Art+Feminism
Art and Feminism (stylized as Art+Feminism) is an annual worldwide edit-a-thon to add content to Wikipedia about female artists. This program has been active for nearly 8 years. The project, founded by Siân Evans, Jacqueline Mabey, Michael Mandiberg, and Laurel Ptak,[1] has been described as "a massive multinational effort to correct a persistent bias in Wikipedia, which is disproportionately written by and about men".[2]
In 2014, Art+Feminism's inaugural campaign attracted 600 volunteers at 30 separate events.[1][2] The following year, a total of 1,300 volunteers attended 70 events that took place across 17 different countries, on four continents. Since then more than 20,000 people have taken part in over 1,500 events. This has led to positive results in over 100,000 Wikipedia articles. [1] More than 18,000 people have participated and created or improved approximately 84,000 Wikipedia articles at 1,260 events globally, as of 2021.[3]
Art+Feminism started when Artstor librarian Siân Evans was designing a project for women and art for the Art Libraries Society of North America.[4] Evans talked with fellow curator Jacqueline Mabey, who had been impressed by Wikipedia contributors' organization of edit-a-thon events to commemorate Ada Lovelace.[4] Mabey spoke with Michael Mandiberg, a professor at the City University of New York who had been incorporating Wikipedia into classroom learning. Mandiberg in turn talked with Laurel Ptak, a fellow at the art and technology non-profit Eyebeam, who agreed to help plan the event.[4] The team then recruited local Wikipedians Dorothy Howard, then Wikipedian in residence at Metropolitan New York Library Council; and Richard Knipel, then representing the local chapter of Wikipedia contributors through Wikimedia New York City.[4]
One reason for establishing the Art+Feminism project included responding to negative media coverage about Wikipedia's cataloging system.[5][6] The project continues to fill content gaps in Wikipedia and increase the number of female contributors.[7][8] Only about 17 percent of biographies on Wikipedia are about women and only about 15 percent of Wikipedia editors are female.[9] Kira Wisniewski was appointed Art+Feminism's executive director in 2020.[10]
Outside the United States, the 2015 event received media coverage at locations including Australia,[11] Canada,[12] Cambodia,[13] India,[14] New Zealand,[15] and Scotland.[16] Inside the United States, the event received media coverage at the flagship location in New York,[17] and also in California,[18][19] Kansas,[20] Pennsylvania,[21] Texas,[22] and West Virginia.[23]
In 2020, due to concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held virtually, via the Zoom video conferencing app.[24]In 2021 the Art+Feminism Edit-a-Thon was again made virtual due to Covid-19 concerns.
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