Curation as Care: Reflections from the USC’s We Are Civic Media Book Launch w/ NOMMO

This past weekend, at Los Angeles’ Underground Museum, NOMMO joined a vibrant gathering of artists, civic media practitioners, and scholars at the We Are Civic Media book launch: Afterwords: An Evening of Ideas, a milestone moment celebrating storytelling as a civic force. Powered by the Macarthur Foundation, the fellowship, like the event, brought together those working at the intersection of narrative, equity, and democracy to explore how media and culture shape collective belonging.

During the program, NOMMO’s Chief Curator, Tyree Boyd-Pates, shared reflections on museum curation as a practice of care — one that holds space for truth-telling, intergenerational dialogue, and radical imagination. He underscored that care in this context is not sentimental; it is structural. It asks institutions to center humanity, to honor Black life fully, and to transform how histories are told.

Boyd-Pates also spoke to the importance of supporting Black institutions and Black curators as architects of new worlds. Their labor extends beyond preservation; it’s worldbuilding, rooted in the belief that culture is a blueprint for the future. When Black cultural workers are resourced and supported, entire ecosystems of meaning, memory, and possibility thrive.

The We Are Civic Media gathering reaffirmed NOMMO’s mission: to advance narrative as infrastructure through cultural strategy, storytelling, and civic imagination. The night was filled with deep dialogue, laughter, and collective affirmation that media and culture remain essential to democracy.

NOMMO extends gratitude to the We Are Civic Media authors, organizers, and participants for convening a space that honors narrative stewardship as a public good.

As we reflect, we’re reminded that storytelling, whether in a museum, on a page, or in a neighborhood, is how we practice freedom.