BCA/JMF legacy call program

BCA and the Joan Mitchell Foundation “Creating a Living Legacy Program”

Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA) is proud to announce a new and exciting program “Creating a Living Legacy” (CALL) offered in partnership with the Joan Mitchell Foundation. This national program was developed to connect elder visual artists with trained Legacy Specialists to document the important works of art created during the course of their careers. The program will help these artists to archive their life-long work by helping them assess their collection, develop and inventory a personalized archiving system, and guide them to set realistic goals for a archiving a body of work in a systematic way.

Along with technical support and funding from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, BCA will provide targeted Legacy training and education to art handlers and teaching artists called Legacy Specialists. This workforce training initiative will enable the selected specialists to provide hands-on support to the artists in creating and maintaining a system for documenting and archiving their creative works.

To provide this direct assistance, a database system called “Lasting Record” was created by The Joan Mitchell Foundation and will be utilized to organize, record, transfer and retrieve all material deemed relevant and valuable in the artist’s body of work.

The Bronx Council on the Arts is one of four nationally funded organizations partnering with the Joan Mitchell Foundation along with Artist Trust, DiverseWorks, and Space One Eleven who are beginning their programs locally.

About the Legacy CALL Project: In 2007 the Joan Mitchell Foundation began exploring new ways to support mature artists in thoroughly documenting and preserving of their legacy. During the initial pilot phase of CALL, they worked in-depth with four artists in this process: Mildred Howard, Elemore Morgan, Jr., Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, and Freddy Rodriguez.

As a result of this work, the Foundation developed a range of tools for artists: The JMF CALL Database was created as a method of keeping accurate records; a workbook leads artists through the basics of creating their own comprehensive organizational system in their studios and archives; the CALL Resource Blog allows a forum for resources, sharing information and troubleshooting. From working with these artists, it became apparent that many artists with established careers still need help in getting organized and implementing a studio inventory system.

In 2010, the Foundation began working with emerging artists as Legacy Specialists, specifically trained to advise and work with artists around these issues. Currently, the Foundation employs a group of eleven trained Legacy Specialists who work with ten artists in New York City.

In 2011, the Foundation awarded planning grants to the four above-mentioned arts organizations across the country who developed programs that served their constituents, using the CALL resources, and increasing awareness to the importance of documenting the artwork and careers of individual artists. The BCA CALL program is scheduled to begin in spring 2013.

For further information about the Legacy CALL program, contact BCA at 718-931-9500 x35 or visit our website for updated information. Also please visit the JMF website at http://joanmitchellfoundation.org for comprehensive information about the Legacy CALL project.

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Support for this program is provided by Joan Mitchell Foundation Legacy CALL Program and JPMorgan Chase Foundation