Edward I. Koch Fellows to Initiate Anarchist Guide to Historic House Museums pilot at Lewis H. Latimer House in Flushing "LatimerNOW"

NEW YORK, Nov. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After receiving a $100,000 grant from the New York Community Trust, the Historic House Trust of New York City (HHT) recently launched its Anarchist Guide to Historic House Museums project at Lewis H. Latimer House in Flushing, Queens: LatimerNOW.  This two-year pilot project will reject standard tours, embrace unusual strategies and prioritize community needs to transform Lewis H. Latimer House into an essential community resource.  HHT has already begun work on several community engagement strategies, including building an interactive cart that will travel throughout Flushing and be used to gather input from community members.  Additionally, HHT plans to broaden interpretation to include information on Lewis Latimer's family and home life, develop tactile and sensory experiences for visitors, and collaborate with local artists to bring site-specific artworks that explore cross-cultural connections to Latimer House. 

The Historic House Trust received hundreds of applications from across the nation to participate on the Anarchist Guide team.  After an intense application and review process, the Historic House Trust made final selections for Edward I. Koch Fellows in early October.  The Edward I. Koch Fellow team will be led by Historic House Trust Executive Director Franklin D. Vagnone & the expert HHT Staff.  Team leadership includes Senior Edward I. Koch Fellow Deborah Ryan, Associate Professor at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (community engagement); Alex Brueggeman (cultural anthropology); Renee Foster (communications and media); Monica Montgomery (cultural entrepreneurship); and Ran Yan (community-based preservation).  Additional Edward I. Koch Fellows include: Kenneshea Allums (oral history and social justice); Tamar Auber (social services and freelance writing); Xiaomeng Chi (preservation and tourism); Courtney Cohen (community engagement); Danielle Hodes (museum studies); Kash Patel (business); Victoria Sheridan (archaeology and research); Gennifer Stanley (museum studies); and Zoe Watnik (public history and preservation).  The Edward I. Koch Fellows come from diverse backgrounds including arts management, community engagement, social media, tourism, business, preservation, museum studies, and sociology, collectively speak 7 languages and represent a broad spectrum of cultures. 

If you are an individual or organization who would like to become involved in this project or for detailed biographies on Koch Fellows, please contact the Historic House Trust.  Track the progress of the project on WWW.LatimerNOW   and @LatimerNOW

Contact: Olivia Cothren, Manager of Development & Special Initiatives
[email protected]
(212) 360-8204

SOURCE Historic House Trust of New York City