Grants:Project/Rapid/Art+Feminism Editathons in Peru/Report

Report accepted
This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2020-21 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.
  • To read the approved grant submission describing the plan for this project, please visit Grants:Project/Rapid/Art+Feminism Editathons in Peru.
  • You may still comment on this report on its discussion page, or visit the discussion page to read the discussion about this report.
  • You are welcome to Email rapidgrants at wikimedia dot org at any time if you have questions or concerns about this report.


Goals edit

Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went?

Our original project had two components. We were able to successfully complete the first one, the 6th Art+Feminism Editathon in Lima at the headquarters of the Cultural Center of Spain in Lima, however, due to the drastic changes caused by the pandemic we had to cancel the second component, the first Art+Feminism Editathon in the city of Trujillo, in alliance with the Afro-Peruvian Museum of Zaña.

The sixth Art + Feminism Edit-a-thon in Lima was held on March 7 at the Cultural Center of Spain in Lima and it lasted eight hours. It included a workshop of introduction to Wikipedia during the first two hours. Attendees worked on the creation of articles about Peruvian women artists, poets, and art promoters. To participate in the event, people had to apply through a form, in which we included a question about their motivations. In this way, we made sure to select people who were highly motivated to make an impact through editing on Wikipedia.

In this year’s edition we had the direct support of the Cultural Center of Spain in Lima in the organization and promotion of the event, as well as through the bibliographic sources provided by its library. The Documentation Center of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Lima also provided bibliographic material as in previous years.

We carried out the activity smoothly and seamlessly, which we believe is a result of the experience we have accumulated over the years organizing editing events. We made an internal assessment of the feasibility of changing the second component of the project to a virtual event, and concluded that we did not yet have the organizational capacity to carry it out. We preferred to return the remaining funds and dedicate this time to planning activities for 2022.

Outcome edit

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Target outcome Achieved outcome Explanation
2 events 1 event The second event was cancelled due to the context of the pandemic in Peru.
30 participants per event 15 participants in the Lima event 1 user participated remotely
20 new editors in the Lima event 14 new editors in the Lima event
40 articles created or improved in both events 28 articles created or improved in one event 4 images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons 12 new articles were created. This year’s outcomes include the articles about 4 sculptors, 2 painters, 1 gourd carving artist, 3 photographers, 1 installation artist, and a poet. Some of the highlights are the biographies of Ella Krebs, Irma Poma Canchumani, and Lastenia Canayo/Pecon Quena.1 article is in the sandbox. 16 articles were edited. The details can be found in our Dashboard Page.

4 new images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons: a picture with works and a portrait of the artist Lastenia Canayo; a picture of a work of the artist Teresa Carvallo, a portrait of artist Olinda Silvano.

15 repeat participants 2 repeat participants


Learning edit

Projects do not always go according to plan. Sharing what you learned can help you and others plan similar projects in the future. Help the movement learn from your experience by answering the following questions:

  • What worked well?

This the first time we managed to get each participant to create an entry. This was due to a detail that may seem minor, but it is not. When promoting the event, we emphasized that applicants should have a strong interest in writing. This called the attention of women working in writing and research, for whom topics such as the types of sources, neutral point of view, citations, etc. were familiar. In this way, it was only necessary for them to learn the editorial policies of Wikipedia and the technical aspects.

In the past, we’ve faced issues like having User Pages and new articles being deleted or proposed for deletion right after they were created. This year, we asked every participant to include a note on their User page about their participation in the Editathon, as a way to let the community know that they were new editors. Fortunately, it worked, and we didn’t have any deleted entries.

Another great outcome is that after the event, the staff at the Library of the Cultural Center of Spain has identified new ways to activate and make visible its sources on women artists, such as the creation of new linked categorizations or the cataloging of exhibition brochures. This institution holds one of the largest documentary collections on Peruvian art in Lima. The Art+Feminism Edit-a-thon has been one of the few public activities around it in recent years.

  • What did not work so well?

Unfortunately, the editor's guide we had designed and printed wasn't ready for the event. We weren't able to give this printed material to the attendees, however, we send them digital copies, and we saved the printed ones for our next event.

  • What would you do differently next time?

There are also some challenges that we would like to face shortly. The first is to address the lack of images of works and portraits of Peruvian artists, especially those who already have a page on Wikipedia. Since there is practically no material published under free licenses, we will likely have to contact cultural institutions or the artists themselves, and we need to design a strategy for this.

The second is that we would like to go deeper into the use of Wikidata, as we are aware of its growing importance for making data visible on the internet, but we are not yet versed in its use.

Finances edit

Grant funds spent edit

  1. Wire transfer fees  = $106.64*
  2. Office supplies = $5
  3. Paid ads on social media = $25*
  4. Printing of bibliographic materials and 20 editors guides = $78*
  5. Food and drinks for the event = $250*
  6. Transportation = $60

Total spent = 524.64 USD

The * marks the items for which we have receipts.

We had stickers, pins and bags thanks to a previous donation from Art+Feminism. We decided to give them to all participants instead of giving prizes only to the outstanding editors.  

Remaining funds edit

Do you have any remaining grant funds?

We had 965 USD remaining. We have already returned this funds to the Wikimedia Foundation, as we decided to cancel the second event.

Anything else edit

Anything else you want to share about your project?

Remaining funds from this grant have been returned to WMF in the amount of 965 USD.

Photos of the event are available on Wikimedia Commons.

A video recording produced by the Centro Cultural de España is available on YouTube.