Incoming Director of Shambhala Archives

On the Anniversary of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s Parinirvana, I’m writing to all of you as someone who cares deeply about his impact and teachings – and about how we expand that legacy through the Shambhala Archives.

As I contemplate how to go forward as the incoming Director of Shambhala Archives, the image of emanating and gathering has been arising for me. The Archives has a lot to share with the world, to emanate out, and to make visible. For the Archives to remain a living thing, we need to be a breathing archive. We need to gather strength from all our resources, document the ongoing life of our community, to collect and safeguard the teachings that occur within it.

Such good work has been done in the last couple of years under outgoing Director Tillie Perk’s leadership – organizing the collections, gaining new skills for our team, creating modern policies, and updating technologies. As Tillie departs her role as Director, we are so grateful for her insight and contributions.

I’m honoured, and of course intimidated, to step into the role of Director for the Shambhala Archives. But mostly in my heart – I’m motivated. I formally step into this role in June of this year, and though I’ve been working on strategy as a member of the Archives Advisory Group for a couple of years, I have much to learn about the Archives. I have started connecting with people working on projects in other communities that leave me feeling encouraged and confident that we can accomplish our ambitious aspirations.

In talking with Shambhala leadership and stakeholders, we can see Archives’ ability to tell the story of Chögyam Trungpa and the Vajradhatu / Shambhala community through our holdings. Through the teachings, personal effects, letters, photographs, artworks, and ephemera of Chögyam Trungpa, and the artists, poets, musicians and great teachers who intersected with our sangha – we can share the narrative of how Buddhism travelled to new lands and found life within new cultures. We want to prioritize telling that full story, and paint a picture of a continuing society – practitioners now several generations deep practicing Buddhism on Western soil.

Key Priorities

While much has been done to document our community’s history, existing and new materials need to be accessioned into the collection, digitized, and organized into a to ensure their longevity and usability. We would like to contact known photographers and artists from our community to request selected photos and artworks to add to the Shambhala Archives for historical purposes.

We are actively seeking funding and grants from sources beyond the borders of our own community. The use of these funds (if we are successful) will somewhat depend on what the grants are inspired to fund, but we are proposing projects such as:

Host live online “night at the museum” events where we share selected objects from the Archives collections, based on different themes. Themes could include “paper records” or “our art collection” or “personal objects and their stories”. Shambhala Archives will partner with Shambhala Online to host, broadcast, and record these events for future viewing. Are you curious what treasures are in the Shambhala Archives? We want to show you!

Create audio / visual installations that travel to 16 (8 per year) of the major Shambhala Centers as experiential “ambassadors” of the Shambhala Archives

Update a comprehensive disaster recovery plan to safeguard against unforeseen events. Upgrade and implement encryption, secure authentication protocols.

Your Support

Your ongoing support is crucial to the Shambhala Archives. There is so much work that could and should be done!

We are in the midst of moving boxes of old recorded materials from expensive storage facilities into Archives space in the Halifax Shambhala Centre that was freed up during recent reorganization. This will ultimately save a great deal of money, but takes a huge amount of effort to retrieve these materials from a highly secure facility, then to analyze each box to see if the materials are sufficiently digitized and no longer needed.

The Archives does not cover its ongoing operating expenses through one-time and recurring donations, and it would allow us to move forward with even more stability and confidence if we could change this!

If we could secure just 13 more donors giving $20 each month, we could cover our current basic monthly expenses.

We would also like to upgrade more items in our museum space and our digital equipment is in need of modernization. We currently have one part-time paid staff person (the Director) for only 10 hours per week. If we can fund our monthly expenses through donations, we could look at upgrades and adding additional staff beyond current levels, which is much needed to progress with our work!

Can you help us get there? Could you offer a one time donation in any amount?

Perhaps you’d like to sponsor a “Night at the Museum” Video Broadcast or another project? As always, it’s tax deductible. Let us Know!

Staying in Touch

I’d love to be in close contact with all of you, and will send updates to let you know what we’re working on. If you are a Shambhala Member, you can visit the link below to update your email preferences to include Shambhala Archives updates. If you are not a Shambhala Member, there is an option to create an account through the link below.

For locals or visitors, a lovely reading library has been created in the Archives space at the Halifax Shambhala Centre at 1084 Tower Road where you’re welcome to enjoy a wide range of books and items from the collection. We’ll start regular hours in June!

Volunteer Opportunities

Also for Halifax locals, I’m looking for volunteers who’d like to spend time hosting the Reading Room. If you like to read in quiet spaces, this could be a lovely role for you!

We could also welcome volunteers for accession projects.

Contact me!

Wendy Friedman
Shambhala Archives Director

[email protected]

Join me in sharing our Shambhala treasures with the world,