research | Emma Metcalfe Hurst

Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story

Fall 2021 – Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story is an archival research and oral history project produced by Karen Jamieson Dance that recounts that looks back at the early collaborative work Coming Out of Chaos (1982) to tell a story of the emergence of contemporary dance in Vancouver. I had the opportunity to interview 17 established and mid-career contemporary dancers, choreographers, administrators, dance historians and critics, as well as six of the original Coming Out of Chaos collaborators. The…read more

Acts of Transfer: Performance Art in the Western Front Archive

Spring 2018 – Acts of Transfer: Performance Art in the Western Front Archive Acts of Transfer: Performance Art in the Western Front Archive is a web-based archival project that I developed for a newly digitized A/V collection of performance art by women-identifying artists at the Western Front from 1975-2006. I conducted a rigorous permissions process by contacting artists directly, documenting how (and if) they want their work presented online, and offering them copies of their digitized works. The final product materialized as an interactive media timeline that hosted 65 newly…read more

Access Gallery

2015-2016 – Curatorial Assistant, Access Gallery Worked closely with Kimberly Phillips, former Director/Curator at Access Gallery to develop and execute curatorial projects, public programming, publications, and Access Gallery’s inaugural travelling artist residency Twenty-Three Days at Sea, on a container/cargo ship. Hosted exhibition tours and assisted with more than 8 public events. Conducted studio visits with artists. Assisted with grant writing, reports, and budget management. Performed daily administration and docent tasks including: opening/closing gallery, email correspondence, greeting visitors, conducting sales of gallery merchandise. Installed 5 exhibitions. Generated promotional materials and managed gallery…read more

Nanaimo Art Gallery

2016-2017 – Curatorial Intern, Nanaimo Art Gallery Assisted with the development and research of 7 gallery exhibitions and public programs alongside Nanaimo Art Gallery Curator, Jesse Birch. Co-curated Dream Islands/Island Dreams exhibition and public program with Jesse Birch. Independently organized LIT LIT LIT LIT: Nanaimo at Nanaimo Art Gallery’s ArtLab, featuring readings by 4 established and emerging writers. Copyedited promotional materials and publications. Assisted with design and production. Performed exhibition installation of artworks and archival materials in a public gallery setting. Generated shipping and condition reports. Documented gallery programming (photography…read more

Western Front

2017-2018 – Archives and Media Intern, Western Front Developed the web-based archival research project Acts of Transfer: Performance Art in the Western Front Archive; featuring 65 newly digitized performance artworks by women-identifying artists in the Western Front archives from 1975-2006. Curated a selection of works and generated new descriptions for the works on the project website/archives. Digitized audio-visual materials including: 6” Open Reel, Umatic SP, Mini DV. Updated permissions for use and access documentation for digitized performance works of 65 artists. Organized, described, and developed storage for WF poster collection….read more

Private Art Collection Management

2018-2019 – Private Art Collection Manager, Heath Art Collection (Vancouver, BC) Managed 35 artworks. Researched artists and generated Artist CVs, Bios, Condition Reports, Storage/Preservation Recommendations, and Collection Description. Liaised with artists, collectors, and galleries. Compiled and digitized related documents (exhibition catalogues, insurance information, certificates of authenticity, transaction documentation, etc.). Performed metadata entry into MyCollection (FileMaker Pro) database. Performed regular updates to digital content and transferred to client. Conducted database entry and management training for clients. Professionally photo documented and edited 35 artworks. 2017-2019 – Private Art Collection Manager, Boone Art…read more

British Columbia: An Untold History (documentary film series)

2018-2020 – Archival Researcher/Intern for British Columbia – A History, a documentary film series produced by 1871 Productions for Knowledge Network. Supported by Screen Siren Pictures and Mitacs. Assisted with historical research and story development for 150+ stories for the project pitch to Knowledge Network in pre-production. Reported regularly to the writing and production team and provided research results. Assisted with the development of workflows and metadata standards for the internal database, following Dublin Core metadata standards. Performed extensive research, outreach, consultation, and metadata entry to gather more than 10,000…read more

Recollective: Vancouver Independent Archives Week

Posted by emmamh in Archives, Contemporary art, Event

2018-Present – Project Coordinator, Recollective: Vancouver Independent Archives Week Co-ordinated and managed 14 events for 7 partnering organizations over 3 years. Performed general administration including: e-mail correspondence, note-taking, contract writing, budget management, grant writing/reporting, and copy editing. Prepared publicity and promotional materials (social media and e-news) for distribution and marketing. Assisted with the design and development of the Recollective website. Performed website maintenance and undertook content creation. Designed digital publication series for the program. Built relationships with grunt gallery staff, partners, archivists, and artists. Co-presented Re-collective: Artist-Run-Centre Archives and Initiatives…read more

Karen Jamieson Dance

Summer 2020-Present – Dance Archivist for Karen Jamieson Dance (Co-op Work Experience) Assisted with metadata creation for 28 digital assets to be ingested into Arca. Spearheaded the implementation of Traditional Knowledge (TK) Labels for 7 items in collaboration with Indigenous creators (ongoing). Implemented archival storage for photographic materials from the KJD archives. Organized materials into 5 binders with descriptive information for access and preservation (ongoing). Assisted with archival research, requests, and digitization for the production of the film “Body to Land: Stone Soup” (forthcoming in 2021). Created an inventory for…read more