Partnerships
NCTE has recruited a select list of national partners to participate in the National Gallery of Writing by hosting their own, thematic, virtual galleries within the larger National Gallery site. Among the National Partners enlisted through mid-March:
- Google Docs
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- The Council of Writing Program Administrators
- National Center for Family Literacy
- National Council for Social Studies
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- National Science Teachers Association
- National Writing Project
- Newseum
- Sesame Workshop
In addition to national partners, the initiative is currently being supported by Verizon Foundation as a financial sponsor, and sponsorship negotiations are underway with other foundations and publishers.
Anyone may choose to start a virtual local gallery within the National Gallery. These may be as small as students in a classroom or as large as all writers in a particular university or city. To start a local gallery, a curator may register their group through the National Gallery site by providing a name, the focus of the group, and the names of those willing to serve in the administrative curatorial role. Curators will be gate-keepers for their galleries, deciding which submissions will be published, and which may be “featured” using tools created by NCTE for that purpose. Any piece rejected by a local gallery will be re-routed for consideration in the National Gallery, which is administered by the Council and its volunteer member/Curators.
Key Dates
April 30, 2009: The National Gallery of Writing site should be open for registering local galleries and accepting composition submissions (only one per writer -- a piece that they deem important or significant).
October 20, 2009: This is the National Day on Writing. The National Gallery of Writing will become an active, visible site on this day, and events celebrating writing will be held at local sites across the country. The New Yorker magazine will host a gala in New York to celebrate the National Day and the first scholarship recipients from the Norman Mailer Creative Non-Fiction Writing Awards, a competition sponsored by the Norman Mailer Writers Colony with support by NCTE.
June 1, 2010: On this day, the National Gallery is scheduled to end its time as an active site, and become a static archive. If, however, the initiative is successful and resource support is forthcoming, it is possible that the National Archive of Writing -- a citizens gallery -- will continue.