There is nothing harder than laboring over a project, program, community connection, or something else in the vast GLAM sector and then... poof. It's cancelled. It's defunded. It's abused and misused until it is no longer what it was meant to be. Or worse yet, you have to leave the institution, voluntarily or involuntarily, and then see how your work is valued as they plan to disburse your personal portfolio of work or just... throw it all away.
Dead Dreams Club is not a club that we ever want someone to claim membership to. It's a sad place. But as is held in the Jewish tradition, we would like to think of this space as an opportunity to let the memories of your projects or your former role be a blessing. We are here to form a private and inclusive community for folks genuinely interested in supporting one another through it all.
Dead Dreams Club is for the forced out, priced out, and laid off. It's for the victims of the nonprofit industrial complex and the harmed.
It's not a club we want you to be a part of and we are sorry to see you. But, since you're here, welcome to the club.
As a "member", you are welcome to engage as little or as much as you'd like. From our periodic merch series which donates proceeds to a GLAM sector cause for each collection to our invite only Community Chat to chat with others to our planned "memorial garden" where we hope to commemorate the dreams who have met their end and give you proper credit.
We also have a Twitter where we will be creating Spaces and communicating with the field at large. Also, we want this to be a way to work through all the feelings. It's hard out here.
Why does the logo say 'No Crede Museums'?
Have you had the pleasure of listening to Noble Blood, the podcast? There is a great Lord Byron episode that shares that his family motto is "Crede Byron" loosily translating to "Trust Byron" or "Believe Byron". However, after some mild scandal, a scorned lover of Byron's, Lady Caroline Lamb, made her own twist -– "No Crede Byron". We borrow from this to say we don't believe museums. We know that they can be places of harm and trauma to many. We hope to be a place of refuge for those who have unfortunately been victimized by these spaces.