Southern Art/Wider World: A Digital Humanities Exchange

FAIN: HC-275007-20

Walter Anderson Museum of Art, Inc. (Ocean Springs, MS 39564-4632)
Julian Rankin (Project Director: May 2020 to December 2021)

Retention of two staff members and the creation of a new position at WAMA in Ocean Springs, Mississippi to develop humanities programming through digital channels.

"Southern Art/Wider World" is a digital humanities project empowering dialogue between scholars and communities around historical and cultural themes present in WAMA’s collection. Building upon more than three decades of scholarship investigating the life and work of artist Walter Inglis Anderson (1903-1965), the project creates a digital framework connecting the Southern land to American identity through live programs, distance learning, and cultural capacity-building. The project delivers free humanities engagement through three digital vehicles: 1) Live-streamed programs featuring humanities scholars; 2) A continuing education course; and 3) A mobile app exploring humanities themes and content through virtual museum tours and experiences. An additional outcome is to share processes with other MS cultural organizations to encourage digital capacity-building statewide.