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Arcadia

Arcadia serves humanity by preserving endangered cultural heritage and ecosystems.

We protect complexity and work against the entropy of ravaged and thereby starkly simplified natural environments and globalized cultures. Innovation and change occur best in already complex systems. Once memories, knowledge, skills, variety, and intricacy disappear – once the old complexities are lost – they are hard to replicate or replace. Arcadia aims to return to people both their memories and their natural surroundings. What we want to preserve remains fragile, small and dispersed. But if we do not protect it – if it vanishes forever – then future generations will have no base from which to build a vibrant, resilient, green future.

Because knowledge should belong to all, we also promote open access, seeking to make information available without barriers of cost or distance. Charities, businesses, universities, schools, the media, politicians, and citizens all benefit when research and data are no longer locked behind paywalls or reserved for those who live near their repositories. The economy benefits too from better-informed decisions, improved schooling and knowledgeable citizens, from enhanced academic research and innovation based on shared knowledge.

We do not accept applications, but seek and support organizations run by exceptional individuals, operating in a cost-effective, scientifically sound, and ethical manner that share our vision.

Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Funder Website

Arcadia Projects

MEAP UCLA

Endangered Archives from Sufi Shrines of the Afghan-Pakistan Frontier

The Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier region has served as the site of some of South Asia's most enriched spiritual movements. Sufi monastery archives show the persistent spiritua…

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3 0059

The Biblioteca Amazónica: History and Politics between the Forest and City

The city of Iquitos is a cultural, economic, and political center of the Peruvian Amazon. The Biblioteca Amazónica contains invaluable historical documentation and photographs…

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3 0058 rz

Ustadh Mau Swahili Muslim Library

The Ustadh Mau collection in Lamu, Kenya holds treasured Swahili ajami knowledge and historical memories that have documented coastal identity and values. This project works t…

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3 0056

Afro-Indigenous Brazil struggles for recognition: Videos & Photos 1980-2000

This archive has documented the resurgence of Brazil's Afro-Indigenous movements from the 1980's to the 2000's, following nearly 20 years of military dictatorship. These mater…

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MEAP UCLA

Recovering Pablo Salas' Visual Archive on the Chilean Dictatorship

Cameraman Pablo Salas captured the popular mobilization and growing political resistance during the Pinochet dictatorship. While other records can somewhat reconstruct this hi…

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MEAP UCLA

Visualizing Memory: Indigenous Resistance in Chiapas, Mexico 1998-2009

The Chiapas Media Project/Promedios archive holds nearly 200 hours worth of documentary and interview footage capturing the struggles of southern Mexico's indigenous populatio…

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MEAP UCLA

Elusive Voices: Preserving the Stories of Elderly Palestinian Refugees

Palestinian director, Muhammad Ibrahim, directed a series of interviews capturing the experiences of refugees from 180 villages. Documenting information that has been erased e…

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MEAP UCLA

The Kashmir Valley Archive

Kashmir's internal conflict led to the creation of a significant body of materials created by the local community. Although the region became fragmented, the APHC archive has …

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MEAP UCLA

Archivo Amé

The Bautista Amé Archive has served as a historical and visual representation of early-20th century rural life in South America. Notable events such as the industrial develop…

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