Published:Â September 21, 2026
By:Â Stephanie Paterson
For Maddie Hare (BA’17, MA’21, MI’23) and Taylor Brown (MI’26), spending the afternoon watching skateboard videos and reading old magazines is all in a day’s work. The two ±«Óătv alumni are working with community partners to create the Halifax Skate Archives — an archive of the history of skateboarding and skateboard culture in Halifax.
The project has collected hundreds of pieces of media from community members, including zines, newspaper clippings, photos, VHS tapes and DVDs. Hare says the vulnerability of these materials means it’s important to preserve them now. “That was more or less the catalyst for this project,” says Hare. “Multimedia is a quintessential part of skate culture, so we felt a drive to make sure it’s preserved before it’s too late.”
Taking a community-led approach
In the summer of 2025, Hare met with Janet Music (BMgmt'09, MPA'10), the Information Programs Manager at Dal, at a coffee shop across from Pro Skateboards and Snowboards (Pro Skates). The conversation drifted to their mutual connections in Halifax’s skateboard community. “Janet’s husband skateboards, and I skateboarded for a few years, so we had some people in common,” says Hare. “We started talking about the city’s skateboarding history, and how interesting it would be to archive and record this history.”
Capturing a unique part of Halifax history
Throughout the process of building the archive, both Hare and Brown say they’ve gained a deeper understanding of how important it is to preserve this history.
“These materials bring in voices that are missing a lot of institutional archives,” says Hare. “It’s not just the history of the sport, but the community that surrounds it, and we want people to see themselves in that history.”
The predominantly self-produced materials they’ve collected, such as zines and videos, provide valuable insight into how community members communicated. “The way these materials are written and produced has so much personality — you get a real sense of how close-knit the community is,” says Hare.
Brown adds that these pieces represent not only skateboarding’s history, but also Halifax itself. “By documenting this history, you’re also documenting Halifax as a city 20 or 30 years ago,” says Brown. “The city is the landscape for all of this media, and you see the changes in urban planning and development as time goes on.” That urban development includes creating space for skateboarders. “You see the rise of advocacy groups in support of skateboarding and skateboard infrastructure, such as the group of citizens in the early 2000’s who fought for a skate park at the Halifax Commons,” says Brown. “With the skate park currently under construction for upgrades, it’s interesting to look back on the history and see how it came to be in the first place.”
Taylor Brown delivering a community info session at the Halifax Central Library (submitted)
A way to engage with history
The project is still actively collecting donations, but the team is preparing to make these materials more widely available. “Once the material has been processed and archived, it will be accessible to the public through the Halifax Municipal Archives,” says Hare. “We’re also working on setting up a gallery exhibition to give people the chance to engage with the materials and the people behind the project.”
It has also provided current Master of Information students with the opportunity to collaborate on the archive. Music also set up a course for MI students, taught by municipal archivists supporting the project, to gain hands-on experience working with archives using the Halifax Skate Archives project materials.  The course is running through the fall semester. “It’s special that we can collaborate with the MI program to provide training for students,” says Hare.Â