HomeSpun Update: June 2010
June 2010
A new HomeSpun curator will soon join the Smithsonian APA Program. The curator will be the latest addition to the highly effective and wonderfully diverse team in the Capital Gallery office of the APA Program. The curator will be in charge of the development of the HomeSpun exhibition and a series of public programs. The curator will also coordinate the creation of a middle-school curriculum on Indian American history and culture.
At least 55 individuals applied for the position which was narrowed down to ten qualified candidates by the Office of Human Resources. The HomeSpun Review Committee hopes to make the selection by end of June or early July. The curator will work on the project for two years until the exhibition opening at the Smithsonian.
Another piece of news comes from the digital world, where HomeSpun has seen tremendous growth on Facebook and blog visits. Thanks to the hard work of our multimedia specialist, blog contributors, volunteers, and South Asian American organizations such as the Network of South Asian Professionals of Washington DC (NetSAP DC), we saw our Facebook fan base grow 100% in one month! We hope that this trend continues and our fan page becomes a valuable resource to the project over the next few years.
Graph of total number of Facebook fans over the course of a month.
Naeem Khan, photo by smulligannn. cc by-nd
One last highlight I would like to share with you is about a hard-working volunteer and HomeSpun donor, Roshna Kapadia. Thanks to Roshna, my colleague Noriko Sanefuji and I have connected with the famous haute couture dress designer, Naeem Khan. Some of you may know Naeem for his impressive and bedazzled dresses worn by high-profile celebrities such as R&B recording artist Beyoncé Knowles, actress Liz Taylor, and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Naeem has graciously agreed to donate one of his signature gowns to our collections, making it the first Indian American artifact to be collected for the project. Well, that’s about it for now. You can always learn more about the latest on HomeSpun on the website or by calling me, Suchin Adhalaka, Homespun Project Manager, at 202.633.2693.
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