POBA

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POBA is a non-profit online arts community based in New York City. It was launched in July 2014 by The James Kirk Bernard Foundation (named after a young artist who died in 2010). The Executive Director is Jennifer Cohen.

POBA’s mission is to preserve, display, and provide resources for researching, archiving, and valuing the creative legacies of 20th and 21st century artists who died without full recognition, who worked across multiple media, or whose work isn’t easily accessible elsewhere. Membership is open to rights holders of a deceased artist’s legacy, who can create portfolios to show the artist’s works in digital form for public display and private storage.

The name POBA comes from the Hindi word "phowa," meaning the transformation of consciousness at death. POBA partners with major institutions and galleries, including the American Ballet Theatre, The Berta Walker Gallery, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, and Paddle8.

In January 2016, POBA launched Art Lives, a project to digitize and display the work of artists across genres who died of AIDS in the 1970s and 1980s, in partnership with DIFFA, LifeBeat, and Visual AIDS. Featured artists include Sylvester, Mel Cheren, and Patrick Kelly.