Cultural Memory Lab with TechSoup and Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web

Cultural Memory Lab
with TechSoup and Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web

An incubator empowering community-based archives, libraries, museums, and other cultural organizations to explore decentralized strategies for preserving collective memory.

Throughout history, the stories that shape our collective memory have often been dictated by those in positions of power. However, a growing movement of community-driven and grassroots archiving practices are working to widen the aperture through which we view the past. These decentralized, participatory approaches to cultural memory acknowledge the diversity of human experience and empower marginalized communities to take ownership over their own histories.

As this vital work of enriching historical narratives evolves, emerging decentralized technologies may serve as critical infrastructure. Peer-to-peer networking, distributed file storage, and blockchain-based platforms offer new modalities for collecting, preserving, and sharing community-generated cultural artifacts outside of centralized control. The Cultural Memory Lab will help projects explore how these tools can help democratize access to history enabling disparate voices to come together to construct a more pluralistic understanding of the past.

Gray Area, TechSoup, and the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web have teamed up to launch the Cultural Memory Lab, an incubator and microgranting program that seeks to sustain publicly accessible digital archives. The Cultural Memory Lab invites organizations from around the world to propose a project that leverages decentralized technologies to preserve stories historically excluded from archival practices. Selected projects will receive up to $5,000 in funding, access to Gray Area’s DWeb for Creators course, and dedicated technical support from the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web.

The application window for the Cultural Memory Lab has now closed.

Selected Projects

{B/qKC}: A Black Queer Archive

{B/qKC} challenges outdated archival practices through accessible storytelling and intergenerational power building. This project documents the rich and often overlooked history of Kansas City’s Black queer community, including the underground ballroom tradition and the forced closure of Soakie’s—the city’s only Black gay bar. Through a unique licensing model, contributors retain ownership of their materials while benefiting from digitization and storytelling efforts. {B/qKC} aims to use decentralized storage to ensure long-term accessibility of its growing digital archive and explore DAO models for community governance.

Learn more about {B/qKC}

Digital Memory Keepers: Decentralized Archiving of Zapotec Biocultural Knowledge

Servicios Universitarios y Redes de Conocimientos en Oaxaca’s project collaborates with Zapotec communities in Oaxaca to document and preserve traditional agricultural practices, environmental vocabulary, and oral histories. With a focus on indigenous data sovereignty, the project will deploy decentralized storage solutions to safeguard biocultural knowledge while maintaining community control over digital heritage. By integrating decentralized technologies, Digital Memory Keepers will create a bilingual archival system accessible to Zapotec speakers and the broader public.

Learn more about Digital Memory Keepers

The Mobility Independence Foundation’s Open-Source Online Repository

The Mobility Independence Foundation’s project will create a long-term, decentralized archive of open-source designs for durable medical equipment (DME). By ensuring unrestricted access to the technical blueprints of essential mobility technology, this project empowers individuals with disabilities, engineers, and repair technicians worldwide with the right of self repair. Through decentralized storage, the repository will safeguard DME designs;empower users with the knowledge and resources to maintain their own equipment;and reduce dependency on expensive, slow-moving manufacturers and insurers.

Learn more about The Mobility Independence Foundation

Cultural Memory Lab Experience

Selected via open call, 3-5 projects will receive between $2,000 to $5,000 in funding, enabling teams to explore inventive applications of decentralized technologies in their ongoing cultural memory work. To further support such experimentation, project teams will participate in mentorship sessions with advisors from the FFDW. Additionally, Cultural Memory Lab participants will gain access to Gray Area’s DWeb for Creators course, an 8-week facilitated course offering theoretical frameworks, perspectives, tools, and other resources to catalyze creative approaches to decentralized tool-building.

The Cultural Memory Lab will run for four months, from March to June 2025. All project teams will meet virtually for cohort-wide check-ins at the beginning, mid-point, and end of the lab period. A final summer showcase will give teams the opportunity to demonstrate their work to a broad audience.