Committee on Cultural and Archival Resources
Annual Report for 2020-21
To: Academic Senate Steering Committee
From: Adam Luedtke, Chair, Committee on Cultural and Archival Resources
Subject: Annual Report for Committee on Cultural and Archival Resources for 2020-21
Date: September 15, 2021
Committee members: Bianca Sosnovski, Susan Agin, Laura Cohen, Huixin (Maritza) Wu, Tanya Zhelezcheva, Heather Huggins, Hsiaofang (Sharon) Huang, Madeline Ruggiero, Jose Osorio, Nathaniel Sullivan, Adam Luedtke
President's Designee: Rosemary Zins
Chair: Adam Luedtke
Secretary: Nathaniel Sullivan
During the Fall 2020 and the spring 2021 semesters the Committee on Cultural and Archival Resources met four times, all remotely via Zoom:
- October 27, 2020.
- December 8, 2020.
- March 4, 2021.
- May 20, 2021.
- Serve as a liaison between the QCC Art Gallery, Queensborough Performing Arts Center (QPAC) and Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center & Archives (KHC), and the campus community
- Report to the Academic Senate concerning activities, acquisitions, and facility updates at the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC), and KHC
- Recommend involvement of the campus community in the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC
- Advocate for pedagogy that utilizes the resources of the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC
Activities of the CAR Committee for the 2020-2021 academic year:
The CAR Committee continued to liaise between cultural centers and the campus community with a special focus on teaching resources and course pedagogy that incorporated the KHC, QPAC, and QCC Art Gallery. These included updating the committee website and helping with educational initiatives of the cultural centers.
Specific charges from Steering Committee:
Report to the Academic Senate on the donation of all art and design objects for the campus, as well as all grants and funding received by the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC and KHC
Build the Institutional Repository at QCC-CUNY for the purpose of storing scholarship artifacts by faculty who have utilized the QPAC, HKC, and the QCC Art Gallery. Ensure that works are saved in the Scholarly Works category, with tags and meta-tags for easy search on Google and other search engines
Provide teaching resources for the campus community, advocate teaching pedagogy that utilizes the resources of the QCC Art Gallery, KHC, and QPAC through venues such as committee website
Review and revise, as needed and in consultation with the Steering Committee, Committee Guidebook
Assess committee by Bylaw charges and steering committee charges
Committee Self-Assessment for 2020-21
- How do you view the committee's work in relationship to the senate and Steering Committee: a. Did you receive enough guidance to fulfill the charges of the committee? b. What other support might your committee have needed to improve its efficacy?
Yes
- Does your committee's work make a tangible impact on campus? Please explain your answer.
CCAR committee connects the cultural centers with faculty and curriculum, having a direct impact on pedagogy and enriching the real world experiences of the students.
Each meeting our cultural center directors update us on faculty projects, and with ideas on how their programming might be integrated into the curriculum. In turn, our committee members promote cultural center events and exhibitions with our colleagues and several members are directly involved with curriculum projects, events and collaborations with the centers.
Collaboration is the center of our mission as a committee: how to foster it across disciplines and enrich the curriculum with impactful student engagement.
- Do you feel as if the committee needs to review/rewrite its bylaws and/or charges?
No
- Assess committee’s overall work in meeting Bylaws Charges
Accomplished
- Committee’s own goals?
Accomplished / In Progress
The website continues to be updated and maintained, posting updated minutes and agendas, meetings times in advance and working towards consistent formatting across pages.
Next year we would like to focus on honing the CCAR website; in particular the presentation of scholarship and artifacts from projects that integrate the exhibitions and events of the cultural centers with the curriculum, and the teaching resources section. To do this, we would need to coordinate with CETL.
- Steering Committee suggestions
In Progress
Reports from the Cultural Centers
(The Committee was unable to obtain the information from the QCC Art Gallery)
QPAC Report from Susan Agin
QPAC has completely overhauled its programming and has learned how to deliver it remotely.
Created QPAC LIVE! a streaming, entertainment broadcast, and has continued to present quality, diversified, live entertainment every week with appearances by award-winning performers such as Ben Vereen and Keith David. To date, its broadcasts have been viewed over 97,000 times, on Facebook, YouTube and on Queens Public Television!
Obtained Producer rights with Queens Public Television in order to broadcast QPAC Live over its four television channels, providing access to QPAC’s virtual programming for non-computer users. The current airing schedule is as follows:
Danny Bacher: Get Happy
Tuesday 3/16/2021 ch 56 @ 4pm
Friday 3/26/2021 ch 56 @ 7:30pm
Richie Santa Celebrates Elvis
Sunday 3/21/2021 ch 1997 @ 2pm
Monday 3/29/2021 ch 56 @ 10pm
High Notes PT 2: The Music of Frankie Valli & Neil Sedaka
Wednesday 3/3/2021 ch 1997 @ 10:30am
Friday 3/19/2021 ch 34 @ 6pm
QPAC is continuing to partner with QCC faculty members to explore how to create engaging, inclusive,
and learning-rich virtual programs. These virtual collaborations can be seen on QPAC Live, and include a
three-part Student Film Festival, and a live, virtual adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.
QPAC is collaborating with the KHC to bring two of their spring programs to a broader and more diverse
live audience. These programs are: La Convivencia: Exploring Sephardic Music’s Traditions of Peace and
Coexistence, Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 12:10pm and A Prisoner’s Voice: Poetry of Psychological
Resistance, Wednesday, April 21, 2021 at 12:00pm. Both of these programs will be streamed live on the
QPAC Live’s platform.
QPAC continues to administer and facilitate the programs funded by the City Council, for which QPAC
received $181,500 for use in FY21. The programs are being delivered virtually, and include professional
workshops, after-school projects, student development and community building activities. These
programs include two Cultural After-School Adventures programs, a weekend Gotta Dance workshop
series, a Dance Enrichment workshop series for QCC students, and a Broadway workshop initiative in
which students from PS139Q will train under Broadway professionals, who reflect the diversity of the
borough, to produce their own virtual school musical.
Launched a “click-to-view” e-commerce platform and has begun to successfully monetize virtual
content. Proceeds currently exceed $10,000.
Set in motion a partnership with City Councilmembers to launch a socially distant drive-in concert series
which will take place May – June at The Bay Terrace Shopping Center. The dates for these programs are
May 23, Jun 27, July 25.
Oversite continues over the progress of the theater’s ADA construction project, to ensure a seamless
transition for both internal and external uses upon its completion.
Procured a $50,000 grant in memory of QCC alumnus Norman Bigman, class of 1962, and long-time
member of QCC Fund Board of Directors, which has been earmarked for QPAC’s programs.
QPAC received the following legislative grants in the 2020-2021 academic year:
· Councilmember Eric Ulrich, $5,000
· Councilmember Koslowitz, $12,000
· Councilmember Dromm, $5,000
· Councilmember Lancman, $7,500
· Councilmember Grodenchik, $10,000
· Councilmember Vallone, $10,000
· Councilmember Miller, $7,500
· Councilmember Holden, $15,000
· Councilmember Koo, $9,000
· Councilmember Constantinides, $3,000
· CASA Dromm, $20,000
· CASA Koslowitz, $20,000
· Queens Delgation, $22,000
· Speaker Corey Johnson, $40,000
Total: $196,500
The following grants also have been awarded:
$100,000 Senator Stavisky (grant needs to be completed)
$25,000 Senator John Liu (grant needs to be completed)
Kupferberg Holocaust Center
CAR Committee
2020-2021 Year-End Report
Transition From In-Person Services to a Virtual Organization
The shift to virtual programming resulted in the KHC greatly expanding our visibility and footprint across the globe, further establishing the Center in the field of Holocaust education.
We presented 30 public programs including: lectures, workshops, performances, and commemorative events with over 2,500 live attendees.
Without the limitations of a physical setting, we welcomed renowned speakers and a diverse viewership to watch the events live from around the world.
Due to the virtual format, we were able to establish an ADA-compliant archive of recorded programs on YouTube that are now easily accessible in perpetuity and that have been viewed over 16,000 times.
Exhibition, Events, and New Partnerships
With our physical space inaccessible, the KHC launched our new exhibition - The Concentration Camps: Inside the Nazi System of Incarceration and Genocide in an entirely virtual format in Fall 2020. This original exhibit surveys the scope and brutality of the Nazi system, underscoring the horrific consequences of intolerance, racism, and authoritarianism.
Two special events were held highlighting important themes and were presented by QCC faculty members from the departments of English and sociology. Each event focused on a specific marginalized group who were imprisoned in the camps: women and those identifying as LGBTQI+.
The KHC continued its goal to present events recognizing significant anniversaries in Holocaust history, including Kristallnacht, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Yom HaShoah. This year we partnered with 19 Holocaust and human rights-related institutions across the country allowing us to pool resources to secure established scholars and leading to significantly higher attendee numbers.
Featured Event: In recognition of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on January 27, 2021, the KHC hosted “Under Siege Again? Holocaust Distortion and the Rise of Hate Crimes Against Jews,” a conversation with Michael Brovner, Chief of the Queens County District Attorney's Hate Crimes Bureau in New York City, and Mark Weitzman, Director of Government Affairs at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. The event united six Holocaust education centers in the New York region for the first time and resulted in over 500 attendees joining the livestream – a number we could never host in person. Recording of this event can be found online. Links to all recorded programs can be found online
2020-21 KHC-NEH Colloquium and Faculty Development Series
The AY2020-21 KHC-NEH Colloquium, Internment & Resistance: Confronting Mass Detention and Dehumanization, focused on global constructions of concentration camp systems and the challenges that they present. The topic was aligned with the KHC's new original exhibition - The Concentration Camps. Recordings of all 2020-21 KHC-NEH Colloquium and Faculty Development Series events in the series can be found online.
There were 7 events in the series facilitated by QCC faculty members from the departments of English, music, and sociology.
Featured Event: On November 12, 2020, the KHC held “Creating a Concentration Camp Society: How Governments Push for Mass Detention and How People Resist.” The presentation was led by author and journalist Amy Pitzer and organized by Dr. Amy Traver, Associate Professor of Sociology at Queensborough. Due to the presenter's large social media following and the recent release of her newest book, the recording of this presentation currently has over 10,000 views on YouTube.
In Fall 2020 we launched the first ever KHC-Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) Professional Development Series
With 9 sessions across 2 semesters, the AY2020-21 Series concluded with 12 faculty members participating from 5 academic departments.
QCC Collaborations and Student Engagement
At a time when it has been increasingly challenging to connect with students, the KHC partnered with faculty members and departments within QCC and CUNY-wide to create new initiatives to help bolster student engagement.
There were 6 events cosponsored with QCC departments as well as 5 events with other CUNY academic centers
The Human Rights and Museums Program Series was created in partnership with the Gallery and Museum Studies Program in the Department of Art and Design. Two events were held that brought artists directly into conversation with QCC students about issues of social justice and institutional responsibility. here: Watch the first Human Rights and Museums event
The Social Presencing Theater Series was a two-part conversation with faculty and students who participated in projects utilizing this body-based approach for sensing and enacting change. The two events not only highlighted a new and exciting approach to social justice pedagogy, but it also created an opportunity for fostering and celebrating student voices. There were multiple co-sponsors, including the Transformative Learning in the Humanities at the City University of New York, and the CUNY-QCC Visual and Performing Arts Academy. Watch the first Social Presencing Theater Series event
Student Internships are a vital part of the KHC's annual offerings and help us meet project goals while empowering our students.
For AY2020-21 the KHC had eleven interns and one curatorial fellow
Intern projects included: updating content for past exhibitions, creating new library guides for students & faculty use, and research for the Camps exhibition.
Committee on Cultural and Archival Resources Elections
Since Adam Luedtke finished his 3 year term, there was an election for chairperson and secretary during the May 20, 2021 meeting. Nathaniel Sullivan was elected as chair and Bianca Sosnovski was elected as secretary.
The Committee also welcomed three new members for the 2021-22 year:
Franca Ferrari-Bridgers (Speech & Comm)
Aviva Geismar (Health & Phys Ed)
Jessica Prepetit (Nursing)
The committee also thanks Departing Members Heather Huggins and Jose Osorio.
