ANNA R HURWITZ
UW MLIS 2019

ABOUT

I am a second year MLIS student at the University of Washington in Seattle. I have been working with artists and arts organizations for almost 30 years as an artist, event and exhibition producer, outreach and development director and creative instigator. After graduation, my goal is to work with individual artists and arts organizations preserve and share their creative legacies.

I am excited and honored to be working with Anne Focke, who received her BA in Art History from UW in 1967. Ms. Focke is a woman of many firsts. In 2016, she was the first Alum in Residence at the UW School of Art + Art History + Design. From the UW website: "She was the first staff person for the City of Seattle’s arts agency, first director of its public art program, and director of Bumbershoot (the city’s annual arts festival) the year it got its name... She served for ten years as the first executive director of Grantmakers in the Arts and for eighteen years as co-editor of its journal, GIA Reader. She has participated in founding new enterprises including Arts Wire, an early national online network; Artist Trust, serving Washington State artists; and/or, an artist center (and it's spin-off Center on Contemporary Art); and Artech, a for-profit art-handling company. 

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Ms. Focke currently holds approximately 125 banker boxes (cubic feet to be determined) of her personal and professional papers. In 1987, she donated 3 cubic feet of her personal papers and audio tapes and 39.66 cubic feet of records for and/or, the alternative artspace Ms Focke founded.

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Abby Cloutier, UW Art History major is also interning with Ms. Focke this quarter. This her second internship with Ms. Focke, she previously focused on the content of the Arts Wire files and generated discussions via a weekly podcasts. She is excited to learn about archiving and provide whatever assistance she can as we work together to assist Ms. Focke.