The Civic Media Center (CMC) is a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

infoshop Infoshops are places in which people can access anarchist or autonomist ideas. They are often stand-alone projects, or can form part of a larger radical bookshop, archive, self-managed social centre or community centre. Typically, infoshops offer ...

, library and reading room in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

, United States. It was set up in 1993 and in 2009 received the book collection of activist

Stetson Kennedy William Stetson Kennedy (October 5, 1916 – August 27, 2011) was an American author, folklorist and human rights activist. One of the pioneer folklore collectors during the first half of the 20th century, he is remembered for having infiltrated t ...

History

The Civic Media Center (CMC) was set up as an

and library in 1993 in

. Founded as a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, the center was first located at 1021 West University Avenue, near to the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

and housed a library cataloged by the

American Council of Learned Societies The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a private, nonprofit federation of 75 scholarly organizations in the humanities and related social sciences founded in 1919. It is best known for its fellowship competitions which provide a ra ...

. It was financially supported by benefit campaigns and member donations. It held its eighth birthday party at the Thomas Center in 2001, with folk singer Doug Gauss. For its twenty fifth birthday it hosted a talk from

Amy Goodman Amy Goodman (born April 13, 1957) is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement, Morocco's occupatio ...

. The CMC began an annual fundraising dinner program in 1999 called SpringBoard. Guests pay from $10 to $20 for a dinner cooked by volunteers and speakers have included

Diane Roberts Diane Roberts is an American author, columnist, essayist, radio commentator, reviewer and professor. She is the author of three books and a documentary-maker for the BBC. Early life, family and education An eighth-generation Floridian whose fa ...

, Nadine Smith and Ann Wright. The CMC moved location again in 2009, to 433 South Main Street in Gainesville. It then became the repository for

's personal library, which contained around 2,000 books and publications collected over his career as a folklore archivist and activist. It took several years to catalog the collection. As well as being a library, the CMC developed into a community resource as a meeting space, music venue and arts center. It hosts film screenings, talks and meetings. It also has a

zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

collection.

References

External links

Civic Media Center
CMC website {{coord, 29.64797, -82.32464, region:US-FL, display=title Organizations based in Gainesville, Florida Libraries in Florida Infoshops Buildings and structures in Gainesville, Florida 1993 establishments in Florida Socialism in Florida

History

See also

References

External links