activate intergenerational commitment to time and place based experimental spaces. Let BKS Studio impart on you and your partners our knowledge and praxis on how we can all build better relationships amongst ourselves and our surroundings.