Claudia Alick had the pleasure of speaking with Emerge July 2023 Hybrid Disability Studies Workshop for Disabled Activists, Artists, Cultural Producers, Filmmakers, and Academics. The fellows are developing deeply exciting projects on topics of access, sex work, colonialism, anti-Blackness, Anti-fatness, cross-movement work and more. They are working in a variety of modalities producing documentaries, zines, and live performance. Claudia discussed their artistic practice, the messy spots they encounter and their tactics for working through them. They also discussed strategies for implementing disability justice in both your work and their organizational culture and what scholar-activism means to them. There was so much love and energy and excitement. It was accessible, disability centered and full of awesome people doing awesome things.

Emerge July 2023 Hybrid Disability Studies Workshop for Disabled Activists, Artists, Cultural Producers, Filmmakers, and Academics

The Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University proudly announces Emerge, a three-year initiative made possible thanks to a generous $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. This support will allow the Longmore Institute to lead a month-long July workshop for 10 emerging Disability Studies scholar-activists, held three consecutive summers at San Francisco State University with an option for hybrid participation.

Emerge seeks to promote scholar-activism: the bridges and relationships that allow academics and activists to better support each other in the shared pursuit of social change. This initiative will cultivate relationships among the next generation of Disability Studies leaders, further diversify the conversation, and promote more scholar-activism in the field.

Each Emerge cohort will consist of scholars, artists, cultural producers, filmmakers, or activists whose work enriches the field of Disability Studies with projects that explore disabled people’s experiences intersecting with further marginalization by race, gender, sexuality, incarceration, or immigration. Each group of ten will be invited to SFSU’s campus from across the U.S. on the basis of their 4-5 years’ experience in disability-related scholarship, arts/culture/filmmaking, and/or disability justice activism. They will receive support for working on new projects grounded in scholar-activism, an assigned mentor, and opportunities to meet with the Bay Area’s disability arts, rights, and justice organizations. Throughout the month, we will facilitate conversations for the Emerge fellows with local disabled changemakers about what scholar-activism means to them and the challenges they face in their work today. The summer will culminate in a hybrid-model symposium presenting the Emerge fellows’ work to the broader Disability Studies community. 

Emerge Fellowship

Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University receives $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to support the emerging leaders in disability studies and scholar-activism. 

The Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability is proud to announce Emerge, a three-year initiative that will be made possible thanks to a generous $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation as part of their new investment in disability studies. This generous support will allow the Longmore Institute to lead a month-long summer workshop for emerging Disability Studies scholar-activists, held three consecutive summers at San Francisco State University with an option for hybrid participation.

 Each Emerge cohort will consist of scholars, artists, or activists whose work enriches the field of Disability Studies with projects that explore disabled people and experiences intersecting with further marginalization by race, gender, sexuality, incarceration record, or immigration status. Each group of ten will be invited to campus from across the U.S. on the basis of their 5-7 years’ experience in disability-related scholarship, arts and culture, and/or disability justice activism. They will receive support for working on new projects grounded in scholar-activism, an assigned mentor, and opportunities to learn from and visit with the Bay Area’s rich disability arts, rights, and justice organizations, as we host open conversations with local disabled changemakers about what scholar-activism means to them and might support them in the future with the challenges they face. The summer will culminate in a hybrid-model symposium presenting their finished works to the broader Disability Studies community. 

Interim Director of the Longmore Institute Emily Beitiks shares, “Our work has prioritized creating bridges so that academics, artists, and activists can better support each other in the shared pursuit of social change. We dreamed up this project because we want to elevate our support for the development of new networks and relationships that support scholar-activism inside disability studies for the next generation of disabled leaders. We are so excited to use our reach to introduce these leaders to the broader international disability community.” For more information, click to join the mailing list for the Longmore Institute on Disability. 

Press Contact:

Dr. Emily Beitiks, Interim Director, Longmore Institute, 415-338-6010 (office) / beitiks@sfsu.edu