Zonia Zena

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

March 2025: SJ4A Fellow Zonia Zena Awarded Oolite Arts’ Live.In.Art Residency 2025, South Beach, Florida, March 19, 2025. This residency provides talented artists with dedicated live/work spaces in South Beach, exhibition opportunities, financial support, and connections to arts leaders—all within Miami’s vibrant cultural landscape.

September 2024: Programs at the Miami-Date County Library System Special Collections department awarded NACo Achievement 2024 Awards.

September 2024: Invited Lecturer at Texas State University, “Archives, Archiving and Making Art.”

October 2024: Zonia assisted in curating for “What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women Reading Room” as part of the Wopha Congress held at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, Florida.

July 2024: Zonia assisted in curating an exhibition in a series of exhibitions for the WOPHA Congress. The exhibition will focus on photo books made by women artists and will be on view in October 2024. 

June 2024: Zonia’s artistic work was highlighted by WOPHA (Women International Photography Archive) in their Wophagram Instagram takeover in June 2024.

June 2024: Zonia co-curated the exhibition, “Cover to Cover: Book Arts Miami,” which included artists’ books and zines from the Permanent Art Collection at the Miami-Dade Public Library System and the Special Collections’ Vasari Project. The exhibit is on view at the MDPLS from June 29 to August 24, 2024. 

May 2024: Zonia was promoted to Library Archivist at the Special Collections Miami-Dade County Library System. 

May 2024:  Zonia started her internship with Art in Public Places which is part of the Cultural Affairs of Miami-Dade County, where she is helping them with their archives and database system.

October 2023: Zonia Zena was selected to participate in the exhibit Women’s Voices: New Perspectives in the Archives,  hosted at Miami-Dade Public Library System. It was on view from November 7, 2023, to March 31, 2024.

August 2023: Zonia received a scholarship to participate in the Photobook Design workshop at La Hydra with Teun van der Heijden in Mexico City, Mexico.

August 2023: Zonia was selected for the Artist as Archivist residency at the Women Artist Archive Miami. The project she created was titled: Along Little Santo Domingo.

​June 2023: Zonia was selected to participate in the Photobook as Object workshop with Yumi Goto hosted by WOPHA (Women Photographers International Archive) and received the Carol Damian Scholarship for Women Artists.

June 2023: Zonia traveled to Italy for CalRBS International: A Crossroad of Global Print History Italy, 2023. She traveled to Rome, Firenze, Bologna, Castel Maggiore, Cornuda, and Venice.

​May 2023: Zonia was accepted into CalRBS International: A Crossroad of Global Print History Italy, 2023 from CalRBS (California Rare Book School) and UCLA. She also received a partial scholarship to attend this educational experience.

CalRBS International is a one-of-a kind continuing education experience that immerses participants in book and library history through unique itineraries abroad. CalRBS International is part seminar, historical immersion, hands-on craft-making, and multi-city tour.

My SJ4A ROAD MAP [STRATEGIC EDUCATION PLAN]

FALL 2024

CIS 675: Community-Engaged Scholarship
I have created this Community Engaged e-Portfolio (CE-e-P) as part of my work for the CIS 675 (Community-Engaged Scholarship) course during Fall 2024.

In my CE-eP I  analyze existing communication and information responses through a specific program at The Vasari Project collection within the Special Collections Department at the Miami Dade Public Library System l located in Miami, Florida. I also identify existing and potential collaborators and partners in local, regional, national, and international communities (in the physical setting and expanding online as we are reaching international partners) to facilitate actual and/or planned activities of mutual interest, such as the Archiving 101 series , an award winning program at Special Collection s . In the process I propose expansion on outreach of the mentioned program in Spanish, as another way to engage with potential patrons who can identify our department as a point of research in other languages, which will allow the department to expand the needs of the community, the representation in the specific setting of this particular library and its scholarly and workforce environment.

As part of my analysis, I evaluate. the potential of expansion of the Archiving 101 as point of departure and develop a strategic action plan for the communication or information organization to identify future directions of continuous growth in consolidating future collaborations and partnerships for this program.

Analyzing Existing Communication and Information Responses at The Vasari Project Collection within the Special Collections Department at the Miami Dade Public Library System, Miami, Florida – https://zzena-cis675-fall24.myportfolio.com

SUMMER 2024

​LS 570: Internship
I’ve been doing my internship at Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs, Art in Public Places. The experience has been one that has helped me understand the backbone of how proposals, archives, and database handling works. I am happy with what I am being exposed to, it helps me to see the need for archival knowledge in different sectors and how I can apply my knowledge to it.

FALL 2023

CIS 668: Social Justice and Inclusion Advocacy
I have created this Social Justice ePortfolio (SJ-eP) as part of my work for CIS 668 (Social Justice and Inclusion Advocacy) course during fall 2023. In my SJ-eP I propose social justice actions based on analysis of existing communication and information responses to the diverse population in the county of Miami Dade. Addressing and exploring ways to offer a more insightful experience using the Audio Visual Collection in and out if the library by making our archive collections more accessible in the Main’s branch Special Collections department at the Miami-Dade Public Library System located in Miami Florida.

I also propose and implement very select responsive strategies and actions plan to further community needs, expectations, and representation in the specific setting and workforce environment of the communication agency or information organization to identify future directions of progressive growth and professional practice. The SJ-eP provides a glimpse of social justice actions proposed and/or taken through application of select systematic methods. It documents this process upon reflection of the limited experience to gather insights that can get operationalized in greater depth during future initiatives.

Analyzing Existing Communication and Information Responses to the Diverse Population in the County of Miami Dade – https://zzena-cis668-fall23.myportfolio.com

SUMMER 2023

CIS 650: Applying Diversity Leadership Theories and Praxis
I have created this Diversity & Inclusion ePortfolio (D&P-eP) as part of my work for the CIS 650 (Applying Diversity Leadership Theories & Praxis) course during Summer 2023.

In my D&P-eP I analyze existing diversity and inclusion responses to the artistic circuit and communities who respond to it at the Vasari Project which is part of the Special Collections at the Main branch at Miami-Dade Public library System located in Miami, Florida. I also propose a range of responsive strategies to further cultural competence and effective leadership in the diverse environment. As part of my analysis, I critically evaluate a variety of existing information responses (eg, collections, services, programs, resources, policies, and best practices) to ensure equality/equity of representation, access, and information use of diverse stakeholders in my community-centered organizational setting. The focus is on an evaluation of website-based and/or on-site information offerings. I also suggest a strategic diversity action plan for the information organization to identify future directions of progressive growth and professional practice.

Analyzing Existing Diversity and Inclusion Responses to the Artistic Circuit and Communities at the Vasari Project located in the Special Collections at the Miami-Dade Public Library Main Branch – https://zzena-cis650div-sum23.myportfolio.com