The MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE project is a community arts initiative founded by the Bookmobile collective, a diverse group of emerging North American artists and community activists. Their mandate is to fuse artistic production with political activism and community organizing. The collective consists of a fluctuating group of dedicated volunteers, coordinators, jury organizers, and tour guides. Although the project is based primarily in Montreal, QC, and Philadelphia, PA, collective members reside in various cities throughout North America.
The MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE project explores the long-held tradition of bookmobiles as traveling libraries in order to promote the distribution of information. Since 2000, the project has been selectively collecting and organizing artist's books (that range from handmade and one-of-a-kind pieces, to zines, photocopied works, and other independent publications) on an annual basis. Members of the collective present these works to the public in a series of traveling exhibitions that are held throughout the United States and Canada with the help of a vintage Airstream trailer. The artist collective also organizes workshops and participates in educational activities on a community level during these tours.
Each touring collection consists of about 300 items. In 2005, the collective donated its 2000-2005 collections to Artexte Information Centre. This not-for-profit arts organization maintains the collections and provides on-site access to them. Artexte also provides further access to these collections with an electronic guide to individual works, organized by touring year: Projet MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE Project Guide
A bookmobile, or mobile library, is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Bookmobiles expand the reach of traditional libraries by transporting books to potential readers, providing library services to people in otherwise underserved locations and/or circumstances. Bookmobile services and materials, may be customized for the locations and populations served.
The Edmonton Public Library(EPL) is a public library system in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Library cards are free to all Edmontonians; as part of its centennial in 2013, the Edmonton Public Library eliminated membership fees. University of Alberta and MacEwan University students receive free access through the L-Pass program.
The Honolulu Museum of Art is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single collections of Asian and Pan-Pacific art in the United States, and since its official opening on April 8, 1927, its collections have grown to more than 55,000 works of art.
Milagro, sometimes referred to as Milagro Theatre or Teatro Milagro, formerly as Miracle Theatre or Miracle Theatre Group, is the only Hispanic theater production company in the Pacific Northwest. Its home is in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1985.
The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management and improved support for teaching and research. In collaboration with the ten University of California Libraries and other partners, CDL assembled one of the world's largest digital research libraries. CDL facilitates the licensing of online materials and develops shared services used throughout the UC system. Building on the foundations of the Melvyl Catalog, CDL has developed one of the largest online library catalogs in the country and works in partnership with the UC campuses to bring the treasures of California's libraries, museums, and cultural heritage organizations to the world. CDL continues to explore how services such as digital curation, scholarly publishing, archiving and preservation support research throughout the information lifecycle.
The Fullerton Public Library (FPL), is a public library system that serves the City of Fullerton, California and its surrounding communities.
Visual Communications –– is a community-based non-profit media arts organization based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1970 by independent filmmakers Robert Nakamura, Alan Ohashi, Eddie Wong, and Duane Kubo, who were students of EthnoCommunications, an alternative film school at University of California, Los Angeles. The mission of VC is to "promote intercultural understanding through the creation, presentation, preservation and support of media works by and about Asian Pacific Americans."
The Kitsap Regional Library is a public library system in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It has nine locations that serve over 280,000 residents in Kitsap County; its collection includes over 300,000 items that have an annual circulation of 2.4 million. Founded in 1945 as the Kitsap County Rural Library District, the modern system was formed from a 1955 merger with the Bremerton city library.
The Idaho Commission for Libraries (ICFL), formerly the Idaho State Library, assists libraries in Idaho to build the capacity to better serve their clientele.
The Visual Resources Association is an international organization for image media professionals.
Sheffield, England, has a large population of amateur, working and professional visual artists and artworks.
The Alameda County Library, in Alameda County, California, is a public library system that provides services from eleven branch libraries in the cities of Albany, Dublin, Fremont, Newark and Union City and the unincorporated communities of Castro Valley, Cherryland and San Lorenzo. According to 2005/2006 statistics, the total service area represents a population of about 522,000, and annual circulation is reported to be around 5.5 million. Its headquarters are located in Fremont.
Artexte is an independent, federally chartered not-for-profit arts organization in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its principal mandate is to focus on research, interpretation and dissemination initiatives in order to broaden the influence and appreciation of contemporary visual arts. These activities are informed by a significant collection of art documentation and authoritative resources, as well as a network of multidisciplinary partners. Artexte's partnerships and alliances are built with others who also seek to bring attention to the value of documentation produced by the study and practice of contemporary art. Artexte affirms the presence of experimental, innovative and critical components of this field. Its activities touch on all aspects of contemporary visual art from 1965 to today, with special emphasis placed on Quebec and Canada.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum is a museum of art located in Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of Japan's many museums which are supported by a prefectural government. The first public art museum in Japan, it opened in 1926 as the Tokyo Prefectural Art Museum and was renamed in 1943 after Tokyo became a metropolitan prefecture. The museum's current building was constructed in 1975 and designed by modernist architect Kunio Maekawa, remaining one his most well-known works today.
The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery is located in the Barnsdall Art Park in Los Angeles, California. It focuses on the arts and artists of Southern California. The gallery was first established in 1954.
The El Paso Public Libraries is the municipal public library system of El Paso, Texas. The library serves the needs the public in El Paso, Texas, Chaparral, New Mexico and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. It consists of 14 branches and one Bookmobile service. Multiple outreach services are also available including a Homebound service.
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia is a contemporary art museum in Atlanta, Georgia that collects and archives contemporary works by Georgia artists.
Jefferson County Public Library (JCPL) serves Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, and is the third largest public library in the state. Its service area spans from the foothills of Colorado's Rocky Mountains to the edge of the metro Denver area. It serves a diverse set of Colorado communities, from Lakewood, to Morrison, to unincorporated areas of the county. The demographics of the populations served are equally diverse, ranging from the very wealthy to the poor and underserved.
Ginger Brooks Takahashi is an American artist based in Brooklyn, New York, and North Braddock, Pennsylvania. A self-identified “punk,” Takahashi grew up in Oregon. She co-founded the feminist genderqueer collective and journal LTTR and the Mobilivre project, a touring exhibition and library. She was also a member of MEN (band). Her work consists of a collaborative project-based practice. Takahashi is currently an adjunct professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.
Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament (PAND)—alternatively called Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament—was a loose coalition of activist collectives made up of performers and artists. PAND chapters formed across the United States and Europe in the early 1980s to organize arts events, protest nuclear proliferation, raise funds to support peace and environmental causes, and heighten awareness of the threat of nuclear weapons. Several PAND chapters including the Cleveland and New York City collectives formed in 1982, a year when anti-nuclear activism culminated in the largest ever anti-war demonstration in support of the Second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament. The demonstration held in Central Park was attended by close to a million people.