Rise Up! Feminist Digital Archive
A Digital Archive of Feminist Activism
The West Kootenay Women’s Association was formed in 1974. As a society, it could apply legitimately for funding support for activities as a charitable and educational organization. One of the Association’s main projects was managing the administration of the Nelson and District Women’s Centre, which had been active since 1972 as a feminist activist support organization in the area. The West Kootenay Women’s Association also created kootenayfeminism.com, a digital record of efforts of West Kootenay women to create a more just, joyful, safe, and supportive society .
Kootenay Feminism is a digital feminist archive in the West Kootenay mountains of Southeastern British Columbia. Chronicling feminist activism in this region is of particular importance because it has historically been a “hotbed of feminist activism”—the Kootenays are home to Canada’s longest running rural women’s centre and the region was host to some of Canada’s earliest women’s festivals (1974 and 1975, and on through 1999, with a recent resurgence). The archive aims to chronicle, honour, and celebrate “the historical contributions of local women young and old.” Kootenay Feminism is hosted by Marcia Braundy, volunteer Curator and Project Manager and by the West Kootenay Women’s Association, an organization established in 1974 that runs the Nelson Women’s Centre (1972) and continues to support women in the Kootenays through a range of initiatives. The Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) gave Braundy the 2011 Barbara Roberts Award for this project.
