RavenSpace, a platform and hub for the publication of Indigenous community-driven works of cultural, educational, and social significance, has been awarded a three-year grant of Cdn$1 million from The Mellon Foundation’s Public Knowledge program. The Mellon Foundation’s generous financial contributions to RavenSpace have been instrumental from inception. With this third grant, RavenSpace will set off to take full operational flight and broaden its reach, with support to help expand the team and launch a suite of core activities:
- designing and delivering a series of workshops on producing multimedia publications
- forming new partnerships and channels for audience engagement
- expanding support for digital innovation and routes to increased agency and inclusion of a diversity of knowledge-holders and authors in publishing
RavenSpace provides digital tools and methods for Indigenous communities and scholars to work together, and with other creators, to achieve their vision for sharing knowledge and stories. It prioritizes Indigenous access and participation and upholds the protocols of knowledge and heritage sovereignty in the vibrant public exchange of ideas.
Davis McKenzie, co-author of the flagship publication, says that “As I Remember It provides a rare safe, and welcome online harbour for Tla’amin people to come ashore. A space where our Tla’amin teachings are protected and respectfully shared and the usual rules of the internet do not apply. I’m thrilled that more communities will have the opportunity to partner with RavenSpace to have their stories and teachings shared with future generations in their own time and on their own terms.”
“RavenSpace is an open invitation to audiences locally and around the globe to interact in meaningful and respectful ways with a rich array of Indigenous topics,” says Darcy Cullen, Assistant Director, Editorial, at the University of British Columbia Press (UBC Press), and the founder and lead of RavenSpace. “There is tremendous interest in it, and for a variety of types of projects. We are excited to pursue this next phase, and grateful to Mellon for recognizing the importance of Indigenous voices in the public record and the role of publishing in ongoing cultural vitality.”
“RavenSpace adopts technologies and inventive methodologies for knowledge sharing,” says Dr. Gail Murphy, Vice-President Research & Innovation at UBC. “It is built on principles of respect, reciprocity, and relational processes that embrace Indigenous cultural protocols as an enhancement to scholarship’s contribution to public knowledge. It encourages exactly what the academy should strive for: co-development of knowledge, creativity, and a commitment to addressing the legacy of colonialism and meaningfully advancing the human rights of all Indigenous people.”