About Me: Aaminah Shakur is an artist, art historian, culture critic, editor, intuitive, poet, and writer. Their visual artwork is primarily mixed media that combines collage, painting, and traditional crafts such as embroidery, beadwork, and other fiber arts. They are particularly interested in the preservation of traditions and so-called craft that are often gendered and racialized. Their work explores the hybridity of traditional methods and materials with futurist methods and materials that represent the cultural practice of remembering history and carrying it forward into the future. Additionally, Shakur is deeply invested in addressing how art spaces, art writing, and art conversations can be designed to be accessible in terms of disability and fatness, and inclusive of underrepresented community members. Shakur graduated with a B.S. in Art History and a minor in Museum Studies in May 2019 and a certificate in Visual & Critical Studies in August 2021 from Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids, MI.
Alongside academic research into visual and critical studies and the art historical representations of disability, including co-chairing a CAA panel titled “Crip Solidarity & Access Intimacy in the Arts: What Might Be Possible?” in 2020, Shakur worked in the Fed Galleries of KCAD (now the new UICA) from 2016-2021 as well as providing contractual support to the UICA from 2017-2021 in research and writing of exhibition panels and statements, art and artifact documentation, and artist biographies. Shakur actively collaborated with the curator of the Fed Galleries in efforts to make the galleries more accessible, presented talks on artworks and tours on exhibitions, and assisted with events and marketing. Additionally, Shakur served on the KCAD Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee from spring 2020 through spring 2021, and continued to serve on the DEI’s Diversity Film Series subcommittee in planning film screenings, speakers, and panelist events for the remainder of 2021. In the community, Shakur is the Accessibility Coordinator for the Grand Rapids Pride Center since 2020 and was a member of the TGNC Committee, a partnership between the Grand Rapids Pride Center & the Grand Rapids Trans Foundation that advises and develops programming and events for the local trans and gender non-conforming community from March 2019 to September 2021. They can be contacted at aaminahshakur@gmail.com. You can read more about Shakur and their work here.
Services offered are outlined below in detail, including rates. Services include:
- Editing & Reviewing (Proofreading, Copyediting, Sensitivity Reading)
- Gallery Support Services
- Disability Accessibility Services (Written Image Descriptions & Written Transcription of Images)
- Diversity, Inclusion, & Accessibility Consulting
- See Intuitive Services (Tarot & Oracle readings, Water gazings ) HERE
For all services, contact: aaminahshakur@gmail.com
Editing & Reviewing:
Proofreading: $25 per 1,000 words – refers to basic grammar and spelling issues. This rate is based on 1,000 words/per hour and is the minimum base charge. Hours will be rounded up to the nearest 30 minutes/500 words. e.g. a 1,222-word document will be charged as 1,500 words and the price would be $37.50.
Copyediting: $40 per 1,000 words – refers to proofreading PLUS some basic formatting (sentence and paragraph structure), breaking out when block quotes should be used, and making suggestions regarding ensuring the text makes sense/timeline is coherent, etc. This rate is based on 1,000 words/per hour and is the minimum base charge. Hours will be rounded up to the nearest 30 minutes/500 words. e.g. a 1,222-word document will be charged as 1,500 words and the price would be $60.00.
*** Please note that Proofreading & Copyediting do not include extra consulting time to discuss or defend my suggestions. Edits are offered as suggestions in either Word via “track changes” or in Google Docs. You are welcome to accept or decline the suggestions, as it is your writing and your responsibility in the end.
Sensitivity Reader: These services involve reading/reviewing text when an author or editor wishes to be sure it is presenting accurate, non-offensive information about marginalized communities. My areas of expertise in this regard are Muslim issues (particularly from the perspective of a convert), Multi-cultural/multi-racial issues, Disability/Accessibility issues (including mental health), Trauma issues (particularly related to domestic violence, including child abuse, and sexual harassment/assault/abuse), and LGBTQ+ issues with a focus on Bi/Pansexual, & Non-Binary identities. Sensitivity reading is NOT the same as actually editing, it is more of a heads up, but it is very intense and requires me to read through potentially hurtful and/or offensive things, and then professionally and with detail explain to you what was hurtful or offensive about them, so my rates are based on the physical/intellectual work combined with the emotional labor. If the writing is good and does not require a lot of advice to “fix” areas that were offensive, stereotypical, or otherwise hurtful, I will still provide you with additional insight and background that can help you when you are editing (and in future writing) to give you a knowledge base.
Sensitivity reading rates begin at $60 for every (up to) 1,000 words of reading involved. That covers the reading and an emailed or in-text comments explanation of all areas I have thoughts/suggestions regarding. Sometimes this will include me providing outside citations/resources. If you need additional discussion beyond that, a base rate of $50 per 30 minutes will go into effect with a minimum 30-minute charge. *** Please note, I reserve the right to limit the amount of engagement/additional discussion. The purpose of the additional discussion is to help you understand the feedback, but not for me to defend my stance and give endless resources if you are argumentative, uncomfortable, disagree with my assessment, or are defensive. My job – what you are paying for – is to give you feedback. It is not my job to convince you to take and use the feedback. If and how you use the feedback is up to you.***
*** Please note, I reserve the right to assess an additional charge for quick turn-around times on projects – I will always let you know in advance so you can approve this. I also reserve the right to decline projects due to not having time to meet your deadline or due to egregiously offensive (discriminatory, hate group propaganda, etc.) content. ***
Gallery Support Services:
Gallery Support: Research and writing of artist bios, show statements, and individual tags for works. Base rate of $40 per hour. Additional rates may be added dependent on the specifics of the need, including the timeframe for completion. See also Disability Accessibility Services.
Disability Accessibility Services:
Image Descriptions: Comprehensive text descriptions to accompany images for online use, including websites, e-journals, blogs, social media, etc. Image descriptions provide visually impaired people access to the images you include on your site because the descriptions can be read by text-reading software. In the simplest terms, an image description “paints a picture in words” of the photo, artwork, or other image used.
Alt-text descriptions are short and not very descriptive, offering the bare bones of what is in the image, and then are pasted in the backside of your website or social media to be read out by a screen reader for blind and visually impaired people who use them. Image descriptions are longer and more descriptive and are added to posts where they are seen by everyone. Image descriptions should still be tight enough to focus on what matters about the image – the purpose of it being seen – and are useful to a wider variety of disabilities and even people who do not think of themselves as disabled. I prefer the use of image descriptions because they meet the needs of a broader audience, but if you use both then visually impaired people are annoyed because their screenreader redundantly read the text of both descriptions.
This service is provided at my hourly rate of $40 with a minimum 1-hour charge. All hours beyond the first hour are charged in pro-rated 15-minute increments. So, for example, if it takes me 63 minutes, it will be rounded up to 1 hour and 15 minutes for the charge. This service includes transcribing PDFs of text, images that are text-heavy, and short social media videos that require transcription.
Sample image description:
[Image: A multi-color abstract painting. There is an ombre effect in the background that goes from dark turquoise blue on top to grass green to yellow to fuschia at the bottom with some blending between the colors and some white canvas peeking through the paint. Over the ombre background is a dark blue pattern of linking un-filled circles and oval-like shapes that look like four-petal flowers from one perspective or four-sided shapes from another perspective that have purple circles in the center with silver lines radiating from those purple-filled circles.]
Diversity, Inclusion, & Accessibility Consulting:
General consultations: $75 per hour with a minimum 1-hour charge. Hours beyond the first hour are pro-rated in 15-minute increments. Consultations can occur via social media message, email, shared Google document, or Zoom (Zoom will still be text-based on my end due to my being non-speaking.)
I am happy to provide consulting services to individuals and organizations who are looking to figure out how to outreach to more diverse audiences, staff, or partners, as well as how to make events or spaces more accessible for a variety of disabilities. I specialize in the following areas:
- How race and class intersect and how to make a place, event, program, or organization welcoming to diverse people
- LGBTQ issues, with a particular specialization in Bisexual/Pansexual and Non-binary trans issues
- Diverse Body Respect and Fat Liberation
- How to respect religious/spiritual differences, with a specialization in inclusion and understanding of Muslims and some “pagan” or traditional spiritualities
- How to attract diverse applicants, volunteers, and participants
- How to make your venue, office, or event accessible and welcoming to people with physical, mental, or other disabilities/illnesses
- Issues around gentrification and how artists sometimes contribute to it
- Cultural appropriation – what it is, what it is not, and how it harms
- Self-advocacy for marginalized students – how to advocate for your needs in the college/university environment and how to make the most of existing support resources
- Understanding Privilege – what it is, it’s not a dirty word or attack, how we all have it, how to leverage it to support change, and how to not abuse it/speak over others
Please Note: If what you are seeking is outside my skill set or experiences, I will be open and honest about my limits and am happy to recommend other people who have the identity, experiences, and expertise to help you instead. I do NOT provide referrals to marginalized people if you do not intend to pay them (and pay appropriately) for their services.
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Contact: aaminahshakur@gmail.com
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Zelle payments can be made to aaminahshakur@gmail.com
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Aaminah Shakur 
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