Libraries hosts Femme-focused nights on making, gaming, and beat-making

Courtney Hewett wasn’t exactly sure how the first Femme Game Night would go. Some new gamers came into the Hunt Library’s Game Lab and looked around, taking in the room. She could tell they were trying to figure out where to go and what to play.

“Before I could welcome them in and get them started on a game, another student walked over, said hello and invited them to play Mario Kart,” Hewett recalls. “The new gamers had never played before and didn't know how to use the controllers or set up a race.”

Hewett, a University Library Specialist who co-organizes Femme Game Nights with Community Engagement & Visitor Relations Librarian Lara Fountaine, took a back seat and watched other players give them a tutorial on how to play. Then they were off and racing.

“I love that part of Femme Game Nights,” Hewett says. “The sense of community, all of us teaching each other about games or talking about old favorites. It is such an inviting and welcoming atmosphere that the students have cultivated.”

Femme Game Nights are one of three femme-focused event series at the Libraries this semester. Femme Making Nights are held in the Hill Library’s Makerspace and Femme Beat-Making Nights take place in the Hill Library’s Digital Media Lab. Each series takes a traditionally male-dominated or male-centric activity and space and opens it up in a way that’s specifically welcoming to femme-identifying folks. The goal is to better reach and serve the entire campus and to aid in community-building in these spaces through hands-on, collaborative activities.

Femme Beat-Making Nights are organized by Maurika Smutherman, a Libraries Graduate Extension Assistant, and Tim Mensa, a University Library Specialist. Students get a hands-on tour of all the production equipment and software available in the Digital Media Lab, but through the music of femme and non-binary artists like A Taste of Honey. The hope is that these nights make the music booths—which are equipped for recording podcasts and editing digital media in addition to making music—more creative, more accessible spaces.

“For me, the most memorable moment was seeing some of the more apprehensive participants familiarizing themselves with the space and music-making technology,” Smutherman says. “None of the participants had even visited the DML before, so it was also amazing to welcome them into a space they may have never known about or visited if not for the workshop. Several of the students expressed a level of intimidation by the tools in the DML, so making these tools accessible to them and giving them the space to explore and play around with making media was a fulfilling experience.”

Participants created music using GarageBand and Ableton Live software and curated a collaborative Spotify playlist that will be added to in subsequent beat-making nights. Alianna Kendall-Brooks, a first-year student studying political science, wrote about the experience in the Nubian Message in February, calling it “A Femme-Safe Space.”

“The array of slots, buttons and whistles was intimidating at first but, with help, students began experimenting with Ableton Live and GarageBand to create their beats,” Kendall-Brooks wrote. “Far more inexperienced than in the hour prior, we felt much more confident in our abilities as we shuffled through the playlist and began sampling songs. While my beat definitely won’t be making it to Billboard, Femme Beat-Making Night was an invaluable experience. A door at the back of Hill’s Learning Commons that once felt closed and intimidating was always open, and it felt more welcoming than ever.”

“I'd say my favorite part of Femme Beat-Making Night was its emphasis on highlighting femme and non-binary producers and musicians,” Kendall-Brooks says. “We discussed artists such as WondaGurl and Missy Elliot who are often left out of conversations surrounding music production despite their undeniable impact on the industry. The organizers, Tim and Maurika, made the space super welcoming for all experience levels.”

Femme Making Nights open up the Hill Library’s Makerspace in the same way. Organized by Graduate Extension Assistant Kelsey Dufresne, the events feature technology showcases and making sessions. The first two nights featured personalized button-making and paper-based crafts including collaging, origami, and notebooking. In subsequent nights this spring semester, students will learn how to design their own tote bags, make personalized stickers, do mini-loom projects, and embroider pencil pouches.

“The Makerspace is most predominantly used for 3D printing, but these Femme Making Nights and their corresponding activities draw attention to the other forms and practices of making that our space can support,” Dufresne says, noting that Makerspaces have historically been most utilized by white men.

“The objectives of these making events were to provide students with the opportunity to learn more about the Makerspace and the various tools, resources, and opportunities available to them while engaging in making opportunities and processes to supplement and complement their educational experiences,” she adds. “Moreover, we are aiming to reinforce the prioritization of equity and inclusion and to better reach and serve demographics on our campus that do not frequent the space.”

The Libraries’ emphasis on equity and inclusion through these series is well-timed. With an eSports arena coming to NC State—a pilot version of which will open at the Hunt Library next school year—the Libraries is helping to lay the groundwork for open and welcoming access to all students in these spaces through femme nights as well as the Raiders of the Lost Arcade series, which helps students critically engage with tropes and stereotypes about gamers and video game characters. Raiders events have focused on video games that emphasize women, characters with disabilities, and BIPOC representation.

But femme nights are also about bringing people together just to have fun making things. Hewett particularly enjoys interactive Jackbox party games played on your mobile devices. There's trivia, mock PowerPoint presentations, and improv comedy games.

“These games really bring everyone together creating stuff that makes us all laugh extremely hard!” she says. “Nothing creates bonds and a welcoming atmosphere like laughing super hard together. We have some students with futures in stand-up comedy coming to Femme Game Nights.”