1

of TraditionThe Changing Faces

of Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Commission)Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jane Levine ©1996/courtesyCambodian silk weaver Bun Em and her daughter Pech Yuos,

National Endowment for the ArtsResearch Division Report #38Written, edited and compiled by Elizabeth Petersonin the United StatesA Report on the Folk and Traditional Arts
2

Washington, D.C. 205061100 Pennsylvania Ave., NWOffice of Public InformationNational Endowment for the ArtsCopies of this report can be obtained by contacting:acknowledgment is given.information from this report is granted as long as appropriatePermission to copy, to disseminate or to otherwise useVoice/TT: (202) 682-5496Phone: (202) 682-5532for AccessAbility at the address below.recording of this report by contacting the Endowment’s OfficeVisually or learning impaired people may obtain a cassetteCox & Associates, Inc., Silver Spring, MarylandDesign:National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Washington, D.C.NuStats, Inc., Austin, TexasStatistical Research:Published by the National Endowment for the ArtsCopyright © 1996 National Endowment for the Arts

Peterson, Betsy.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

in the United States / written, edited and compiled by Elizabeth Peterson.The changing faces of tradition : a report on the folk and traditional arts

p. cm. -- (Research Divison report ; 38)

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Folk art--United States. 2. Arts, Modern--20th century--United States.

700' .973'0904--dc20 96-41191NX504.P48 1996Arts. Research Division) ; 38.I. Title. II. Series: Research Division report (National Endowment for the

CIP
3

in the United States Mariachi Conferences and FestivalsChapter Two: Inheriting and Sharing 16Chapter One: Introduction 6Foreword 5

by Mark Fogelquist 18

State Apprenticeship Programs Investing in the Future of Tradition:

by Susan Auerbach 24

in America Music and Cambodian Classical DanceBrave New Worlds: Mindanaoan KulintangChapter Three: Creating, Changing, Renewing 32

by David Roche 34

The Cowboy Poetry Gathering  A Revival Meeting and Its Missionaries:

by Buck Ramsey 42

by Deborah BoykinMississippi Cultural CrossroadsCommon Threads and Common Ground:Chapter Four: Connecting and Translating 50

52

by Elizabeth PetersonFolk Arts Private Non-Profit Organizations

58

by Theresa HoffmanSouth Carolina and CaliforniaTraditional Basketmaking in Maine,Hanging by a Blade of Grass:Chapter Five: Organizing 68

70

of the Underclass Blues and Bluegrass: Tough ArtsChapter Six: Counting Us In 80

by Joe Wilson 82

Acknowledgments 96Notes and Other Works Consulted 93Contributors 92Chapter Seven: Coming Home 90

Contents
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5

Chairman, National Endowment for the ArtsJane Alexandermake our homes and communities ours. They breathe life into the community dance.soon there will be no place to visit and no place to truly call home.” The folk arts are part of whatthe traditional arts. Alan Lomax warns: “If we continue to allow the erosion of our cultural forms,

The stories and findings of this report bear out the need for us to continue to support and sustain

home, as old as a family and community.who draw their inspiration, technique and aesthetics from traditions as old as the land, as old asprehend. Folk and traditional arts have the aura of authenticity about them: real art by real peoplethe traditions of literally thousands of communities, but in another way it is quite simple to comThe folk and traditional arts field described in this study is enormously complex, encompassingloved, renewed by the living and dead, arts in harmony with our instinct to create.tions passed down through generations, or—to paraphrase Berry—art that is remembered andWhen thinking about the folk and traditional arts, one automatically thinks of community, or tradia kind of community dance. And such a dance is perhaps the best way we have to describe harmony.”loved, remembered and loved, in the same shops, houses, and fields. That, of course, is a description ofthat their bodies renewed, time and again, the movements of other bodies, living and dead, known andIt would begin in work and love. People at work in their communities three generations old would knowcritically approved cultures elsewhere. It would not come from watching certified classics on television.“We can perhaps speak with a little competence of how it would begin. It would not be imported fromHe writes:The poet Wendell Berry has a vision for a future where communities are guided by local culture.

Foreword
6

Introduction C H A P T E R O N E

of folk and traditional arts activity in the United States.at the same time. This study sketches the breadth and depthfunding. Folk arts are seemingly everywhere and nowhereother portions find nurturance from public and privatesome of it intersects with commerce and popular culture,arts activity occurs outside institutional settings and, whilecreasingly, on concert stages and in museums. Most folkUnited States in familiar settings of everyday life and, inamong families, friends and neighbors throughout thesible arts,” to paraphrase one folklorist, are practicedThe “field” is the folk and traditional arts. These “accesOur goal is to begin to provide some quantitative andrarely counted in studies which rely on self-identification.practitioners and community-based organizations areing this lack of information since traditional artists, culturalies of other areas of the arts provide little help, compoundtered, anecdotal and simplistic in their conceptions. Studstituents served. Most documentation efforts remain scatand extent of artistic activity, audience participation or conto assess the growth of folk arts organizations, the naturetional arts. Systematic research has rarely been conductedvice organization to track information about folk and tradiremains remarkably unexamined. There is no national serevaluative data about this area of cultural activity which

But how does one go about identifying the unidentified?

How do you count or account for all the basketmakers,

an invitation to others to amplify its findings.arts. This study is a first exploration towards that goal andtions and non-institutional base of most folk or traditionalessential to fully understanding the diverse cultural situaor case study methodologies with quantitative research istion. A different kind of inquiry combining field-basedtional approaches to measurement, assessment and evaluamunity-based arts require a re-consideration of convenresearch, planning and evaluation, folk arts and other comand continue. Within a larger context of social scientificthe desire and resources to make folk arts activities happenines how artists, communities and organizations marshaldhist temples? In fact, you don’t. Instead, this study exambased rituals and traditions, the church suppers or Budbluegrass societies, gospel quartets, crafts fairs, familytamburitza groups, volunteer-run ethnic organizations,

With the assistance of Endowment staff and a national

provided by the organizations or individuals in the study.alike. They conducted interviews and analyzed materialswriters with expertise in the field—artists and specialistsspectrum of folk arts activities. Profiles were developed byrepresentative sampling of the field, they suggest a broaduseful strategies for action. While they do not constitute avide in-depth examination of common issues, obstacles andviduals and activities were selected as case studies to proadvisory committee, a small number of organizations, indi-

“The field of folk

Humboldt Area FoundationPeter Pennekamp

share.”that all Americansaround the concernscommunity strengthsustenance ofreinvigoration andproviding for theAmerica’s communities,arts is nurtured in
7

“This report is not

Western Folklife CenterFounding DirectorHal Cannon

traditions are faring.”and how their culturalare coping with changehow ordinary peopleThis is a report aboutany political purpose.a report to justifyarts world. This is notmake a splash in thepowerful have done toabout what the rich and

Spectators at Fryeburg Fair, Maine. (Photo by Craig Blouin/courtesy of Maine Arts Commission)
8

“The next ten to fifteen

Dave Warren

teaching these traditions.”such communities, anddocumentation, inspiringIt is an important time forcommunities remember them.since only a few elders inare now at risk of being lost,communities. Many traditionsof Native Americancontinuity and developmentcritical period for theyears constitute a very

(Santa Clara Pueblo)

Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities

(Photo by Miguel Gandert ©1996)David Gonzales performing Comanche dance, Talpa, New Mexico, 1996.

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

Statistical information appears throughout the publicaand conducted by NuStats, Inc. of Austin, Texas ( tion—some from original surveys developed for the study see page

10 for further discussion of methodology) as well as availablestate arts agencies throughout the U.S.ties and institutions funded through folk arts programs atprovided further information regarding the range of activiThe National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA)volved in folk arts activity and their level of participation.other assesses the range of organizations nationwide inself-identified as folk arts or folklife organizations while thearts. One focuses on a small sample of those organizationsbreadth and depth of organizational involvement in the folkpossible. The two original surveys, for instance, tracksources. The study has been structured to be as inclusive as

1 Other data point to

forming arts.and organized to track such information—particularly peractivity in areas of cultural life sufficiently institutionalizedimpact, provides contextual information and breadth of

The results of this study suggest that involvement and

dances and beyond.senters, festivals, fraternal organizations, Saturday nighteties and local arts agencies to folk arts organizations, preorganizations, museums, libraries, schools, historical sociand increasing in varying cultural worlds—from ethnicinterest in folk arts and folk culture is significant, pervasive

For instance, types of organizations

gaged in multi- disciplinary activity.cieties; and a substantial number of cultural centers encommunity service organizations; folklore or folk music sofestivals; schools and other instructional organizations;formance groups; historical societies; non-art museums;breadth of activity included several local arts agencies; perresponding to the NuStats survey designed to gauge

2 Three primary motisupport of folk arts or traditional cultural activity. vations or perspectives guide these organizations in their Discipline

also offer programs or services tions who not only serve a particular locale or region butvation groups, cultural tourism organizations or organizaorganizations such as historical societies, heritage presercies who serve the needs of a diverse local population orare another—that is, organizations such as local arts agenserve the needs and interests of a particular region or localement. Arts or cultural organizations attempting to reflect ormusic societies—define one important category of involvespecific interests—weaving groups, pottery centers, folk

of or about that locale. The

art or culture as an expression of cultural identity.however, involves programming focusing upon traditionalbroadest and most significant category of involvement,

Other data from NASAA confirm these findings as well.

common ones being primary schools, community serviceveals that they funded 48 types of organizations, the mostInformation from state arts agencies for fiscal year 1994 reSource: NuStats, Inc.

and fieldwork/documentation.conferences, outreach activitypublications, radio programs,of activity such as weekly dances,“Other” includes a wide rangepercentages do not total 100.permitted more than one response,Since survey respondents wereOther 18%Festivals 61%Exhibitions 65%School programs 76%performances 76%Concerts, tours,or Workshops 83%Public Demonstrations(n=102)in Folk Arts Programmingof Organizations InvolvedTypes of Activity

Source: NuStats, Inc.No answer 4%Over $1,000,000 15%$500,000-$1,000,000 4%$250,000-$500,000 10%$100,000-$250,000 18%$50,000-$100,000 16%Under $50,000 33%(n=102)in Folk Arts ActivityOrganizations InvolvedAnnual Budget of
10

Northwest. A previous NEA publication, Institute and the Ethnic Heritage Council of the Pacificthe Historic Chattahoochee Commission, the World MusicWinnebago Language & Culture Preservation Committee,Folklife Program has funded organizations as varied as thefor Folk Culture’s Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Communitytricts, performing groups and non-art museums. The Fundorganizations, local arts councils and agencies, school disCultural Centersof Color, indicates significant involvement in folk arts proin communities of color. portance of traditional culture in contemporary arts activity gramming by these centers and underscores the great im- 3 (See page 11) Such diversity of oristic feature of folk arts and culture. ganizational involvement and type of activity is a characterWhile most folk arts activity throughout the Unitedorganize for greater strength and continuity.dition, connect with each other and those around them andcreate and change within the parameters of community traties value and share their artistic and cultural inheritances,this study is about the ways in which artists and communimunities to shape and make sense of the world. Ultimately,arts as a living cultural heritage enable individuals and comappropriately convey that fact. In ideal circumstances, folkmunity and organizational life. No amount of numbers canintegral part of a daily, weekly or seasonal rhythm of comStates is carried out on a part-time basis, it is nonetheless an

are based largely on interviews and materials provided by organizations and individuals.profiled to provide a broad sense of issues, historical development, and range of activity. Most profilesshaping the focus. Eight topics representing diverse aspects and interests of the field were chosen to beworking group served in a consulting capacity throughout the duration of the study and assisted inInterviews conducted with individuals in the field helped to identify issues for the study. An advisorysurveys, other relevant statistical data were consulted as well and are referenced throughout the study.relationships and organizational visibility; and financial status and needs. In addition to the originalfacility and programming space; programming activity; audience and communities served; communityto which 74% responded. The nine page survey covered topics pertaining to organizational background;of 501(c)(3) folk arts organizations was sent to a sampling of 31 self-identified folk arts organizationsA lengthier second survey designed to attain more detail on organizational status, activities, and needsincorrect addresses. Of the remaining organizations, 102 completed surveys for a response rate of 33%.sampling of approximately 500 organizations were sent surveys. Nearly 200 were returned because ofother state-wide agencies. From a combined total of 1,539 addresses received from 42 states, a randomand, on occasion, folk arts organizations functioning in a state-wide capacity or programs housed inMailing lists were solicited from state and regional arts agencies, cultural agencies in the territories,range of organizational involvement in the folk and traditional arts throughout the U.S. and its territories.Endowment for the Arts. The first survey was designed to obtain information about the breadth andFor this study, two surveys were conducted by NuStats, Inc. of Austin, Texas on behalf of the NationalA Note about Methodology

T H E C H A N G I N G F A C E S O F T R A D I T I O N
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I N T R O D U C T I O N

operating support and fellowships.residencies, festivals, instruction/classes,being apprenticeships, performances, schoolactivities or projects, the most common onesarts agencies funded 26 types of folk artsAccording to preliminary 1994 data, stateeducation.services to the field; and folk arts inrecordings, film and video); documentation;exhibitions; apprenticeships; media (radio,including performances, festivals and tours;routinely reviewed applications in categoriesthe Arts’ Folk & Traditional Arts ProgramIn past years, the National Endowment forprojects.***programs and community heritage$350,740 to 36 organizations for publicCommunity Folklife Program awardedFolk Culture’s Lila Wallace-Reader’s DigestIn Round Two Funding (1994), The Fund forgrants fund the folk arts.**52% of those local arts agencies who makeAccording to Local Arts Agency Facts, 1994,

Round Two Proposals, January, 1994.Community Heritage Projects, Public Programs,Reader’s Digest Community Folklife Program***Source: The Fund for Folk Culture, Lila WallaceDirector of Research and Information, NALAA.Arts Agencies, 1995). Source: Randy Cohen,(Washington, D.C.: National Assembly of Local**Source: Local Arts Agency Facts, 1994D.C, and American Samoa.exclude amounts from Connecticut, Washington,annually to NASAA and NEA. Preliminary figuresarts agency final descriptive reports submittedFY1994 data requested by the author from statesupplied by NASAA and are based on preliminary*Source: Unless otherwise noted, figures were

assistance to artists, conferences, etc.).(projects including technical and marketingpresentational formats; and miscellaneousconcert series; tours; programs with multiand research; instruction and preservation;with public programs; exhibitions; fieldworkin categories including festivals; fieldworkCommunity Folklife Program funded projectsCulture’s Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest FundIn Round Two funding, The Fund for Folk

categories.music, crafts and multidisciplinarycategories such as ethnic dance, ethnicreached folk artists in other fundingestimated additional funds of $2,417,003grants awarded by states in FY 1994,In addition to the $4,757,105 in folk artsmade folk arts awards.In FY 1994, 50 out of 53 reporting agenciesjurisdictions routinely award folk arts grants.53 out of 56 state arts agencies and specialattendees, broadcast listeners, etc.)instruction participants, conferencethese grants (including audiences,15,000,000 were reported to benefit fromwork of 48,318 artists and an estimatedState arts agency funding supported thegrants out of $219,606,353.*awarded over $4,757,105 in folk artsAssembly of State Arts Agencies, statesyear 1994, according to the National2 to 3% of the annual budget total. In fiscalfunding for folk arts has been consistentlyFrom 1986 through 1994, state arts agencyFolk Arts Funding at a Glance

Multidisciplinary Visual Arts Theater Music Dance Other

Reprinted from break-out of “other” category.color by discipline. See table forDistribution of cultural centers of

Cultural Centers of

Color (National Endowment for theArts, 1992).

Cultural Centers of Color“other” disciplines. Reprinted from*Cultural centers of color working inDesign Arts 4Crafts 7Interdisciplinary 8Nonarts/Nonhumanities 9Literature 9Opera/Music Theater 12Media Arts 18Humanities 18Folk Arts 24(n=110)in Other* Artistic DisciplinesCultural Centers of ColorNumber of

 (National

Endowment for the Arts, 1992).

05%10%15%20%25%30%(n=543)by DisciplinesCultural Centers of ColorDistribution of
12

All artists are local. The concept is deceptively simple but

described the “roots musicians” whom he profiled in munity. In much the same way as writer Peter Guralnickshared aesthetics, values and meanings of a cultural comare both rooted in time and place and expressions of thetional arts and artists are doubly local, that traditional artssuch an approach implies. It also understands that tradiand further, it values the aesthetic and cultural diversity thatcity of traditional arts and artistic traditions in everyday lifeand across cultures and yet, it values the grounded specifiIt takes for granted the power of art to speak through timethe social, cultural and economic life of a given community.a study that understands art and artists as an integral part ofU.S., this study is based on a particular approach to art. It isand traditional arts activity in communities throughout thestudy. In its examination of the breadth and depth of folkit speaks directly to one of the two guiding principles of this

Lost

Highway, this study looks at traditional artists who speaktainment but as a vital part of their lives.”like their own, who respond to the [art] not just as enterwomen who grew up in circumstances probably very muchbut to a particular, sharply delineated group of men andto the undifferentiated mass audience that television courts,from a “shared experience that links them inextricably not

5

All artists are local. The statement speaks also to some of

the issues involved in making generalizations about the folk

Hawaiian cultural traditions.some time. Much the same thing could be said for manyforty years ago, are undergoing a revival and have been forture, thought to be in imminent danger of demise thirty andthe other hand, Louisiana Cajun music, language and culmade of necessity, are now for many a pursuit of leisure. Onfor cultural reclamation. Quilts, objects of beauty onceand other Cambodian artists are involved in a literal fightelders. As David Roche’s article describes, Sam-Ang Samtinction and will possibly die with the current generation ofDave Warren’s comment makes clear, are at the brink of excritically endangered. Many Native American traditions, ashave changed and shifted over time, while still others aretions continue to thrive, the meaning and value of othersand circumstances of particular traditions vary. Some tradicommunities. As the profiles aptly illustrate, the concernsarts as well as the cultural needs and resources of diverse

All artists are local. While traditional art and culture deor assets else” and have concentrated on delivering artistic resources historically favored artists who come from “somewhere for a simple reason. Most cultural funding programs have grounded specificity, it has also made the field vulnerable— rive much of their strength and eloquence from this to communities from outside. Certainly, these aprigid application can sometimes make it easy for funders proaches are not wrong or made with bad intent but their

“...Every artist

they call home.”the communityAll belong tosomewhere.is a local artist

4

from An American Dialogue,the Performing Artson Presenting and Touringa report of the National Task Force

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(Photo by Martha Cooper ©1996)Puerto Rican plena musicians performing in front of a memorial wall, New York City.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

are and policy makers to be blind to the artistic traditions that

of, by and for a community and blind to the local wistraditions and cultural resources dom which insists on identifying or developing the artistic within and between comdress some of these questions. abstract lessons and suggest successful strategies which ad- information contained in this publication, it is our intent to in ways that make sense? Through the profiles and other problems of particular cultural communities and traditions tional resources be brought to bear upon the needs and local cultural resources? How can state, regional or na- listen and respond to local wisdom? How do we identify tion of local, regional and national resources. How do we dilemma are questions concerning the meaningful intersec- and approaches may be able to respond. At the heart of the which this and other fields grounded in cultural specificity munities. It is a dilemma worth considering and one to

Just as John Dos Passos provided a newsreel of headlines

still more. Implicit in the numbers, too, are the “concerns”shuffling of boundaries for others and new beginnings forsive social and cultural change and signify loss for some, abe manipulated in many ways. They speak directly to masshards that refract light in several directions and they canpage provide a suggestive context for this study. They arenant context, the disparate numbers shown on the nextin his classic U.S.A. trilogy to indicate an historically reso-
14

Demographic Bursts and ParadoxesJuggling Numbers:

6

❚ 32.8% of U.S. population growth during the 1980s was due❚foreign-born.to immigration. Nearly one out of every thirteen Americans is

 75.2% of the U.S. population occupies 2.5% of the land area.

❚in 1979 were off the land ten years later.Nearly one out of four people who lived on farms and ranches

 Only 3 % of the food plants that our grandparents cultivated

and ate in 1900 are still available today.7❚ 32 million in the U.S. (13%) speak languages other than❚English at home.

 The top two U.S. magazines by circulation are the

American Association of Retired Persons’ Bulletin andAARP’s Modern Maturity.❚ More than 100 languages are spoken in the school systemsVirginia.of New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Fairfax County,

8

❚ The number of wage earners on farms and ranches fell 23%seek part-time employment at least part of the time.from 1979 to 1989. Six out of ten farmers and ranchers mustT H E C H A N G I N G F A C E S O F T R A D I T I O N

munity is the second guiding principle of this study.nity in an America in demographic flux. This sense of comtion as well as an uncertainty about the meaning of commuto which Peter Pennekamp referred in the opening quotaCommunity is a much bandied-about term these days.ties and private lives.tional borders as well as the borders defining our communinological change are rendering obsolete our notions of nalent) change. Civil wars, global trade, ecological and techmade unrecognizable by irrevocable (and sometimes viohome is a place to leave, a place to mark time or a placetoo fast. Home is a source of comfort for some. For others,feeling of being cut adrift in a fragmented world that movesabout the loss of community, a lack of connectedness, theand “advocating for the community.” But mostly, we speaklithic entity. We speak about “getting community input”We speak about “the community” as if it were one monoIn Habits of the Heart, a sociological study of individualat the core of traditional arts and culture. ships of artist, artistic tradition and community which are throughout this study and it speaks directly to the relation- cause it informs the sense of community that appears ened version of their definition is worth quoting here be- great length about “communities of memory” and a short- ism and commitment in American life, the authors talk at

“Communities, in the sense in which we are using the

equate.”guage of the radically separate self does not seem adAmerican know as well, and which they use when the lancommunities of memory are “second languages” that mostmoral life, the languages of tradition and commitment inself-reliant individual is the first language of Americanthat keep the community alive. And if the language of thement’ for they define the patterns of loyalty and obligationmunity as a way of life. We call these ‘practices of commitpractices—ritual, aesthetic, ethical—that define the comoutstanding men and women; they also participate in thehopes and fears are, and how its ideals are exemplified instories that tell how the community came to be, what itsgrowing up in communities of memory not only hear thereal community as a ‘community of memory’.... Peopletuted by their past—and for this reason we can speak of aterm, have a history—in an important sense they are consti9

While we might quibble with the emphasis the authors

not practices of “commitment.” In his poem “The Secondtheir artistic traditions, their cultural heritage are nothing ifgeographic proximity. They share values and memories andshare more than similar interests, consumer preferences ortrayed in these pages. They are enduring communities thatmemory” accurately describes many of the groups porgroups in the U.S., the definition of “communities ofgive to individualism as a trait valued equally by all cultural
15

I N T R O D U C T I O N

center is and how people hold onto it—at times for dear life.hold. This study contains stories which describe what thatchange, they die—but somehow the center does seem tocannot hold.” Things do fall apart—they break, theyComing,” W. B. Yeats wrote, “things fall apart; the center

Baltimore. (Photo by Roland L. Freeman ©1996)Father’s Day: Arabber Gilbert Hall, Sr. with his son Gilbert Hall, Jr. and grandson Gilbert Kinard Hall III,
16

C H A P T E R T W O

learn and know the world and appreciate larger truths from

Brzozowska’s remarks, however, also remind us that we

tice, fulfillment and learning itself.imparts valuable aesthetic lessons about discipline, praca boatbuilder, a quilter or an Irish step dancer—each oneclassrooms. A classically trained musician, a ballet dancer,grandparents, the friend next door as well as books and inand cultural memory are gained from myriad sources—occurs in diverse contexts and that knowledge, inspirationRather, Brzozowska’s comments remind us that learningcontrasts of “high and low” art or “folk and fine” art.

I mention this anecdote not for the obvious humorous

appreciate other dance traditions.surable experiences, she had learned to understand anddings and social gatherings. And, from those initial pleadance, not in school or ballet classes, but at Polish wedphone and observed that, as a child, she had learned toDirector of Cityfolk in Dayton, Ohio—stood at the microequally forceful speaker—Phyllis Brzozowska, Executivecurriculum. At the time for questions and response, anomission of Western European fine arts traditions from theforceful speech but one that focused exclusively on theand federal cuts for arts in education. It was a worthy andkeynote speakers, a noted theater director, lamenting statenual conference, I sat in the audience listening to one of theAt the 1991 Association of Performing Arts Presenters anand Sharing

Inheriting

legacies of our communities.making, sharing and participating in the lives and cultural“practices of commitment”—through simple acts of doing,swers to these questions are most real and palpable throughand cultural diversity in education. For most of us, the anare at the heart of the debates raging about multiculturalismand answer throughout the course of our lives—and theytions of personal and cultural identity—questions we askcome from? Where do I fit in? These are fundamental quesparticular cultural perspectives. Who am I? Where do I

The two profiles which follow exemplify different sucpate in its activities. the community which surrounds a school to fully partici- they involve many sectors of a community and they enable enthusiastic students or parents. They succeed because of these events have been initiated by dedicated teachers, ents, teachers, students, artists, church and schools. Most and successfully combined the needs and interests of par- an example of a grassroots effort which has steadily grown and festival movement profiled here by Mark Fogelquist is the maintenance of traditions. The mariachi conference cessful strategies for encouraging experiential learning andIn contrast, Auerbach’s profile about the Apprenticeship

texts in 38 programs (based mainly in state arts agencies)been adapted successfully in diverse rural and urban conprogram focuses on an NEA-created program which has

“It gives me much

Quilter, MississippiMary Ann Norton

to learn how.”helped someone elsepleasure when I havesatisfaction andand even moredurable and useful,something beautiful,I have createdsatisfaction when
17

individual artists.agencies and a dominant model for assisting and fundingit is the primary mode of folk arts funding among state artsfrom the National Assembly of States Arts Agencies, in fact,throughout the United States. According to information

1 Labeled “intimate conservatories” by

process.the shaping of cultural identity as a critical part of thatand assets to be utilized and maintained. And both considercommunity life and cultural tradition as valuable resourcescraft traditions. Both profiled approaches consider localseveral, for instance, have targeted diverse Native Americanfor preserving and perpetuating endangered traditions—apprenticeship programs are used specifically as vehiclesdiverse constituencies and cultural traditions. Sometimes,fine-tune and adjust their programs to meet the needs oforganizations who administer apprenticeships are able toin large measure, the reasons for its success. Local and stateing over a period of several months—and its flexibility are,one person, the program’s simplicity—one-on-one teach-

“What people must

Ethiopian traditional artistTesfaye Tessema

think like a human being.”Your culture makes youdon’t have their culture.reason must be that theyshooting each other. Theexplain why children areso rich, you simply cannotto this country which isdeath, and then you comechildren are starving tofrom a country wherehuman being. If you comeit forms and shapes theart is not just decoration,understand is that this

(Photo by Thomas B. Morton ©1996)The Conga Lesson, Philadelphia.
18

Festivals in the United StatesMariachi Conferences and I N H E R I T I N G A N D S H A R I N G

musicians.professional groups from Corpus Christi as well as studentlán. The event culminated in a concert which featuredearly member of the legendary Mariachi Vargas de Tecalittations in mariachi history by the late Nicolás Torres, anintensive instrumental workshops and experienced presenDuring this two day event, 150 students were immersed inworkshops in guitarrón, vihuela, guitar, violin and trumpet.maestros of mariachi music from California to conductsales and from local merchants, Vela was able to bring fourby the school’s band boosters at car washes, rummagehis students. Working with a budget of only $4,000, raisedand wanted to provide an intensive learning experience forteaching mariachi music in the public schools since 1980Texas town of Driscoll, population 600. Vela had beennamed John Vela, organized a mariachi festival in the SouthIn 1991, a dedicated junior high school music teacherby Mark Fogelquist

The next year, the Festival was moved to Alice, a neightradition and Miguel Martínez, the greatest mariachi trum- one of the most important arrangers in the history of the Mexico, including Jesús Rodríguez de Híjar, considered workshops and was able to bring eminent instructors from relatively small increase, Vela attracted 250 students to the boring town, and the budget grew to $10,000. With this

“The bumble bee was

National Heritage FellowNati Cano, mariachi musician

the thing soared.”right balance andcame together in thethe right factorsSomehow all ofmariachi festival.neither was thenot supposed to fly...

ensembles on the festival circuit during the past decade.Sol de México from Los Angeles, one of the most popularpeter of all time. The main concert featured the Mariachi

The success of the South Texas Mariachi Festival was

border.and Mexican American communities on both sides of thewith the renewal of interest in mariachi music in Mexicanthroughout the region. This movement can be creditedprimary, secondary and university mariachi programsfestival concerts, but also involves thousands of students intable movement, which not only reaches large audiences atforts of organizers like Vela have, in fact, given rise to a verithroughout the Southwest in the past twenty years. The efmariachi festivals and conferences that have been heldThese same components are typically found in many of thefrills budgeting and the total commitment of the organizer.port generated through a pre-existing school program, nomade of several ingredients: unequivocal community sup2singers from tours, recordings and the accompaniment of “star”jor groups in urban Mexico have generated their incomehave witnessed a steady rise in mariachi activity. While maSince the 1940s, Mexican enclaves in the United StatesThe Rise of a Movement

(artistas) for some time, ensembles in the United

States were initially employed almost entirely in the
19

Mexican Mariachi music is a regional variant ofMariachi: A National Symbol

mestizo music, which began as an

identified with the rural own distinct character. Though primarilycentury as a new musical tradition with itselements, emerging in the late eighteenthamalgam of Spanish, indigenous and African

campesino, during the

symbol of cultural identity.mariachi music is becoming an importantand harp. For many Mexican Americans,(bass), vihuela (treble rhythm guitar), guitarpresent; two trumpets, six violins, guitarrónlines that have remained the standard to thecomplete instrumentation solidified along theas the national music. By the mid-1950s,to Mexico City and achieved a symbolic statusthe villages of Jalisco and neighboring states1920s and 30s mariachi music moved from

“When you have a

Los Pleneros de la 21Puerto Rican musician/educator1996 National Heritage FellowJuan Gutiérrezof others.”to the traditionsyou are sensitiveown traditions,passion for your

California, 1994. (Photo by Eric Paul Zamora/courtesy of Fresno Arts Council Folk Arts Program)Mariachi procession for the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Cristo Rey Mission, Malaga,
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cantina. Two key developments, however, took theto the inclusion of jazz in the school music curriculum.ondary and university levels, a regional phenomenon akinCalifornia, Arizona and Texas schools at the primary, secmariachi instruction and performance began in someurban immigrants and their off-spring. Simultaneously,reaching a new audience of highly assimilated middle class,mariachi music was presented on a stage as a dinner show,mariachi group, established the first night club whereCamperos de Nati Cano, an influential Los Angeles-basedmovement to be born. In the mid-60s, Mariachi Losmariachi beyond the barroom and enabled the festival

These developments set the stage for the first mariachi

resonant experience.desire to give students a superior educational and culturallyFirst International Mariachi Conference was born from the500 students. Like the South Texas Mariachi Festival, thecommunity college level and had an enrollment of nearlyence, this program had expanded to the secondary andmariachi program in 1966. By the time of the first conferLa Barca, Jalisco, Ms. Ortiz began an elementary schoolOrtiz. Inspired by visits to her grandparents’ hometown ofwas organized by veteran San Antonio music educator Belleconference, held in San Antonio, Texas in 1979. The event

Having proved the viability of mariachi music in the

classroom, Ms. Ortiz, then Music Supervisor for the SanI N H E R I T I N G A N D S H A R I N G

(Courtesy of Mark Fogelquist)Mariachi Uclatlán performing at the Hollywood Bowl as part of the Mariachi USA festival.
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give of their talents at numerous conferences ever since.sicians relished the new experience and have continued toteach students in an organized conference setting. The muMariachi in the World”) had never been called upon tocareer, “EI Mejor Mariachi del Mundo” (“The Bestted force in the movement. In its distinguished eighty-yearMariachi Vargas.” Indeed, this ensemble became a commitaudiences were overwhelmed by the virtuosity of thethe Mariachi Vargas at the first conference. Students andwould have gotten off the ground without the presence ofis difficult to imagine that the festival-conference movementMariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán. According to Belle Ortiz, “itenough vision to invite the finest group in the world, theharness local support for her conference, she also hadrate sponsors. Ms. Ortiz not only had enough credibility toBureau, the National Endowment for the Arts and corpofrom the City of San Antonio, the San Antonio ConventionAntonio Public Schools, solicited and received support

The first mariachi conference in San Antonio not only

structors. Many conferences offer additional presentationssen pieces as a large ensemble, side-by-side, with the inals, then come together at the end of the day to play the chodents study their individual instruments with professionconference is centered around workshops in which stumodel for subsequent conferences. Typically, the mariachibroke ground by its very existence, but established the

produced interesting variations of the San Antonio model.port or organizational know-how, many have grown andtwo only to cease because of lack of funds, community supSan Jose, El Paso and Las Vegas. While several last a year orbeen held since 1979 in places such as San Diego, Fresno,Scores of mariachi festivals too numerous to mention haveSuccess Breeds Success“Mariachi Mass” on Sunday morning.cert. Many festivals also include the performance of afree and attendance often surpasses that of the main conand beverage booths. Admission is moderately priced orwhere a number of small stages are interspersed with foodthe capital in the 1920s. This event is usually held in a park,ered to entertain customers ever since they first appeared inthe plaza in Mexico City where mariachi groups have gathences also offer a “Plaza Garibaldi experience,” named afterthe reach of many aficionados, most of the larger conferconcert is a huge event in itself, with ticket prices beyondrendering en masse of one or two numbers. Since the mainjoin professionals to form an enormous orchestra for thegroups with a grand finale in which the student musiciansculminates in a concert featuring several professionalcludes performances by student ensembles and invariablyshowmanship and dance. The typical conference also inon mariachi vocal technique, the history of mariachi music,

*Source: 1995 Arbitron ratings5005 E. Belmont Ave., Fresno, CA 93727, 800-200-5758.service and commitment. For information, contact: Radio Bilingüe,received a MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of his innovativeAmerican folk musicians,” says Morales. In 1994, Hugo Morales“This is a big achievement for us—and a triumph for our Mexicanshowcases for local talent as well as nationally known artists.Music and Dance festival. Both include workshops and serve asthe annual Viva El Mariachi Festival and the Norteño TejanoMorales, founder of Radio Bilingüe. Radio Bilingüe also produceswhile in their homes, cars or in the farm fields,” said Hugoquarter hour some 8,000 people are tuned into Radio Bilingüemore than 100 stations in the U.S. and Mexico. “In an averagelanguage news service in public broadcasting and is carried byTheir award winning “Noticiero Latino” is the only Spanishcial radio stations which reach a monthly audience of 200,000.*Today, Radio Bilingüe has grown to a network of five noncommerspeaking Latinos who are underserved by traditional media.The target audience were mostly low-income and Spanishreach and inform Latino populations in the San Joaquin Valley.because they believed that radio was the most effective way toa nonprofit community radio network based in Fresno, CaliforniaIn 1976, farmworkers and artists formed Radio Bilingüe,Radio Bilingüe

M A R I A C H I C O N F E R E N C E S A N D F E S T I V A L S I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S
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The Tucson International Mariachi Conference, for ingroup that emerged from the members of the Mariachi Cobre, a young professional conference in the United States. Originally organized by Conference, and is, by all measures, the largest mariachi stance, began in 1983, four years after the San Antonio Changuitos Feos (“Ugly MonLinda Ronstadt’s landmark career as a states. The Tucson conference was the launching point for the workshops attract more than 900 participants from 26 6,000 spectators, the Fiesta de Garibaldi up to 55,000 and as a parade and a golf tournament. The main concert draws volunteers to help out and includes such adjunct activities budget of $300,000, a year round staff and 450 community Festival functions as a fundraiser for the Center, has a total Tucson Hispanic community, in its second year. Today, the mental health organization that works primarily within the Tucson Festival was turned over to La Frontera Center, a keys”—the first youth mariachi in the United States), the ranchera, which

many non-Mexicans.brought mariachi music to a vast, new audience, including

As a profit making commercial enterprise, Mariachi USA

and operates with a budget of $500,000. There are noexpanded to two days and now draws 30,000 spectatorsthe Hollywood Bowl and during the past two years, it hasence movement. It began in 1990 as an extended concert atholds a unique position in the mariachi festival and confermariachi programs.

late 1950s as well as a center for school and communitybeen the home of outstanding mariachi groups since thetion base in southern California. Southern California haspart, a reflection of the massive Mexican American populamariachi education. The grand scale of Mariachi USA is, ingrants to schools and community organizations involved intion, established with proceeds from the event, has givenworkshops tied to Mariachi USA, but the Rodri FoundaOn a smaller scale, the Festival del Mariachi de Alta Calimariachi music ever made. Mundo,” considered by many to be the finest recording of Vargas’ landmark 1956 recording “El Mejor Mariachi del all of the living musicians who participated in Mariachi 1993 festival, the Alta California Festival brought together of the most important figures of the mariachi world. At the made the Alta California festival the gathering spot for some educator and leader of a local mariachi group and he has in 1996. The principal organizer, William Faulkner, is an 1994, was suspended in 1995 but is projected to reemerge fornia, Salinas, California took place annually from 1991 to

Similarly, the Mariachi Espectacular in Albuquerque is

over three full days, followed by two days of concerts, anant educational values of Alta California. Classes extendaspects of large scale festivals like Tucson with the domithe only festival associated with a university. It combines

I N H E R I T I N G A N D S H A R I N G

Elders from the Bering Strait region. Since 1990, approximatelyelementary school students based on traditional stories ofAlaska natives published seven sets of reading textbooks foreffects of pollution and development on that relationship.educate both tribal members and the general public about theand spiritual connection with the Penobscot River. The film willa 30-minute videotape and user’s guide about their physicalFunding, for instance, will enable Maine Penobscots to produceand cultural resources surveys.history documentation, language retention, archival training,tribal cultural heritage programs, and projects such as oralHawaiians. As a result, federal funding is now available fortraditions of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Nativediscuss issues and strategies for the preservation of the livingand federal agencies has continued to gather annually toKeepers of the Treasures, a coalition of tribal representativesneeds for cultural preservation on tribal lands. Since that time,Osage Reservation in December 1991 to determine fundingmore than 60 tribes at a cultural conference on the OklahomaThe National Park Service gathered with representatives ofKeepers of the Treasures
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M A R I A C H I C O N F E R E N C E S A N D F E S T I V A L S I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S

Regardless of what direction the mariachi movement

is vastly greater than the sum of its parts.festival movement is a true success story in which the wholebegun to lose its luster in Mexico. Indeed, the mariachia tradition which, despite its symbolic importance, hadof the border share and enjoy a rich musical tradition...Mexicans, Mexican Americans and Anglos on both sidespeople; and students with artists. The end result is thatchurch, school and community leaders with businessfestival, educators work with professional musicians;resources in a new and productive way. In the mariachiorganizers the credibility needed to leverage existingrecognition in the form of small grants has given festivalgrassroots activities than as a source of dollars. Officialin fact, been more important as a source of legitimacy forment has grown with amazing speed. Public support has,organizations as the NEA and state arts councils, the moveern United States. With modest financial support from suchtakes in the future, it is now firmly rooted in the southwestWashington, D.C. 20013-7127 Interagency Resources Division, P.O. Box 37127 National Park Service, Tribal Heritage Program David Banks or Ronnie Emery publications: For information concerning grants, workshops, and Washington, DC 20036 1785 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Keepers of the Treasures, Mary Stuart McCamy and Native Hawaiians, write to: Cultural Council of American Indians, Alaska Natives, For information on the Keepers of the Treasures— heritage projects and programs. Indian tribes, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians for cultural from $5,000 to $50,000 to federally recognized American $5.3 million has been awarded in individual grants ranging

both at the professional and student level.stimulus for musical achievement and higher standards,tween ensembles on the festival circuit has been a majorabout the musical direction of the tradition. The rivalry bemovement has also helped generate a healthy discussionheld in Guadalajara in 1994. The mariachi conferenceEncuentro del Mariachi, Mexico’s first mariachi conferenceMexico, the most salient example being the PrimerStates back into contact with the finest ensembles frombrought groups established and operating in the Unitedof new listeners from a variety of backgrounds. They haveated new venues for the music, reaching tens of thousandstion and expression of cultural identity. They have also crewith the roots of the tradition and a forum for the exploraoutstanding mariachi musicians, establishing continuitycedented opportunities for young performers to study withMariachi conferences and festivals have provided unpreConclusionto honor great figures of the tradition.emphasis and a mariachi Hall of Fame has been establishedperformers and teachers. Mariachi history is given extraUnited States and Mexico and are chosen for their skill asWorkshop instructors are handpicked from throughout theGaribaldi event and a performance of the Mariachi Mass.
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State Apprenticeship ProgramsInvesting in the Future of Tradition: I N H E R I T I N G A N D S H A R I N G

past twelve years.ticeships sponsored by state folk arts programs over thecountry who have taken part in more than 2,600 apprenprentice. Langley and Cook are among artists across themore orders than she can handle, as well as her own apand confidence to open her own saddlery and now hasmake the work easier,” Langley says. She found the skillsright; I just needed more finesse and some shortcuts towith Rex Cook, “I learned that I was doing everything“old cowboys” for years without success. After studyingthought it was a joke. She had been trying to get advice fromapprenticeship in saddlemaking, the self-taught ranch wifeGeist called Peggy Langley to suggest that she apply for anWhen North Dakota Traditional Arts Coordinator Troydby Susan Auerbach

3 Apprenticeships bring together a master

programs represent an investment in the future of folk arts.stay committed to the tradition. As such, apprenticeshipbasketmaker Rocky Keezer the “little nudge” they need tosomebody’s hands.” It gives apprentices like Maine Indianto “keep on keeping on” with their craft and “leave it inseasoned artists like Louisiana basketmaker Azzie Rolandtravel, supplies and teaching time. The experience allowsreceives a grant of $1,000-3,000 (on average) to pay forintensive instruction. The team plans a joint project andtraditional artist with an eager learner for several months of

“People that are dying

North Dakota Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Programmaster beadworker, hide tanner, apprentice bird quillworkerD. Joyce Kitson (Lakota-Hidatsa),

expanded, not cut back.”projects like thisto learn. I’d like to seethe curiosity and wantssomeone like me that hasdoing beadwork. There’sheart is, in tanning a hide,this. That’s where mybut I’m choosing to dobe working as a secretarytraditions alive. I couldcoming out to keep ourto see even one personis dying—they’re thankful[elders], and their culture

Although the National Endowment for the Arts Folk &

five-fifteen teams.program generally awards a total of $10-30,000 per year totargeted recruiting and special eligibility criteria. Eachstates or territories with user-friendly application forms,adapt the apprenticeship concept to the needs of theirof state folk arts programs. Coordinators were quick to1985 and thirty in 1991 as part of the overall developmentaround the country. Funding spread to fifteen states inthat spurred the growth of apprenticeship programsprogram in 1983 in Florida, Mississippi and New Yorktheir own programs in the early 1980s, it was an NEA pilotprenticeships starting in 1978 and three states establishedTraditional Arts Program made grants for individual apToday, 84% of coordinators surveyed in 38 active proand opportunities to present and sell their work. paid for teaching, artists benefit from increased recognition Mundell of the Maine Arts Commission. Besides being way of supporting traditional artists,” reports Kathleen “Apprenticeships are by far our most successful and direct arts program or among their three most important projects. grams consider apprenticeships the foundation of their folk

From their inception, folk arts apprenticeship programs

Hispanic and geographic regions. Traditions covered range fromhave involved a remarkable diversity of art forms, people,

santos carving in Colorado to African American
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Museum, East Lansing, MI 48824, (517) 353-5526.FOLKPATTERNS, Michigan Traditional Arts Program, Michigan State Universitytraditions.” For more information about FOLKPATTERNS, contact LuAnne Kozma,they can go back to their own communities and help 4-Hers discover their ownbearers. This gave them hands-on experience with interviewing folk artists so“this workshop involved participants in interviews with local maritime traditionresearch techniques”, says LuAnne Kozma, director of the FOLKPATTERNS program,“Thumb” area on the topic of maritime folk traditions. “With an emphasis on fieldethnic populations of the county. Recently, a workshop was held in Michigan’sdemonstrations by local artists and tradition bearers, bringing together the diverseand folk festivals. Oceana County’s 4-H Folk Festival includes performances andCounty documents old barns and displays photographs at county fairs, conferencesperformed Czechoslovakian folk tales at nursing homes. A 4-H youth in Montcalmcations skills. A 4-H group from Gratiot County created a marionette show andsuch as tape recorders, cameras, and video cameras, and sharpen their communiprojects by making presentations and exhibits and learn to use technical equipment,on projects through their clubs and school enrichment programs. Youth share theirMichigan 4-H Youth Programs involving more than 4,000 youth statewide who workFOLKPATTERNS is a joint project of the Michigan State University Museum and theFOLKPATTERNS

(Photo by Lynn Martin)William Ka'awaloa/Hawaiian net making.
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I N H E R I T I N G A N D S H A R I N G

cific Islanders (15%) especially well-represented.ans (20%), Alaska Natives (7%), and Asian-Americans/Paticeships have gone to people of color, with American Indiwith crafts dominating the list (63%). A majority of apprenin New Hampshire to Hmong wedding songs in Oregon,quilting in Mississippi and from Franco American fiddling

Apprenticeships have proven as adaptable to rural Alaform of outreach to underserved regions. individuals are often a state arts council’s most effective across and within U.S. states and territories. Such grants to and suburban California. Teams are widely dispersed bama and Oklahoma reservations as to inner-city DetroitApprenticeships involve the cooperation of many kinds

Policy makers appreciate the diversity built into the costto the public as well as artists and ethnic communities.intergenerational teaching and learning has strong appealgram for the support of folk arts? First, the concept ofWhy have apprenticeship programs become a flagship proA Model Programteams in ‘good news’ stories.work, state officials hand out awards and local media profileserve on selection panels. Museums host exhibits of artists’Artists, cultural specialists, and community representativescies, churches, and senior centers help recruit participants.of people and organizations. Tribal offices, refugee agenas technical skills.

stress on conveying cultural values and knowledge as wellment of community leaders such as tribal officers; and areach based on fieldwork and personal contact; the engageyears are consistent NEA support; relative low cost; outtors in the success of apprenticeship programs over theborders and take care to respect local protocol. Other facallow out-of-state masters where traditions extend acrossto local needs and conditions at hand. Most, for example,have evolved guidelines and procedures that are responsiveas key tools in cultural conservation. In addition, programseffective programs, while folklorists value apprenticeships

The impact of apprenticeship programs reverberates

with their last practitioner gain a new lease on life.portantly, languishing arts forms that might otherwise diethe Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance. Perhaps most imners, articulate spokespersons, and new organizations likeperformances. Communities gain well-trained practitioprojects involving participants, such as media projects andternational exhibits. Folk arts programs create spin-offtage Fellowships and invitations to national festivals or inright. Masters receive more honors, such as National Herifessional glassblowers or teachers of beadwork in their owncolleagues. A number of apprentices go on to become proArtists often continue working together, some becomingwell beyond the artist team and the official grant period.

“My grandmother taught

Laredo, TexasApprentice to Mariá Paredes SolísNorma Cantú

this craft won’t die.”At least with me,passed down our culture.My grandmother hastransmission is complete.now come full circle. Thehanging, until now. It hasof my past has been leftto quilt and that partbut she also taught meon my academic route,me to read, she sent me
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has spawned a renaissance in On the Big Island of Hawai’i, the apprenticeship programThe Hawai’i Program

lauhala weaving and a waitlocal traditional crafts club. Noelani Ng, an apprentice who is now president of the wing with the culture, the language, the spirit,” says stories all the while. “Aunt Minnie has taken us under her before showing them how to weave fans and hats, telling of finding, harvesting, and preparing pandanus leaves Minnie Ka’awaloa guide them through the arduous process ing list of hopeful apprentices. Masters like 73-year-old

Lauhala weaving, traditional chant, slack key guitar and

them. It’s done wonders for their spirit.”the master artists for granted before; now they look up toaccording to panel member Nathan Napoka. “People tookNative Hawaiian communities like the island of Ni’ihau,thing to be part of the apprenticeship program” in strongture and the Arts since 1985. “It’s become a real statusapprenticeships awarded by the State Foundation for Culother native Hawaiian art forms comprise 80% of the 106

Like apprenticeship programs elsewhere, the Hawai’i

courage to teach complex arts such as Japanese had undergone long formal apprenticeships in Asia theembracing a variety of Asian traditions. It gave artists whoprogram has become more ethnically diverse over time,

mingei pottery and Okinawan kumi udui dance theater. In Honolulu,

(Photo by Lynn Martin)Kalena Silva (left) and Lehua Matsuoka/Mele Uli-Hawaiian chant.

S T A T E A P P R E N T I C E S H I P P R O G R A M S
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by respondents.ships funded due to incomplete reportingNote: 2,421 out of total 2,554 apprenticeOther 1%Narrative 3%Dance 7%Music 27%Crafts 62%Genres Funded through April 1995Apprenticeship Program

refugee cooperative.while in Waianae , it provided more weavers for a Laotianmembers and mount their first fully staged production,the program helped a Cantonese opera group to train new

One of the program’s hallmarks under coordinator Lynn

Big Island to study Matsuoka, for instance, makes the trip from Oahu to thebetween artists from different islands. Apprentice LehuaMartin is its use of travel vouchers to promote exchange

oli (traditional Hawaiian chant) with

gram, she laments, “you can never do enough.”with most of her time going into the apprenticeship proMissouri Performing Traditions touring program. Evenlines that give priority to new artists and close links to thetend the program’s reach with regional fieldwork, guideCoordinator Dana Everts-Boehm seeks to constantly excan fiddling to a wide spectrum of genres and ethnicities.expanded from an original focus on rural, European Amerisouri has sponsored nearly 200 teams since 1984. It hasOne of the country’s oldest apprenticeship programs, MisThe Missouri Programferent, chant different and feel different.”vious apprentice that after the experience, “I will sound difvocal quality. But she perseveres, having heard from a preits focus on Hawaiian language and attaining the properKalena Silva. She finds the all-day session “intense” with

Here as elsewhere, the program has been a powerful mosays Cookson. boats, or if I can’t find another reason, just to pester him,” friendship. “I’ll always be coming back to help Cecil build them to create better boats along with strong bonds of to keep up with Murray’s zeal. The apprenticeship allowed Murray to take him on, but it soon became Cookson’s job vince busy third-generation wooden johnboat builder Cecil school teacher Steve Cookson had to be persistent to con- ditions in the process. In the Ozarks, for instance, high undertake ambitious projects—sometimes revitalizing tra- tivator for artists to set aside the time to work together andIn St. Louis, Richard Martin, Jr. has trained about twenty

brought Martin long-overdue public exposure and acclaim.on their own. At the same time, his work in the program hasthem to do more, Martin prepares his proteges to take offsays. “They got to know who they are.” By challengingto know not only the technique, but also the mentality,” heart and great artists who have come before them. “They gotmerses his most promising students in the tradition of the1987. Martin, who grew up dancing on street corners, imapprentices in African American tap and jazz dance since

Across town, students at St. Louis Irish Arts compete for

best behind it because they [the apprentices] are going to“When you’re doing an apprenticeship, you really put yourthe honor of becoming apprentices in music or dance.

I N H E R I T I N G A N D S H A R I N G

Other 2%Alaska Native 7%African American 8%Latino 9%Asian/Pacific Islander 15%American Indian 20%European American 39%Ethnic Breakdown by Master ArtistApprenticeship Programs
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*** Due to rounding, percentages may not total 100.the New England Foundation for the Arts.**37 are state programs, 1 is administered bySusan Auerbach for NEA Folk & Traditional Arts.* Data based on 1995 survey conducted bystate, local or private funds: 15%***Percentage of programs supported byNEA plus state funds: 86%***Percentage of programs supported bypersonal contact/site visitsMost effective form of program outreach:2 months-1 yearTotal length of apprenticeships:apprenticeship: $200-5000Range of total award amounts pernationwide through mid-1995: 2,554Total number of apprenticeships fundedas of 1995: 38**Total number of state programsApprenticeship Programs at a Glance*

S T A T E A P P R E N T I C E S H I P P R O G R A M S

tional technical assistance programs.being used as an umbrella term for a range of artist and organizato allow for a range of adaptation and uses and is increasinglygiving and receiving sage advice and counsel—is flexible enoughsituations for briefer periods of time. The notion of mentoring—like—and often involve intensive training or learning in groupusually occur in more formal settings—schools, theaters, and the“residency” conjures up the intimacy of home, most residenciesdisciplines, particularly in the performing arts. Although the termis a familiar format for teaching, creating and learning in manyand fidelity to cultural tradition are emphasized. An artist residencyimplies a lengthy, time-tested learning process in which accuracyWith a nod to its roots in medieval crafts guilds, apprenticeshipsettings between an experienced hand and less seasoned junior.and tends to describe one-on-one teaching and learning in informalworld, apprenticeship is a term used primarily in the folk arts fieldhand observation and practice—with different images. In the artsprocesses—that is, learning “the tricks of the trade” through firstyou speak. Take the three terms above. All of them refer to similarSometimes a name simply indicates the vantage point from whichApprenticeships, Artists’ Residencies, Mentoring ProgramsWhat’s in a Name?

how to shape a sassafras johnboat paddle, Doniphan, 1995. (Photo by Dana Everts-Boehm)Ozark paddlemaker Ernest “Uncle Punk” Murray shows apprentice Steve Cookson
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I N H E R I T I N G A N D S H A R I N G

resources, and curricula standards.clearinghouse for information on teacher institutes,meetings on arts and education, and serves as aK-12 education, participates in regional and nationalfor the inclusion of folk arts and traditional culture ineducation efforts throughout the country, advocatesForce supports folklorists and folk artists involved inand the University of Washington. Today, the TaskEducation, Teachers College at Columbia University,education programs at Bank Street College ofEducators National Conference, and multiculturalFoxfire, Getty Center for Education in the Arts, Musicfrom national education organizations includingadministrators, traditional artists, and representativesAt the table were folklorists, teachers, schoolArts Folk & Traditional Arts Program and City Lore.co-sponsored by the National Endowment for theA National Roundtable on Folk Arts in Education,”grew out of the 1993 “Folk Arts in the Classroom:The National Task Force on Folk Arts in Educationin EducationNational Task Force on Folk Arts

St. Louis, Missouri, 1989. (Photo by Patrick Janson, TAAP)Master Jazz Tap Dancer Richard Martin, Jr. guides his apprentice, Alan McLead,
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S T A T E A P P R E N T I C E S H I P P R O G R A M S

Culture Catologgreat source for educators’ materials with their new(212) 529-1955. This organization is a particularlyCity Lore, 72 E. First St., New York, NY 10003,(202) 287-3424.Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560,Center for Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies,materials and state programs.Resources for K-12 Classrooms, which lists goodthe Center for a copy of A Teacher’s Guide to FolklifeWashington, D.C. 20540, (202) 707-6590. ContactAmerican Folklife Center, Library Of Congress,Other National Resources for Folk Arts in Education:(703)-836-7499.609 Johnston Place, Alexandria, VA 22301-2511,For more information, contact Paddy Bowman,

.

NM 87504, (505) 984-2534.The Fund for Folk Culture, P.O. Box 1566, Santa Fe,

everyone’s support.promise—and deliver—so much for so little deservecommunities, and cultural conservation. Programs thata program is in place, the stronger its impact on artists,years of apprenticeship programs shows that the longer

dlers and accordion players for and the program’s support, there is a steady supply of fidPatrick Gannon. As a result of the Gannon family’s workbe the role models for the others,” notes master musician

ceili dances.

presentations in return.Academy of Recording Arts has done, and arrange publicganizations could endow apprenticeships, as the Hawaiihaps more foundations, historical societies, and ethnic ormotion with the state Department of Fish and Game. Peroped a partnership on “outdoor arts” recruitment and proorganization, and the New Hampshire program has develas a team. The Texas program operates within a nonprofitordinators based in colleges and museums run the programrangements. In Colorado, three regional apprenticeship coof innovative administrative collaborations and funding arlic/private partnerships. There are precedents for a varietyneed to solicit more state and local support and forge pubtion grows for shrinking funding sources, programs willdependent on the NEA for ongoing support. As competiIn 1995, 86% of apprenticeship programs were still heavilyIssues for the Future

Apprenticeship programs are one of the clear success

abuses or failures very rare. A recent NEA report on twelvebenefits are many, the award amounts adequate, and thestories in the field of folk arts. Coordinators agree that the
32

audiences.terms of form, but so also do their functions, meaning, andcur on many levels. Not only do artistic traditions change incumstance. In each one, creativity, change and renewal ocin relation to cultural traditions, events and historical ciramine very specifically the impact of particular individualsRamsey, however, contradict these cliched notions and exThe following two profiles by David Roche and Buckactivism are rarely associated with traditional art or artists.of their culture. Words like creativity, charisma and culturalmous, faceless individuals blindly carrying on the traditionsskills and yearnings of earlier times; folk artists as anonyFolk arts are often depicted as the static, quaint, nostalgic

In David Roche’s article, the efforts of two extraordinary

occurs when “old world” traditions enter “new world” confronting the adaptation and innovation which necessarilyerated by war. In different ways, however, both are conthe local and national level to recover traditions nearly oblittifying the most strategic partnerships and opportunities atdividual. For Sam-Ang Sam, revitalization has meant idenkulintang ensembles in the U.S. than perhaps any other intradition and Kalanduyan has helped to foster moreinvolved teaching and increasing the level of practice of amaster Danongan Kalanduyan, revitalization has primarilytheir communities are described. For Filipino kulintangartists involved in cultural revitalization movements within

meaningful in a new context.between maintaining fidelity to tradition and making ittexts and both are attempting to strike a delicate balance

While Kalanduyan and Sam are involved in managing or

that sentiment and its impact.munity. Ramsey’s piece speaks to the depth and power ofand opportunity to an already existing sensibility and comPoetry Gathering did not create an audience—it gave voicevoices. As Buck Ramsey’s piece demonstrates, the Cowboyin the ranching community to tell their stories in their ownartists. Most importantly, it has provided a forum for peoplebroad audiences and it has influenced numerous individualtistic tradition. It has introduced cowboy poetry to new anding has played a catalytic role in the development of an arsingular event or a particular moment in time, the Gatherthan a “right time, right place” kind of story. Viewed as afor cultural change and revitalization. Its success is moretrol, the Cowboy Poetry Gathering has been an active agentinfluencing cultural changes somewhat beyond their conIn terms of impact, the Cowboy Poetry Gathering is onement of the event.NEA funding played a catalytic role in the initial developlarge throughout the West. Much like the Gathering itself,there are now 150-200 cowboy poetry gatherings small anddowment for the Arts. Since the first Gathering in 1985,of the more improbable success stories of the National EnC H A P T E R T H R E E “Without tradition, a tradition.” you cannot maintain Without creation, there is no creation. 1 Carlos Fuentes, novelist Renewing Creating, Changing,
33

A final and important observation about the two articles.

tural heritage.funders are critical steps in the revitalization of their culganizations like Jacob’s Pillow and private and publicbodian artists are establishing with federal agencies, arts orcome. The partnerships that Sam-Ang Sam and other Camare preserving ranching cultural heritage for generations tocommunity’s festive calendar and it’s documentation effortsPoetry Gathering is now an accepted part of the ranchingside” organization, the Western Folklife Center’s Cowboyat home and elsewhere. As an event initiated by an “outand desire to advocate for the value of his cultural heritagevitation to the Newport Folk Festival helped spark a pridebe positive and negative. For Dewey Balfa, a last-minute inwithin and outside of a community. And this interplay cancal interplay of influence and change which occurs fromchange and renewal but both articles also allude to the critiBoth focus on the creative roles of individuals in cultural

Folk Heritage Award. (Photo by Rob Amberg ©1996)Seagrove, North Carolina. She and her husband Walter Auman were 1989 recipients of the North CarolinaEighth-generation potter Dorothy Cole Auman (1925-1991) working on a pot at Seagrove Pottery,
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C R E A T I N G , C H A N G I N G , R E N E W I N G

collective action over time.both through individual desire and creativity as well as bymind us that cultural survival and renewal are nurturedCambodian classical dance and Filipino kulintang music recomponent of self and community identity. Most of all,however manifested, remains an important and necessaryvest new meaning in cultural heritage and how heritage,namic of survival also suggests how people find ways to inabout the collision of old ways and new worlds. This dyvival at the margins of the American mainstream and tell ustion has its own story to tell, but both chronicle cultural sursurprising odyssey over the past two decades. Each tradisical dance and Filipino kulintang music have undergone asmall towns and urban streets of America, Cambodian claslages and sultanates of Mindanao in the Philippines to theFrom Cambodia’s Royal Palace in Phnom Penh and the vilby David Roche

Cambodian Classical Dance in AmericaMindanaoan Kulintang Music andBrave New Worlds:

Two individuals centrally involved in the cultural survival

regarded musician and ethnomusicologist.Cambodian American community and is himself a highlytrained performance artists in Cambodia and artists in theD.C., has been the main link between traditional classicallythe Cambodian Network Council, based in Washington,in the United States. Sam-Ang Sam, Executive Director ofof Cambodian and Mindanaoan performing arts now reside

3 Danongan

ing.nationally and, like Sam, is an ethnomusicologist by trainAmericans in the art of kulintang music, but performs intersemble, based in San Francisco, not only trains FilipinoKalanduyan, Director of the Palabuniyan Kulintang En4 Sam and Kalanduyan are both exemplars of enlightmore than one thousand years The history of Khmer classical dance tradition dates back Cambodian Classical Dance mising the essence of their respective traditional arts. managed to not only survive, but succeed without compro- distance between old and new world realities. Both have inherited social hierarchies of class and gender and the of cultural appropriation, debates over multiculturalism, ened cultural leadership. Both have grappled with issues (see page 37). In traditionalrounded by his corps de ballet, the atmosphere of prophetic ritual while constantly surchief patron of the dance, immersing himself in the rarefiedKhmer historical chronicles, the god-king reigned as the

apsara (angelic) dancing a devastating drought. performed at the Prince’s behest to influence the rains dur- fall in 1970. As late as 1967, royal Khmer classical dancers tional polity continued until the time of Prince Sihanouk’s ers. Vestiges of belief in the spiritual power of dance as naThe shattering experience of April, 1975, when the capitol of Cambodia—Phnom Penh—was overtaken by troops

“People do not cling

human need.”to a fundamentalcorresponds, then,people to their cultureThe attachment ofa sense of themselves.of the world and havethat they make senseit is through themThey do so becauseinter-ethnic strategies.simply to use them asto their cultures

2

Anthropologist/ Founder, Cultural SurvivalDavid Maybury-Lewis
35

Dance Festival, 1993. (Photo by Cecily Cook)Cambodian dance master Chea Samy (standing) positioning students during a residency at Jacob’s Pillow

Khmer dance (and accompanying Cambodian cities in the world, that court arts such asgee camps like Khao I Dang, by 1980 one of the largestpreeminent symbol of Khmer greatness. It was in Thai refurhetoric, the image of the classical dancer continued as aeven with the changed political landscape and its populistferent political spin on the practice of royalist court art. But(approximately 15% of the total population), put a very difation and deaths of an estimated one million Cambodiansof Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge leading to the subsequent evacupin peat orchestral mucommunity perform it. It has become an art of the people.” have actually become a popular art now. Refugees in every Cambodian refugees have settled, “Court dance and music serve ethnic and cultural identity. In America, wherever came transformed into common property that helped pre- the words of Sam-Ang Sam, the elite art of the court be- cal dance was forever changed by the refugee experience. In those few who survived began to teach again. Khmer classi- during the Khmer Rouge purge, it was at the camps that tional conservatory, the University of Fine Arts, perished by class. While approximately 80% of the faculty at the na- ous exposure to such refined traditions was circumscribed sic) were reconstructed by and for a populace whose previSam-Ang Sam’s mentor during the pre-Pol Pot era at theInformation and Culture under the post-1979, VietnameseUniversity of Fine Arts, Chheng Phon, became Minister of
36

remarkable example of this is theRebuilding a nation and a cultural heritage takes time and perseverance. OneThe Cambodian Artists ProjectC R E A T I N G , C H A N G I N G , R E N E W I N G

Cambodian Artists Project, a coalition of

Cambodian Network Council, 713 D St., S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003.archive and training archivists in Cambodia. For more information, contact theFuture efforts will involve distribution of archival materials, and establishing anadministrators to assess preservation methods and dance facilities in the U.S.surviving master artists, and opportunities for dancers, teachers and universityU.S. sites, video documentation of dance repertoire and extended interviews withCambodia, extended artist residencies with Cambodian master artists in multiplemade possible repeated artistic exchange opportunities between the U.S. andto Preserve American Dance. Such long-range vision and multi-year funding hasKunstadter Family Foundation and a generous grant from the National InitiativeCultural Council, United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, Albertof Culture in Cambodia, Cornell University, the Rockefeller Foundation, AsianNetwork Council, Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, the Ministryorganizations and supporters committed to this ideal, including the CambodianFoundation for the Arts and has grown to include a loose-knit network ofseed funding from the Ford Foundation, NEA Folk Arts, and the New EnglandThis project was initiated in 1990 by the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival withteaching, research, video, recording, cultural exchange and public programs.to the conservation and perpetuation of Cambodian performing arts throughCambodian American artists and scholars (including Sam-Ang Sam) dedicated

Sam-Ang Sam playing the sralai (oboe). (Photo by Evan Sheppard)
37

and women working in professional and service occupaFilipino immigrants today are generally well-educated menHawai’i and harvesting grapes and asparagus in California,30s found jobs as laborers, cutting cane and pineapples onwhich followed. While most immigrants of the 1920s andfor a massive Filipino immigrant influx in the decadesa highly restrictive immigration quota system, set the stageThe passage of Public Law 89-236 in 1965, eliminatingKulintang Cultureis in the process of being created.new, a contemporary global aesthetic for Cambodian danceWith continued exchanges between the old world and theits roots, however tenuously, still planted in Cambodia.sion of spiritual significance. Yet, Khmer classical dance haselry and dance costumes, rather than flourish as an expresmiddle-class teenage girls, a chance to wear expensive jewthat the dance will be reduced to a rite-of-passage forreographed repertoire poses a real threat. There is concerntion. Dilution in the quality and staging of classically choKhmer classical dance now focuses on strategies of innovaCambodian American artists, concern for the survival ofdhist temple activities. For Sam-Ang Sam and many otherdian arts are intertwined with wedding, funeral and Budtural activity for teenage girls, while other uniquely CamboKhmer classical dance continues to represent a central culcreations of the artists of the past.” must preserve the national aesthetic. We must respect the created the classical dance. The king didn’t create it. We “The aesthetic is the people’s,” Chheng remarked. “ Artists to a sense of pride in a Cambodian “national aesthetic.” efforts to rebuild the classical dance tradition by appealing generation of dance students. Chheng Phon defended his and reopened the University of Fine Arts in 1981 to a new architect who eventually brought together a dance faculty backed Cambodian regime. He was the principal cultural

This articulation of a national artistic direction inspired

of his importance in this reconstructive effort.MacArthur Fellowship was awarded to him in recognitionclassical performing arts in the United States. In 1994, ahand, Sam-Ang has been the chief spokesperson for KhmerPh.D. in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University inof Cambodian and Cambodian American cultures. With athe re-establishment of Khmer performing arts as the soulSam, had immigrated in 1977, he set sail on his life’s work,where Sam-Ang Sam, with his wife, the dancer Chan MolySam-Ang Sam and other former students. In America,

Since the late 1970s, Cambodian refugees have arrived in

Cambodian American communities across the country,Stockton and Long Beach, California. In these and otherdelphia, Pennsylvania; Greensboro, North Carolina; andgreat numbers in places like Lowell, Massachusetts; PhilaM I N D A N A O A N K U L I N T A N G M U S I C A N D C A M B O D I A N C L A S S I C A L D A N C E I N A M E R I C A (tradition. Until 1970, court dance dance refers to the court dance and language. Khmer classical and practices, artistic traditions group of Cambodia, its customs to the historically-dominant ethnic cultural heritage. “Khmer” refers Cambodia regardless of ethnic or here, refers to any citizen of groups. “Cambodian,” as used of different ethnic and linguistic Cambodia is a country composed Like any modern nation-state, Khmer and Cambodian The Difference between robaim kbach buran) was 1975 at the University of Fine Arts. Phnom Penh and from 1970 to resident in the Royal Palace in performed by a single troupe
38

come about?“most invisible Asian American minority.” How did thisnumber of young Filipino Americans, the self-proclaimedcentral to the creation of cultural identity here for a growingnority in the immigrant population, have somehow becomesouthern islands of the Philippines, an overwhelming mipino Americans. But Muslim Filipino Americans from thewould be more culturally significant for contemporary Fililowlands of the northerly Christianized Philippine Islandsimmigration to the U.S suggests that traditions from theCebuano and Tagalog-speaking. This pattern of FilipinoChristian by religious heritage and ethnically Ilokano,tions. Like their predecessors, they remain predominantly

When Robert Garfias, then Professor of EthnomusiHeritage Award Fellow. tradition resulted in his selection as a 1995 NEA National ground as a kulintang musician and revered teacher of the formed a wide audience over the years, Kalanduyan’s back- ments as an ethnomusicologist and performer have in- process with complex dimensions. While Cadar’s achieve- Music Department, he inadvertently set in motion a social university to teach kulintang music and matriculate in the Cadar and then Danongan Sibay Kalanduyan to the cology at the University of Washington, brought UsopayFollowing his tenure in Seattle, Kalanduyan relocated to

the San Francisco Bay area in 1985 and began working with

kulintang’s significance remains.country, at one time or another. Still, the question ofFilipino American group performing kulintang in thiswords, Kalanduyan has been associated with nearly everythe West Coast, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In otherFestival, the Kennedy Center, and scores of other venues onArts Festivals, Oakland’s Festival at the Lake, the 1990 L.A.large audiences at the Northwest Folklife and BumbershootKalanduyan-led kulintang ensembles have performed forGanding, Inc. and Lotus Fine Arts in New York.Amauan Filipino-American Multi-Arts Center, SironSamahan Philippine Dance company in San Diego, andwith the World Kulintang Institute in Los Angeles,the Palabuniyan Kulintang Ensemble. He has also workedCenter, Filipiniana Dance Troupe, and his latest ensemble,Arts, Kalilang Kulintang Ensemble, the Pilipino Kulintangtor. Such groups in the Bay area have included Kulintangworkshop leader and, in some instances, as artistic direccommunity-based Filipino American cultural groups as

One answer comes from Daniel Giray, longtime associate

Even my mother couldn’t answer. So I grew up connectingwhat did that mean? I had no knowledge of my own history.would always answer that I was Filipino when asked, butbrought up on the Mainland and raised to assimilate. “Ifaced by many Filipino Americans. Born in Hawai’i, he wasand student of Kalanduyan’s, who explains the dilemma

Chinese American community.1980 census leader, thethe state, barely overtaking theAsian American community inpopulation is now the largestThe Filipino American(732,000 in the 1990 census).Filipino immigrant populationis also home to the largestin the 1990 Census. California10% of the state’s populationestimated at 3,000,000 orpopulation in the United States,largest Asian AmericanCalifornia is home to thein CaliforniaFilipino Americans

settlement in the U.S.second largest CambodianLowell, Massachusetts, thean estimated 30,000 are inCambodian Network Council,40,000. According to thepopulation in excess ofCambodian Americanis estimated to have athe Western Hemisphere,Cambodian enclave inLong Beach, the largestfigures run much higher.concentration, unofficialthe state with the largestCambodians in California,1990 Census counted 68,000California. While the officialStates now reside inAmericans in the United45% of all Southeast Asianin the U.S.Cambodian SettlementC R E A T I N G , C H A N G I N G , R E N E W I N G
39

ate friction.where culture, ethnicity and authenticity sometimes generrepresents passage to deeper Malay roots. And this isidentity.” For Giray and others of his generation, kulintanginstilled a pride in me that was lacking from my Filipinothe first time. It also became apparent that this musicby the strong rhythms and beautiful tones I was hearing forsic form existed in the Philippines. I became very inspiredworld changed. “I had never heard nor knew that this muKalanduyan’s kulintang gong-drum ensemble and hismy own identity among the many.” Then Giray heardwith Afro-Americans, Hispanics, other Asians looking for

Both Kalanduyan and Cadar have expressed grave conperformance for personal artistic goals. As Cadar reports, others, appropriation of the name “kulintang” and a rush to with Kalanduyan and Cadar as masters of the tradition; for Giray, a commitment to ongoing study and performance temporary pan-Filipinoism can cut two ways: in the case of Christian majority populations in the United States. Con- Muslim minority populations in the Philippines but among tend with as well, since kulintang has been nurtured among expertise. There are religious and historical factors to con- without possessing either the cultural heritage or musical inappropriately claim ownership of the kulintang tradition American communities and among certain individuals who cern over the politics of personal identity within Filipino

M I N D A N A O A N K U L I N T A N G M U S I C A N D C A M B O D I A N C L A S S I C A L D A N C E I N A M E R I C A

(Photo by John Bishop-Media Generation)1995 National Heritage Fellow Danongan Kalunduyan.
40

The Folk Arts in Americations and resources.with respect to its disciplines, practitioners, organizanationwide study to determine the needs of the fieldcommissioned the Fund for Folk Culture to conduct aIn 1991, the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest FundAssessing the Needs of Traditional Artists

C R E A T I N G , C H A N G I N G , R E N E W I N G

 reports the study’s findings.

❚have to say?overall 62.4% response rate).* What did folk artistsartists were sent surveys and 106 responded (anAs part of the study, 170 performing and visual folk

 More than 85% of folk artists surveyed teach

the next generation of artists” a priority.and a majority consider “identifying and motivatingothers their art—often without compensation—

❚ 90% of artists surveyed perform, exhibit, or sell❚maintenance of tradition.their immediate communities are necessary to theMany feel that presentation opportunities outside oftheir art in public and most would like to do more.

 6 out of 10 artists are in need of basic materials

❚for individualized attention.”“the specialized nature of the field and the needand power tools are a few of the items that indicatetaqua beans, twine, eggs, swords, rehearsal spaceessential to the practice of their art: whale ivory,

 Many expressed a need for help with the

Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund.Folk Culture. Copies of the study are available from the Lilaconducted the data research and analysis for the Fund for*Harder+Kibbe Research and Consulting of San Francisco

such as business, financial and legal matters.“non-performance aspects of presentation”

the same respect for my culture that I offer yours.”“My culture is no better than anyone else’s but it is mine. I would expect you to offerof musicians like Michael Doucet and Steve Riley is undeniable. Dewey once said,1992. His impact on Cajun music is immeasurable and his influence on a younger generation1982. He continued to play and speak eloquently on behalf of his culture until his death intireless cultural activism, Dewey received one of the first National Heritage Fellowships inMusic Festival he helped start became an annual event. In recognition of his artistry andswell of activity to preserve Cajun music, language, and culture. The 1974 Tribute to CajunLouisiana to organize traditional music concerts and other events as his part of a groundmusic for an audience of tens of thousands. Inspired by the experience, he returned toreplacement at the Newport Folk Festival where, for the first time in his life, he played hiswere well known throughout southern Louisiana. Then in 1964, Dewey was a last minuteafter World War II, Dewey and Will (and later Rodney) performed as the Balfa Brothers andfull of Cajun music, culture and language. They played in dance halls in the 1940s, andDewey Balfa and his brothers—Will, Burkeman, Harry and Rodney—grew up in a familyIn a time when schools in Louisiana punished children for speaking Louisiana French,(1927-1992)

Dewey Balfa
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M I N D A N A O A N K U L I N T A N G M U S I C A N D C A M B O D I A N C L A S S I C A L D A N C E I N A M E R I C A

through my environment.”around me in the village; I didn’t need training; it camemother’s lap; she guided my hands. The music was allbirthright: “I learned kulintang music sitting on myKalanduyan, the kind of mastery necessary to improvise is aof the music must precede any experimentation. Forpractice, mastery of the structural and stylistic conventionsmusic, there is the issue of improvisation: in traditionaltions that mark appropriateness. In the case of kulintangvations are accomplished and the sources for the innovamust remain frozen in time, it is the manner in which innotheme. While no one proclaims that performing traditionsinnovation within the traditional arts looms as a centralFor both Cambodian and Filipino American communities,Conclusionmaking inroads into the [Filipino American] community.”presentation of the tradition, one denies the possibility ofcorrect, but if one totally denies them any premature publicand perpetuate mistakes that will be virtually impossible topresent the tradition in corrupted form they will perpetrate“There is the constant dilemma that if one allows them to

Innovation in Cambodian classical dance is inevitable

texts. Two approaches to preserving repertoire can beUnited States and Cambodia and the changing social congiven the lack of well-trained classical teachers both in the

Project (ties and through his efforts with the Cambodian ArtsStates for distribution to Cambodian American communiof conservatory-trained dancers now residing in the Unitedfound in Sam-Ang Sam’s production of didactic video tapes

see page 36). While there is no way to codify stanof the tradition. respected by the community and educated in the canons knowledgeable teachers and performers recognized and vation can remain a meaningful process, if it is guided by some of that experience now taking place in America, inno- traditional art when it is true to social experience. With survived and thrived to this point speaks to the tenacity of careful watching. That these two important art forms have Cambodian classical dance in the United States will bear tional practice and innovation in both kulintang music and individuals with sporadic means of support at best. Tradi- vice agencies, mutual assistance associations and motivated dian culture in America is largely in the hands of social ser- under new artistic leadership, the re-invention of Cambo- institutions of Phnom Penh are slowly rising from the ashes mains a desirable goal. And while it is true that the cultural artistic hierarchy of the old Palace conservatory system, re- mains a sense that clear artistic authority, exemplified by the dards or certify who may teach what to whom, there re-

“Things have to change.

National Heritage FellowDewey Balfa, musician

and sincerity.”guidelines are purenessto be true, and thosewithin certain guidelinesbut they have to stayto breathe and grow,Culture and music havechanging, they die.When things stop
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“We will spread out

– “Leaving Cheyenne”all around...”horses are a’grazin’Where the cattle andgreen, grassy groundour blankets on the

The Cowboy Poetry GatheringIts Missionaries:A Revival Meeting and C R E A T I N G , C H A N G I N G , R E N E W I N G

such progeny.missions throughout the land. Few seeds have producedto spread the word of the tradition’s revival and to createevent that each year inspired more and more missionariesbe something on the order of a revival meeting, an annualPoetry Gathering in late January of that year turned out toextent the tradition was still alive. The first Elko Cowboysources of the cowboy oral tradition and determine to whatseed money for a group whose purpose was to tap theIn 1985 the National Endowment for the Arts providedby Buck Ramsey

This is a brief story out of the American West illustrating

portion of what it is all about.the premier cultural event in the American West is a modestpicture, you realize that the Elko gathering’s reputation astiful crop of the seed. When you get an idea of the wholemany hundreds and you begin to get a picture of the bounthat will bear fruit for generations. Multiply this story bycross-pollination of regional, ethnic and topical culturesconnected somehow to this yearly revival meeting, caused aing. It is also a tale describing how chance encounters, allhow the NEA seed planted at Elko worked, how it is workIn the 1940s, on one of his sweeps through the cow counold cowboys, John Lomax stopped over in Dalhart, Texas, try West uncovering cowboy songs from the dusty pasts of

song from a black cowboy he rode with on the XIT’s.two hundred miles. Jess Morris told Lomax he learned theern side of its Panhandle and South Plains border for aboutmiles wide from the top of Texas stretching down the westXIT Ranch, which at one time covered a strip about fortyity. In the distant past Jess was a cowhand on the legendaryto a drone tuning which gave the song a most haunting qualCheyenne.” Jess accompanied himself on the fiddle tunedand recorded Jess Morris singing a rendition of “Leaving

Hal Cannon, one of the prime movers in getting the realbum was “Leaving Cheyenne.” American West oral traditions. Hal’s favorite song on the spire a revival of cowboy song and poetry, a revival of behind his wish to organize a gathering which would in- Morris’ “Leaving Cheyenne,” to be the prime inspiration of cowboy songs collected by John Lomax, including Jess sic of the West obscured by time. He considered an album which sought out, performed and recorded traditional mu- sang and played various instruments with a string band vival underway, since his college days in the early 1970sIn 1970, Charles Gordone, a black playwright prominent

Studio, won the Pulitzer Prize for his play, in New York jazz circles and as a fixture at the famed Actor’s

No Place to be

somebody. After the play’s run on Broadway and after theTennessee Williams called “the failure of success” and lostauthor’s glow of celebrity dimmed, he experienced what
43

The audience enjoy themselves at a recent Cowboy Poetry Gathering. (photo by Sue Rosoff)
44

one comedy, all by modern American playwrights.ater. He stayed for two years to direct fourteen tragedies andplanned to produce for a “spit and paper” community thehim to join her in Berkeley, California, to direct a play shewas a dried out alcoholic and a dried up writer. She askedKouyomjian met in 1980 at a theater in San Francisco, heonce again attractive to his muse. When he and Susanunder the common delusion that alcohol might make hima heavy drinker, but now he began drinking more heavilyhis way as a writer. He already had earned the reputation as

Charles frequently discussed with his new companion

and artist in the last decade of my life.”word, and seminal to everything I have become as a thinkeris not urban is a simple idea, radical in the true sense of theproblems. Making them realize their heart’s true habitationnified involvement with nature is the biggest cause of theirbelieve the thwarted instinct of African Americans for a digfriends in the civil rights movement. Now, as a Westerner, Ireally raised hackles when I talked about it with my oldnotion that black people are at their roots country peoplecity ghettoes. He told a friend in the autumn of 1995, “Theas a viable American tribe if they remained packed away inradation of soul and psyche, that a people could not endurecontinued to be caught up in urban chaos with its utter degcans would remain trampled and shattered as long as theyhis belief that the aspirations and happiness of black AmeriHe and Susan moved back to Harlem where he worked

“authentic” connection with the West.English. The new Texans began feeling around for anof Texas A&M University as professor of Theater andfellowship residency expired, Charles joined the facultyset up residence outside of Taos, New Mexico. When theCharles in 1987 got a D. H. Lawrence Fellowship, and theyand what it could have to do with us.” Through her efforts,and communicating to find out what the West was all aboutauthenticity. We began spending all our spare time readingperiences,” Susan said, “but he couldn’t get it to ring withfolk memories from childhood, family tales of western exwriting he was playing out a fantasy stitched together with“Tex” because of his affectation of Western garb. “With histheatrical scene in the early Fifties, he had been nicknamedthe American West. Since his appearance on the New Yorkon a play titled “Roan Brown and Cherry” which was set in

After seeing and reading media reports of the Elko gathto him by his years in the saddle. That was the first poem Dalhart, recited a long poem about impressions brought worked on what used to be XIT Ranch country around ing. On that show a former cowboy, who in his youth Wednesday to get attendees in the spirit of the revival meet- keynote address. There is, however, a “warm-up” show on The gathering proper begins with a Thursday morning ering, the couple felt compelled to journey there in 1990.

C R E A T I N G , C H A N G I N G , R E N E W I N G

and local poetry gatherings were estimated at 150-200.themselves throughout the West. Through 1995, annual stateGatherings at the state and local level have establishedthe first year of the Gathering in 1985, Cowboy PoetryAs they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Sincesectors, states, and age groups.developed a broad base of support and draws from manytional group (28% in 1992) who attends but the Gathering haswork period). Ranching still constitutes the largest occupaaccommodate a ranching audience (winter being the slowestInitially, the Gathering was scheduled in January topeople attend annually.dances occur throughout the town. Approximately 8,000and off-site readings, concerts, open-mike sessions andare held at the Elko Convention Center during the Gatheringearlier in the week. All day workshops and evening concertswith pre-Gathering workshops and small performancesevery year in Elko, Nevada. The event roughly spans a weekThe Cowboy Poetry Gathering is held the last week in JanuaryCowboy Poetry Gathering Fact Sheet
45

(photo by S.R. Hinrichs)Poets Georgie Sikking and Richard Carlson comparing notes at a Gathering.

T H E C O W B O Y P O E T R Y G A T H E R I N G

Sources: 1992 Cowboy Poetry Gathering, out-of-state).have otherwise had (of which $2.5 million came fromaudience left in Elko $2.9 million the town would notBased on the results of a 1992 survey, the Gathering’sof the Gathering’s budget.sources. By 1993, public funding represented only 20%In 1986, 90% of the Gathering’s budget was from publiccame from the NEA Folk & Traditional Arts Program.Seed money for the Cowboy Poetry Gathering initially

Audience and Business

Report, Withers and Gray Project Management and Consultancy,June 1992. Three-Year Plan, Western Folklife Center, 1994-96.
46

C R E A T I N G , C H A N G I N G , R E N E W I N G

eroded by the past decade of urban living.”[our] love of American literature, which had been seriouslyand she would later write, “[the] recitation... restoredSusan and Charles heard at a cowboy poetry gathering,

Susan had convinced the A&M administration to attach

the gathering at Elko.riculum poets and singers they met as a result of attendingvirtually her entire budget integrating into Charles’s curFrom the time they attended the Elko gathering, she spentdence to perform for his classes and round out his lectures.her to Charles’s curriculum as a recruiter of artists-in-resiA professor who heard the Elko voices wrote: “Thesetradition to others.what they heard and eager to spread word of the revivedfar outside their traditional circles to listeners amazed atand now a university professor was amplifying the voicesthat gave back to the American West the gift of its tradition,ing the source of their inspiration.” Elko resurrected voiceshow to fashion everyday experience into art without violatauthentic American voices, natural storytellers who knowthat encased and constricted American literature. They areimaginations allowed them to break out of the formalitieslishment outlook. Their worldly experience and powerfulthe academies and had therefore developed an anti-estabwere native writers who had escaped the constrictions of

NevadaCaliforniaUtahIdahoOregonWyomingWashingtonColoradoMontanaTexasOther States WOther States ECanada(1989 vs. 1992)Where They Came From...1992 Cowboy Poetry Gathering –

0 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Source: 1992 Cowboy Poetry Gathering Audience and Business Report (June 1992) p.2. Prepared by Withers and Gray Project Management and Consultancy.

19921989

Word of Mouth 25%Mailing List 22%Other 9%Invited to Attend 1%Elko Area Resident 9%News Media 9%Previous Attendee 25%(n=571)1992 Cowboy Poetry GatheringHow They Found Out About the
47

T H E C O W B O Y P O E T R Y G A T H E R I N G

“All his adult life Charles envisioned an American theater

the fruit of its tree.boy poetry gatherings growing from the scattered seed ofposts created by the Elko revival, in the hundreds of cowwork of stagings for this new theater in the missionary outvoices. And he talked of perhaps finding a potential netcovered the “shared myth” in the rich diversity of the Elkoand he talked to Susan and his new friends as if he had distalked again of a new and inclusive Theater of Americana,of diversity united by a shared myth,” Susan said. Now he

One of the newer, smaller and most isolated of the cowaged. schottische to schottische tunes. Line dancing is discour- waltz to waltz tunes, two-step to two-step tunes and old-time cowboy dance where dancers are encouraged to ing is in surrounding pastures. Saturday night there is an organized until everyone arrives on Friday evening. Park- form you might not get paid.” Sessions and shows are not if you come you might not get to perform and if you per- Nara Visa Cowboy Poetry Gathering, but you should know invitation to participants began: “You are invited to the what was once the western border of the XIT’s. It’s initial ranch town in the Canadian River Breaks barely west of Nara Visa, New Mexico. Nara Visa is an almost deserted boy poetry gatherings was organized in the fall of 1993 at

(Photo by Natalie Brown)Tommy Allsup, longtime member of Bob Will’s Texas Playboys, performing at the Cowboy Music Gathering.
48

Rooster Morris is a young cowboy who is foreman of the

his poetic and musical model of cow country culture.ence and surroundings to adopt the place and the event asalready seen enough of the gathering with its ranchy audiand Susan Kouyomjian were at the gathering—Charles hadNara Visa gathering to join the festivities. Charles Gordoneneighbors softened him up and he drove over to the secondguitar anymore. But through the following year friends andbusiness. Besides, he said, he rarely picked up the fiddle orbecause he thought cowboy poetry gatherings to be phonyNara Visa, he would not go to the first Nara Visa gatheringYork City. Although he lives only thirty or so miles frombeen invited to attend Julliard if he had grown up in Newfiddle, and is the kind of natural musician who might haveMorris, he is a player of many instruments, principally theland originally under XIT fence. Great-nephew of JessSpring Creek Ranch, one of the better ranches that occupy

As people gather in at Nara Visa on Fridays, some of the

moment it was clear to anyone who knew them that eachwas Rooster’s first handshake with a black man. From thattwo came together in the school yard and began talking. ItCharles’ speech, his manner and look. After the confab theing. Rooster was totally silent, but he was moved bying black playwright was particularly eloquent at the meetgathering should have a particular tone or theme. The visitparticipants meet in a confab to discuss whether that year’s

Saddle tree components in Dale Harwood’s “tree” shop, Shelly, Idaho. (Photo by Jan Boles)

C R E A T I N G , C H A N G I N G , R E N E W I N G
49

came to.”ering will be remembered as “the first gathering Roosterthe gatherings by a happening or a person say the ’96 gathat the 1996 Elko gathering. Some who in memory identifying his cattle long enough to appear as a featured performertime Rooster played music every chance he got, even leavwas as good a friend as the other ever had. Also, from that

Early the following summer—the summer of ’95—

he returned to College Station where in November he died.After a month’s struggle early in the fall in the Panhandle,work done. And he was losing rather than gaining strength.facilities for Charles to spend time enough there to get anytrial trips to the ranch, but it was too remote from medicalwestern attitude to carry it along. He and Susan made a fewother idea of a play that had been awaiting an authenticthe ranch with Rooster and complete “Ghost Riders,” angain strength enough so that he and Susan could move torangements to move to Amarillo where Charles might reSusan called their friends in the Panhandle and made archeat the prognosis which offered him only a few months,Charles was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Hoping to

His play remained unwritten, but the human drama he

written, and in the long run it may touch more hearts andBreaks was surely as profound as the one he would havecaused to be played out in Amarillo and the Canadian River

where quite near the spot of this prairie funeral.from a black cowboy about a hundred years earlier someversion of “Leaving Cheyenne” Jess Morris had learnedwhile the first cowboy poet Charles heard at Elko sang thewere gathered, he dismounted and played the fiddle partsto the wind. When Rooster returned to where the peopleeased into a dignified gallop as Rooster scattered the ashesfor the brief moment Rooster opened the bandanna, thenslope of the prairie rain wash. His horse shied and buckedin an arm, remounted and rode slowly down the grassying in the grass. Rooster dismounted, cradled the bandannathe bulged bandanna, fastened by a hackamore knot, restfiddle while six jolly cowboys rested horseback in a row bybriefly, a few said a poem, sang a song or played a guitar orwash that is almost a small valley. A few people spokecouple of dozen folks to a grassy mound overlooking a rainbandanna. A slow cortege of horses and vehicles carried aCreek Ranch. His cowboy friends wrapped them in a blackhis ashes back to the Canadian River Breaks and the Springminds and in its own way have a longer run. Susan carried

T H E C O W B O Y P O E T R Y G A T H E R I N G

Center, P.O. Box 888, Elko, NV 89803, (702) 738-7508.exhibit gallery. For more information, contact Western Folklifedevelopment of a performance space, retail store, archives, anding it a cultural facility with year-round activities. Plans includehas been on the renovation of the building with the goal of makHotel in downtown Elko and much of the organization’s focusFolklife Center has been headquartered at the historic Pioneerwinning videos, recordings, and radio. Since 1993, the Westernwhich has provided the basis for a range of publications, awardtions and the Center houses an impressive collection of materialis engaged in ongoing field research of western cultural tradideveloping a summer season of activities at their facility. Staffperformance from the region. The Center is now involved inprogram featuring songs and narrative in recordings and livesponsors Voices of the West, a nationally syndicated radioit seeks to honor western cultural traditions. The Center alsobut it is gaining wider recognition for the many ways in whichbeen most closely identified with the Cowboy Poetry Gatheringthe American West. Since its beginnings in 1985, the Center hasto the preservation and presentation of the cultural traditions ofBased in Elko, Nevada, the Western Folklife Center is dedicatedA Word About the Western Folklife Center
50

and TranslatingConnecting

“The folk arts are not

people who use it.”meaningfulness to theaccording to itsdies out entirely on its own,folk art flourishes orof everyday life...of the community adventuresexpression and appreciationaesthetic perception,that it is based on thefrom fine art is preciselymakes folk art differentOn the contrary, whatintellectual curiosity.or elevation of taste orlife for special scrutinyexcerpted from everyday

1

Webfooters and Bunchgrassers: Folk Art of the Oregon CountryBarre Toelken, Introduction

arts and culture are numerous and diverse.nually by a presenter. The uses or functions of traditionaltets or in the one or two traditional music tours booked anseum, the anniversary performances of black gospel quarval every year, a Christmas crafts show organized by a munic association whose sole purpose is to sponsor one festiditional arts may find expression in the neighborhood ethattempts at institutionalization on a grand scale. Folk or traagendas and calendars. At every turn, the folk arts defypart of community life or as part of other organizationalThe majority of folk arts activity in this country occurs as

Increasingly, a range of organizations throughout the

state folk arts programs now exists in over 40 states (have all contributed to this growth. A strong network ofand programs capable of providing assistance and fundingheritage and the establishment of state and federal agenciescultural activism in the 1960s, the concern about culturalsystems with their own value. The upsurge of political andpowerful expressions of cultural identity and as aestheticU.S. understand traditional arts and culture as uniquely

see page

56). Organizations such as the National Endowment for theplayed central roles in the development of a nationwidefor the Traditional Arts (profiled later in this chapter) haveies at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Councilgress, the Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural StudArts, the American Folklife Center at the Library of ConC H A P T E R F O U R presentation of folk arts and folk culture. network of organizations involved in the preservation and Established in 1991, The Fund for Folk Culture (FFC), ings Program supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts. James Irvine Foundation and the Conferences and Gather- Folk Arts Regranting Program in partnership with The for Folk Culture’s other programs include the California awarded over 125 grants nationally since 1993. The Fund Reader’s Digest Community Folklife Program which has ous funding programs. The largest is the Lila Wallace- locally-based projects across the country through numer- sively to folk and traditional culture, now offers support for the only publicly-supported foundation devoted exclu- At the local level, folk arts programming and services ocsuch organization. Faced with a community torn apart by and understanding. Mississippi Cultural Crossroads is one gether to foster intercultural and intergenerational dialogue with communities and as a source for bringing people to- nizations see folk arts as a vehicle for building relationships past and present” to paraphrase one folklorist—many orga- anchored in local communities—“a living heritage linking and, increasingly, local arts agencies. Because folk arts are arts or social service organizations, cultural centers of color arts organizations to ethnic associations, community-based number of organizations who identify themselves as folk cur in a variety of organizational contexts—from a small
51

(Photo by Robert Cogswell)popular at the Smithsonian Institution’s 1986 Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C.The Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, an old-time music group from East Tennessee, were especially

homogenization of culture.ervation of cultural autonomy against the acceleratingtraditional arts also serve as a powerful means for the prescultural centers of color demonstrate in their programs,American traditional culture in the area. As numerousa strategy for revaluing and revitalizing aspects of Africaneffective means to rebuild “a sense of community” as well asa focus on local culture and traditional expression to be anracism and racial division, Patty Crosby, its director, found

While few organizations have the inclination to focus excultural life of a community. mapping the traditional arts or as a method for discovering or programming, and most engage in some form of fieldwork tually all are multidisciplinary and engage in multicultural but also for their methods and approaches to culture. Vir- only for their commitment to traditional art of communities number and diverse in their programming, are notable not past fifteen years. Folk arts organizations, though small in been in existence for decades, but most have emerged in the the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina have Arts, the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, or handful such as the National Council for the Traditional tions have emerged as viable and visible organizations. A arts, a small number of private non-profit folk arts organiza- clusively on the presentation or preservation of traditional
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from their drawings, and copies ofis children’s art: self-portraits, quilts with appliqué adaptedCounty traditional arts. Hanging side by side with the quiltsdisplay windows, offering a crash course in Claibornehand. String quilts, story quilts and cornshuck hats fill thetises Red Goose Shoes, but inside, art is the business atdepartment store. The sign above this building still adverhardware store, a small grocery and what was once a smallis all business: a few blocks of city and county offices, aAt first glance, Market Street in Port Gibson, Mississippiby Deborah Boykin

 I Ain’t Lying, an oral hisand diverse cultural traditions. works to bring the community together to explore its shared sippi: Cultural Crossroads, an arts organization which tory magazine produced by young people. This is Missis- 2

A small town in the southwest part of the state, Port

who take heart from the knowledge that their community isdivisions remain, but there are people in Claiborne Countyaction between black and whites. After nearly thirty years,nesses left a divided community where there was little interrights movement. A 1960s boycott of white-owned busifor its antebellum houses and its turbulent role in the civilother small southern towns, it was once known primarilyHighway 61 between Natchez and Vicksburg. Like manyGibson is the county seat of Claiborne County, situated on

Mississippi Cultural CrossroadsCommon Threads and Common Ground:

roads grew out of this belief.and white communities and Mississippi: Cultural Crosscommon thread which ran through the lives of the blackThey shared the belief that the traditional arts were theraised there, some who moved to the county as adults.a determined group of people, some who were born andtroubled past. This change came about through the work ofnow better known for its traditional quilters than for its

When David and Patricia Crosby came to Claiborne

how it would get better.”between the races in this community and it was hard to seecivil rights struggles of the sixties. There was no real dialogministrator. “It was kind of a transitional period after theMiller, president of Cultural Crossroads and a county adGibson troubling. “This was the seventies,” recalls Jamescoveries, but the Crosbys found other aspects of life in Portditions and history in the process. These were exciting discades of farm life, and learning about the community’s traited family after family, meeting quilters, hearing about deneighbors, Patricia took a job as a census worker. She visof traditional arts in the area. In an effort to get to know herthe contrast between the economic poverty and the wealthCounty in the early 1970s, they were immediately struck by

A first step towards community dialog came in 1978

Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities towhen Patricia Crosby sought funding from the Youthgrants

“You can create such

Mississippi: Cultural CrossroadsHystercine Rankin

is yours...”something beautifulnothing and makingfrom starting withbut the joy you getthe quilt to someone,is yours. You can givenobody’s work. Thiswithout looking atbeautiful patterns
53

could execute themselves.folklife of the community through media projects that theypriority would be to encourage young people to explore thecational needs of the people of Claiborne County.” Its firstan organization “to help serve the cultural, artistic and eduby the incorporation of Mississippi: Cultural Crossroads ascess and determined that this process would best be servedseparation in the county would be a long and difficult proconclusions. They acknowledged that overcoming racialcommunity needs and develop a program reached severalAn interracial planning committee working to examineacterize the . . . cultures that have shaped the community.”in the “arts, crafts, lore, attitudes, and emotions that charof both races to explore the commonalities and differencessioned a program that would bring together young peopleplan a project for young people in the community. She enviThe new organization’s first project was folk arts docuissue of teachers and merchants. These interviews made up the first sippi and photographing quilters, farmers, preachers, bors, recording their recollections of life in rural Missis- school, the students talked with their relatives and neigh- mentation conducted by young people. Working after I Ain’t Lyin’, funded by the National Endowmentlic school students in film and video techniques.mission supported a residency for a filmmaker to train pubfor the Arts. A second grant from the Mississippi Arts Comchildren, Port Gibson, Mississippi. (Photo by Patricia Crosby) Hystercine Rankin (left) and Esther Rogers (far right) demonstrate their quilting skills to elementary school
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The success of these projects led to a collaboration that

equally talented.quilters who were their relatives and neighbors weregrew even more enthusiastic when they realized that thedents saw quilting as a creative process in their classes andthat quilting was a widespread community tradition.” Stuproject went on,” Patricia Crosby recalls, “it became clearyoung people to design and produce a quilt. “As thisdents, demonstrating quilting techniques and helping theing for four quilters to work with junior high school stuquilters. The Mississippi Arts Commission provided fundstudents and several of the area’s finest African Americantural Crossroads’ programs—a collaboration between thewould become one of the most important elements of CulThis first residency was followed by a quilting demonnized. Cultural Crossroads found funding to hire and her talents as a quilter and teacher were quickly recog- ticipated in the first residency and other quilting activities Claiborne County quilter, was one of the women who par- together, and others wanted to learn. Hystercine Rankin, a opportunity to share their ideas and spend time working Women who were already quilting were delighted by the National Guard Armory sparked more community interest. An exhibit of quilts made by local women and held at the Arts Commission’s first folk arts apprenticeship program. stration held at the library and funded by the Mississippi

during “Pieces & Strings” quilt exhibition. (Photo by Patricia Crosby)Auditions for the 14th season of Peanut Butter & Jelly Theater in gallery of Mississippi Cultural Crossroads
55

M I S S I S S I P P I C U L T U R A L C R O S S R O A D S

their babies’ beds.”helped keep me warm. I knew they were making quilts for“But seeing those young mothers around the quilting framebitty building with no heat,” Mrs. Rankin remembered,programs ever since. “Those first classes were in a littlemained a central figure in Cultural Crossroads’’ quiltingfirst time, starting with nine young women. She has rewould bring adults into the organization’s classes for theMrs.Rankin as an instructor, initiating a program that

That was in 1988. In 1996, Cultural Crossroads has a

payments.In 1995, quilters received $15,300 from consignmentthey bring quilts in for sale. Cultural Crossroads adds 20%.play room next door. Quilters set their own prices whenquilting room and can hang their work for sale in the disticipating quilters can work on quilts at home or in thethem through articles, exhibits, festivals and the like. Parmail—repeat customers, people who have learned aboutNew York. The quilters receive some orders through thefamily beds or fill orders from as far away as California orroads’ new building on any given day, their quilts may coverWhile several quilters are at the frame in Cultural Crosstivities, involving both experienced and novice quilters.program is one of Cultural Crossroads’ most popular acfor the residents of Claiborne County. Still, the quiltingstaff of three and provides a range of services and programs

As sales increase, the Crossroads quilters have recogpresented for sale. this opportunity while maintaining high standards for work Crossroads. They want to ensure that other quilters have evolved somewhat as they have been involved with Cultural work through the organization find that their work has tural aesthetics. Most of the quilters who currently sell their without compromising individual artistic choices and cul- dards which ensure consistently well-made, durable quilts sign choices, the group is now working to establish stan- work independently and each woman makes her own de- quality for which their work is known. Since the quilters Their primary concern is to maintain the consistent high nized several issues that they want to consider as a group.Many of the quilters are women who have retired from

houses and work on their quilts. People don’t do that“My mother and her friends would go to each other’sto be a community thing,” Edna Montgomery remarked.on two quilts and recalling how they got started. “It usedrecent quilting session, a half dozen women were workingnow “quilts all the time.” She has plenty of company. At asomeday,” said Gustina Atlas, a retired teacher who says shethe time I was teaching I thought I’d like to get back to itused to watch my mother and grandmother quilt, and allwomen relish the time they have to devote to quilting. “Ijobs or whose children have grown and gone. These

Table: general profile.statab/USACounties 1994/28/021.txt.Source: http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/education: 16.1%Population with collegediplomas: 58.7%Percentage with high schoolUnemployment Rate: 13.9%(state rate is 20%)below poverty level: 35.5%Percentage of familiesAgriculture and timberPrimary Industry:(Ranked 72 out of 82 counties)Per Capita Income: $5,932County Population: 11,545population 2,371County Seat: Port Gibson,Claiborne County, MississippiFacts About
56

with these ladies.”anymore, so I really like being able to come here and work

“Having a place to come together sure makes a differwith master quilters. gives beginners the chance to learn by working side by side terns and express their individuality.” The program also really interesting to see how people can take the same pat- patterns; they offer advice about putting colors together. It’s who come here like to share. They share their ideas about ence,” observed quilter Geraldine Nash. “All of the quiltersMrs. Nash’s involvement with Crossroads quilting began

arts program.between the quilters and the children in the after-schoolCrossroads. She has been instrumental in collaborationsNash works full-time as a quilting teacher for Culturalquilting with all the rest of them.” Eight years later, Mrs.them,” she said with a smile, “so I just sat down and startedMrs. Rankin’s class. “Nobody brought children withwhen she was hired to baby-sit for women who attended

Since there are no visual arts programs in Claiborne

Pretty soon they started asking, ‘When can we make abecome very interested in watching the women’s’ progress.dents would come in and see the quilters at work and they’dhow the students began working with the quilters, “Stueach afternoon for arts activities. Patricia Crosby explainedCounty Schools, Cultural Crossroads brings students inC O N N E C T I N G A N D T R A N S L A T I N G

“quilting women” quilted.help from the students, placed them on a top which thetransformed each child’s picture into a fabric piece and withsigned a quilt based on the children’s self-portraits. Shequilt?’” Together, Geraldine Nash and the students deMany other such quilts have followed. The children andshown in the opportunity to enjoy these collaborations when they aredren can intersect,” says Patricia Crosby. The public hasthemes. “It’s a place where the quilting women and chiltales, recount stories from local history, or present seasonalthe quilters have collaborated on quilts which illustrate folk

Pieces and Strings, the organization’s annual quilt

school program is held at the same time.tions. An exhibit of children’s art produced in the afterbecome popular with Mississippi quilters from both tradirican American and European American traditions and hasshow and contest. This event features quilts from both AfThe intergenerational partnership between the childrengramming. A more recent example,oral history inform and influence all of the agency’s arts proCultural Crossroads: Claiborne County traditional arts andand the quilters embodies one of the principles that guide

 What It Is, This Freedom, is a play based on Claiborne county residents’ stories

tural Crossroads and playwright Nayo Watkins was comwere told and recorded in story swaps sponsored by Culand remembrances of local civil rights history. The stories

country. Through this strategy, the Folk Arts Programwith state arts agencies and other organizations across thenationwide infrastructure of folk arts programs in partnershipimpact, however, may be its initial emphasis on creating afolk arts organizations. The Program’s most far-reachingFellowships. It provided initial seed funding for many nascentship Program model and established the National HeritageArts Program developed and implemented the Apprenticeorganizations in 56 states and special jurisdictions. The Folkawarded 3,684 grants (total amount of $58,627,671) toorganizations. From 1978 through 1995, the Programshaped a nationwide field of folk arts programs andsay that the Folk Arts Program and Ms. Hawes literallydirection of Bess Lomax Hawes. It is no understatement tothe preservation and presentation of traditional arts under theProjects) was made a separate program at NEA to supportHeritage and Preservation Division and once part of SpecialIn 1978, the Folk Arts Program (now incorporated in theDevelopment of State Folk Arts ProgramsThe National Endowment for the Arts and the
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M I S S I S S I P P I C U L T U R A L C R O S S R O A D S

strumental in the development of tural Crossroads not only sponsored the play, but was inwere enacted near where the events had taken place. Culthe black boycott of white-owned Port Gibson businessesdepicting voter registration efforts and rallies in support ofinto the new county administration building, so that scenesCultural Crossroads building to the street outside and thenCounty and its people. The performance moved from themovement, presenting history as it affected Claibornetation life, the Depression, World War II, and the civil rightsformances for overflow crowds, enacting memories of planmissioned to write the play. Local residents gave two perNo Easy Journey, a perBuilding. history and now displayed in the Matt Ross Administration manent exhibit documenting the community’s civil rights

The children and quilters of Cultural Crossroads helped

tration building. When I look at this and see those quilt“I never really felt comfortable going into the old adminisdren are there, too. One child’s parent told Patricia Crosby,side of the building. The names of the quilters and the chilby three area quilters and executed these in stucco on theand artist Brenda Wirth adapted designs from quilts madegroup of children from the arts program, Geraldine Nash,part of the building. When it was under construction, aensure that Claiborne County quilts are also a permanent

own a little bit of this one.”patterns and see my daughter’s name up there, I feel like I

Cultural Crossroads president James Miller, a county

though. Our traditions are the glue that hold it all together.”things as they relate to this community and our traditions,carry it on and plan for the future. We always think aboutbeen so excited about it. It takes us all working together tomight not have taken it seriously if Patty and Dave hadn’tlike the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Educationand things, but we take them for granted. Local sponsorspartnership. We know about the local traditions like quiltsgether with Claiborne County natives helps. “It’s a realCrosbys, who are not from the community, working toisn’t always easy, but we try to keep it going.” Having theIn everything we’ve done, we try to cultivate interaction. Itdone is to offer some common ground in this community.that the agency tries hard to foster. “What we hope we’veadministrator, says that this sense of belonging is something

state environmental agencies and private non-profits.agencies, state humanities councils, state historical agencies,arts programs established in state arts agencies, other statecultural and artistic expertise. By 1994, there were 46 state folkfor professional standards and trained staff with appropriateIn doing so, the Folk Arts Program served as an advocatetraditions in rural and urban areas throughout the country.and diverse constituencies representing many artisticestablished an effective means for reaching decentralized
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C O N N E C T I N G A N D T R A N S L A T I N G

founders (are still driven by the passions and convictions of theirof the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965—and theythe vast majority were founded well after the establishmentserve. Most of these organizations are still in their youth—work that they do and the communities and audiences theymost private non-profit folk arts organizations approach thecurately much about the attitudes and processes by whichorchestra director but, in fact, the statement describes acnon-profit organizations with a statement by a symphonyIt may seem odd to begin an article about folk arts privateby Elizabeth Peterson

Non-Profit OrganizationsFolk Arts Private

see page 61).4 From their very beginnings, the

cess in different ways.on their mission and focus, they have gone about this protive of the local communities themselves. And, dependingwithin the context of community life and from the perspecsis on working with traditional artists and cultural traditionscommunities at a furious pace. Most of them place emphabest of them have plunged and connected with artists and

5

The Western Folklife Center called upon the assistance

Philadelphia Folklore Project is committed to developingmunities across the West in ways they never dreamed. Theup launching careers and connecting with ranching compractitioners of one art form—cowboy poetry—and woundof fellow folklorists throughout the West to identify the

Dominican, Asian Indian and West African communities.metropolitan area, including Albanian, Arabic-speaking,with a broad range of communities in the greater New Yorktion, technical assistance and collaborative programmingmulti-year projects of cultural documentation and facilitaimplementing Community Cultural Initiatives, majorround schedule of cultural presentations, the Center is nowthe Ethnic Folk Arts Center by 1981. In addition to a yeartivist Martin Koenig, the Balkan Arts Center evolved intoFounded in 1966 by folk dance enthusiast and cultural acgrassroots cultural organizations and traditional artists.cies which leverages well over $100,000 annually forshops and ongoing consultation with other cultural agenthe past, has provided annual technical assistance workwith communities and traditional artists in their city and, inconcerts, exhibitions and publications in collaboration

Of course, the descriptions above beg the question, what

quently collaborate with grassroots volunteer-run organishare common cause, encounter occasional conflict and freerally thousands of organizations throughout the U.S. Theytraditional art and culture of diverse communities with litshare a commitment to the preservation and presentation ofdemonstrates, folk arts private non-profit organizationsplishments and what obstacles do they face? As this studythey share in common? What are their goals and accomis a folk arts organization? What characteristics if any do

“We decided that

as we could find.”points of connectionto build as manythat art, seekingmissionaries foras self-effacingtowards our art,unapologetic attitudewith a completelyinto the communitybut to plungewe had no choice

3

St. Louis Symphony OrchestraBruce Coppock, Executive Director
59

(Photo by Tom van Buren/courtesy of Ethnic Folk Arts Center)produced by the Ethnic Folk Arts Center at Jumel Mansion in Washington Heights, Manhattan, 1995.Dominican carnival gagá dancer Pedro Sosa, a member of Asadifé, captivates school children in a performance

and to the values of an issue.”people telling stories, how to get people to the heart of the matter,knowing “how to get people talking to each other, how to getReavens of City Lore put it, fieldwork skills are instrumental toor cultural needs assessments. When it is done well, as Marcieprogramming, cultural revitalization projects, community planningnot be documented, to identify artists or for intergenerationalto create an enduring record of traditions that would otherwiseresearch or discovery and it can be a means for other ends—skills of listening, interviewing and observation. It is a tool ofcharacterized as “engaged awareness.” It requires sharpenedor community members. In practice, fieldwork has beencontexts and from the point of view of artists, cultural practitionersare best understood within broad social, cultural and historicalIt is likewise grounded in the premise that artistic traditionswhich accepts cultural pluralism and diversity as positive values.and a set of practices. Fieldwork is informed by a perspectiveuse the term fieldwork, they are referring to both a perspectiveWhen folklorists, ethnomusicologists or other cultural specialistsWhat is Fieldwork?
60

henna designs, traditional doll making, jewelry, and foodways.practice embroidery, music, instrument making, calligraphy,Syrian, Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni and other Arabs whocultural events. Current survey work explores Michigan’srenowned Arab-American artists, enjoy concerts and othercountries of origin—to participate in workshops withcommunity—many of whom are from different religions andming, ACCESS seeks to bring together Arabs in the Detroitties throughout the city. Through arts and cultural programconducts folk cultural surveys within different Arab communiinside the center, presents Arab artists at events, andCultural Arts Program maintains a traditional arts exhibiteducational, employment, and legal services. The ACCESSoffered by ACCESS along with all its other social, health,Cultural Arts Program has always been an important serviceAmericans a greater understanding of Arab culture. Thearrived Arab immigrants in Detroit, and fosters among otherprimarily low-income Arab American families and newly-(ACCESS) is a human service organization which assistsThe Arab Community Center for Economic and Social ServicesACCESS

C O N N E C T I N G A N D T R A N S L A T I N G

pendent film producers and many others.ment agencies, humanities agencies, radio stations, indecies, historical societies, presenters, community developperforming groups, social service and resettlement agennity activists, fiddle associations, other music societies andarts organizations, mutual assistance associations, commuzations, religious organizations, museums, ethnic specific

 As a group, folk arts private non-profit organizations disgramming in varied presentational formats ( the truest sense of the word and frequently conduct pro- play great variation as well: they are multi-disciplinary in see page 61).

vices in cooperation with particular communities developing programs or sertistic presentation while others strive to work more closelytures to a broad public and place a greater emphasis on arunderstanding by introducing traditional artists and culand change. Some, for example, seek to foster interculturalthey establish with audiences and communities also shifttraditions and communities over time, the relationshipsBecause folk arts organizations work with diverse cultural

with communities and for communiand communities. But what commonalities do they share? ticularly skilled at moving “betwixt and between” cultures their mission, their training and their perspectives, are par- proaches to greater or lesser degrees and many, by virtue of sive. In fact, most folk arts organizations combine both ap- ties. Such orientations, of course, are not mutually excluBased upon the findings of the survey of folk arts organi- ❚following goals and practices: staff member with relevant cultural expertise; and share the or traditional culture; have at least one professional paid time to programs or services emphasizing folk arts, folklife or traditional culture; devote over 75% of their efforts and ally label themselves as entities primarily involved with folk ganizations with 501(c)(3) status), these organizations usu- zations conducted for this study (which was limited to or- to promote, present, preserve or serve the folk and tradi- ❚gional, ethnic, occupational or religious groups. tional arts, heritage, or traditional culture of diverse re- to engage in (or rely upon) some form of field research to specific communities tions, and to build collaborative working relationships with identify traditional artists, cultural practitioners and tradi- (see page 59). ❚ to foster awareness, understanding and appreciation for ❚through programs, services, publications or advocacy. the role of traditional art or cultural heritage in daily life to provide information and technical assistance to tradi- verse communities, they also share many organizational senting and preserving traditional arts and culture of di- While folk arts organizations share a commitment to pre- tional artists, communities and their organizations.
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Activity Organizations respondingFolk Arts Organizational ActivitiesMost Common Ongoing

to this category

Field research 13events/festivalsmulticultural or multidisciplinaryPresentation or coordination of 14services to community groupsTechnical assistance or 15collection managementArchival activity/ 15Newsletter 15Photo documentation 16Advocacy Work 17(concerts, tours, etc.)of performing folk/traditional artsPresentation or production 17

by Surveyed OrganizationsRange of Incomes Reported

Number of Organizations

(n=23)

Other Funding 4%Public Funding 21%Private Funding 43%Earned Income 32%Income SourcesIncome Breakdown byTotal 23Refused 1$1,000,000 or more 6$500,000-$1,000,000 4$1000,000-$499,000 8Less than $100,000 4

ICP, P.O. Box 5020, Harrisburg, PA 17110, (717) 238-1770.avenues of inter-group communication. For more information, contactand to bring down barriers between people by helping them openawareness and appreciation for cultural heritage of all ethnic communitiesat the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation. The ICP mission is to promoteconsultants, they also are developing the regional traditional arts programassistance for applicants, and application review. In their capacity asadminister the state’s folk arts funding program, including technicalThe Pennsylvania Council on the Arts awarded the ICP a contract toservices which address cultural differences as resources, not barriers.and, as an organization, they offer a unique blend of programs andin planning, needs assessment, management and conflict resolution,and presentation. They are joined by other professional staff trainedtraditional culture in Pennsylvania through research, documentation,Through the ICP, Staub and Skillman continue to conserve folk andethnic organizations representing over one hundred ethnic communities.where they developed a folk arts program that reached thousands ofin the state offices of the Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Commissiondiversity. Both Staub and fellow folklorist Amy Skillman formerly servedcommunity-based programs that promote understanding of culturalShalom Staub to build positive inter-group relations through innovative,Institute for Cultural Partnerships (ICP) was founded in 1995 byInstitute for Cultural Partnerships

024681012Number of OrganizationsOrganizations FoundedDecades Folk Arts

20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s

before 1970. Source: NuStats, Inc., Austin, Texas.1970s, and about 26% have been in existence1980—about 9% have been in existence since thethe 1980s or 90s. Very few were established beforeMost of the organizations (65%) were founded in
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Slovak wheat weaving by Sidonka Wadina Lee, from the exhibit Passed to the Present:Folk Arts Along Wisconsin’s Ethnic Settlement Trail, organized by the Cedarburg Cultural Center.(Photo by Lewis Koch/courtesy of Cedarburg Cultural Center)

range from less than $100,000 to over $1,000,000 (ate with staffs of under ten people and with budgets whiching the stresses that such an enterprise entails. Most operthroes of building lasting, sustainable institutions and facdependent entities, most folk arts organizations are in theto create paid staff positions and establish themselves as inWhile a handful of nascent organizations are still strugglingdoes a group of people working passionately on a project.”“It takes a whole lot more to run an organization than itdirector of the Western Folklife Center, aptly commented,concerns and obstacles as well. As Tara McCarty, executive

see page

61). And, like other small to mid-size cultural institutions,institutional survival and funding are overriding concerns.

Based upon the data gathered in the survey and in inter-

(they confront the vagaries of public and private fundingin the past, most are exploring new sources of support asfolk arts organizations have always relied on public supporting funding sources and developing earned income. Whilethese days are clustered around the problems of diversifymost planning efforts and creative organizational thinkingviews with several directors of organizations, it is clear that

see page 61). Although the earned income average for all

forms of support: developing financially equitable partnerearned income exceeding 50%. Others are seeking newage, several with a performing arts emphasis already reportorganizations is nearly one third of the total funding aver-
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don’t have a clue about.”community organizing and interactions with communities that arts companies and organizationsgreatest things the folklore field has to offer the rest of the arts in this country—how to do thetrained folklorists that really use the term fieldwork to mean both... I think this is one of thecommunities, the partnerships, the building of relationships over time. It’s only academicallydevelopment but there’s also audience development and outreach. There’s the connections with“It occurs to me that we’re talking about two aspects of fieldwork. There’s the research andPhyllis Brzozowska (Cityfolk)communities we work with. Fieldwork is a way to continue reconnecting.”that feeds significantly into programs but also feeds into a way to communicate with the“The true demands for serving our regions are based on our ability to continue to do fieldworkPatricia Jasper (Texas Folklife Resources)Research is the basis of all of our good work.”as a long term proposition, every project we do. And we’ve seen a lot of people come around.swallow for some but we’re up front about this. We know what our needs are. We see our workeven investing in a cash reserve fund that gives us long term stability. That’s a hard pill toresearch. They’re investing in part of the archivist’s salary so there is a lasting record. They’regood, they’re not only investing in the outcome, the product. They’re investing in the process, our“When we raise money, we try to tell people if they are going to invest in something that is reallyHal Cannon (Western Folklife Center)Conversations about Fieldwork

field research activities.and creating marketable services and products from theirtechnical services, exploring cultural tourism alternatives,ships with other organizations, providing consulting and

At a time when competition for scarce resources is inand quality of activity and emphasis. organizations, they give an indication of the range, variety should not be considered as representative of all folk arts lowing brief profiles of four organizations. While these four their accomplishments are best illustrated through the fol- pact of their work is very difficult to measure, the range of traditions to new audiences. Although the long-term im- cultural revitalization efforts and introduce folk artists and who often fall through institutional cracks, assist local ties, identify rich cultural resources among constituencies skills which enable them to work with diverse communi- curatorial expertise and a set of facilitation and research gravity of its loss. But it is an important one. They possess ture in everyday life, the resilience of its presence and the syncopation about the importance of traditional art and cul- Their voice is one of many speaking in cross rhythms and mon bonds and constitute a valuable community resource. and vibrant perspective about cultural differences and com- creasing, many folk arts organizations represent a mature
64

In 1996, City Lore launched Nourishing the Heart: A Guideto Intergenerational Arts Projects in the Schools and TheCulture Catalog, a mail order compendium of multi-mediaial venture to develop unrestricted sources of income.The catalog also constitutes City Lore’s first entrepreneurresources in oral history, folklore and community studies.

Many, though not all, of City Lore’s other programs and

companying book landscape of New York City. An early exhibition and acborhoods create and maintain affiliation with the culturalservices explore the ways in which individuals and neighCity Play, for example, examined themunities” (live their art and embody tradition within their own comin 1993, honors selected city residents for “the way theyfor play. The People’s Hall of Fame, an annual event startedways in which children use and adapt their environments

see chapter 6). They also co-sponsored a 1996

teacher’s resource center.call home—one with enough space for programming and aneeds include finding a permanent place for themselves tobased sites. And, at the moment, City Lore’s most pressingneeds and examine strategies for preserving communitydents, folklorists and other community activists to identifytogether historic preservationists, local artists and resicommunity landmarks and establishments which broughtconference with the Municipal Art Society on endangered

of a festival by the host community.with host sites to lay the groundwork for the continuationthe festival every three years and working in partnershipthe country. Today, NCTA employs the strategy of moving1934, the Festival has moved to different sites throughoutinformation of artistic traditions. Since its beginnings inand using scholars as resources for providing contextualshops, crafts demonstrations, multi-cultural presentation,presentational techniques used in today’s festivals: worktural folk festival in the country and pioneered many of theprogram, the National Folk Festival, is the oldest multi-culStates and its list of firsts is impressive. NCTA’s flagshipdocumentation of folk and traditional arts in the Uniteding organization dedicated solely to the presentation andis the nation’s oldest multicultural producing and present-(NCTA) to be the granddaddy of folk arts organizations. Itconsider the National Council for the Traditional ArtsFounded in 1933 by Sarah Gertrude Knott, many peopleSilver Spring, Marylandfor the Traditional Arts,National Council

Since 1978, under the direction of Joe Wilson, NCTA

over 20 tours have traveled to 49 states and, under thetours of folk, ethnic and tribal performing arts. To date,has also produced numerous national and international

going programming, activities); and 5) education.projects, utilizing scholarly expertise); 4) presentation (onartists and communities); 3) interpretation (special(cultural activism working with and in support of local folkemphasis: 1) documentation (field research); 2) advocacyA full-time staff of five work in five programmatic areas ofbudget has grown from roughly $100,000 to over a million.growth may be one indicator of impact. In ten years, theirworld in a more humanistic way.” A decade of steadyimpact on people’s lives and try to get people to see thesays, “we want to move people deeply. We want to have andreams for City Lore, which he founded in 1986, when heDirector Steve Zeitlin is unabashed in his hopes andNew York CityCity Lore,Four Profiles

C O N N E C T I N G A N D T R A N S L A T I N G

In particular, City Lore takes an active leadership and adcenter for teachers and develop materials for classroom use. College of Education to develop a multicultural resource Education has joined in partnership with the Bank Street tional curriculum. The City Lore Center for Folk Arts in which incorporate folk arts and culture fully into the educa- vocacy role in developing programs, resources and skills
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Folklife Center, and the Western Folklife Center.Northwest Folklife, Texas Folklife Resources, VermontCityfolk, City Lore, Philadelphia Folklore Project,reserves or restricted program funds. Recipients includeorganizational planning and development, and build cashto broaden public programs, engage in long-rangegrants to seven regional folk arts centers, enabling themWallace-Reader’s Digest Fund has awarded multi-yearactivity. As part of this holistic funding approach, the Lilaand traditional arts, and foster community-based folk artsbroaden access to exhibitions and performances of folkprograms designed to strengthen folk arts organizations,Fund has invested over $10.1 million in a variety ofFrom 1991 to 1995, the Lila Wallace-Reader’s DigestPrograms for Regional Folklife CentersLila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund

A photo from the touring exhibition, Deer Camp: Last Light in the Northeast Kingdom, organized by theVermont Folklife Center. (Photo by John M. Miller/courtesy of Vermont Folklife Center)
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4) multi-media and publications.based groups); 3) documentation and preservation; andtance and advocacy (working with artists and communityhibitions, concerts, workshops, etc.); 2) technical assisdo so in four programmatic areas: 1) public programs (extion and presentation of Texas folklife and folk arts.” Theystatewide constituency and is “dedicated to the preserva-$400,000. As the name implies, TFR primarily serves aa thirteen member board, and an annual budget nearis a full time staff of five, a devoted group of volunteers,zation from a desk in her house. Over ten years later, there in 1985, she and two other folklorists operated the organiWhen Pat Jasper started Texas Folklife Resources (TFR)Austin, TexasTexas Folklife Resources,

While Texas Folklife Resources has assisted artists and

audiences and contexts. in depth and introducing artists and traditions to newformats is one means for documenting particular traditionsthe state. Developing programs in many presentationaland services more effectively to communities throughoutoping mechanisms and relationships to distribute programsareas, the organization has focused in recent years on develcommunities throughout Texas in all four programmatic

Accordion Kings, for instance, was

a multi-year research project examining the cross-cultural

programming in a timely, cost effective manner.enables members to share resources and develop collaborativePanorámica, a Latin American presenting consortium whichcultural organizations in the Northeast to form La Rutapopular series. In recent years, IBA joined with other Latinodrumming, Latin jazz, dance and theatre, are mainstays of theRican bomba, plena, and jíbaro, Cuban rumba and ritualto IBA residents and thousands of their Boston neighbors. PuertoCenter brings theatre, dance, and traditional and popular music40,000 people annually. The Cafe Teatro series at the Culturalevents at their Jorge Hernández Cultural Center, which reach overproduction and arts instruction for youth. IBA also hosts culturalLatino arts and culture through school programs and videothe the Arte y Cultura Department, promoting Puerto Rican andsocial services, IBA offers an array of cultural programs throughservices it provides to residents. In addition to economic andmodels. One key to IBA’s success is its holistic approach to theis one of the country’s most successful community developmenthouses more than 3,000 low and moderate income residents andcommunity of Boston’s South End. Today, IBA’s Villa Victoriathrough the grassroots efforts of the largely Puerto RicanInquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA) was established in 1968Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción

in innovative ways. An earlier tour, worked with community-based and mainstream presentersthey have pioneered various presentational strategies andformer Soviet Union and the Caribbean. In touring,countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Near East, theauspices of the United States Information Agency, in 31

Der Yiddisher Caravan,

Hebrew homes for the aging throughout the country. cantorial and folk songs in Jewish community centers andpresented traditional Yiddish theater, klezmer music,

California Generations, a specially-commissioned tour by Calihome. native, immigrant and ethnic groups who call California fornia Presenters, presented the performing traditions of

Unlike most other folk arts organizations, the National

Arts and Humanities.Smithsonian Institution and the D.C. Commission on theincluding the National Endowment for the Arts, theproduction services to other state and federal agenciesming for new parks and has provided technical andNational Park Service in cultural planning and programtouring and festival efforts, NCTA has worked with thecies throughout the country. In addition to their ongoingeffectively at the national level, serving broad constituenCouncil for the Traditional Arts works most frequently and
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Arts in 1995.Citation for Arts Merit from the Vermont Council for theVermont’s cultural heritage, the Center was awarded the$400,000. In recognition of their role in the conservation of1996, there is a staff of five and a budget approachingexhibitions, small-scale programs as well as an archive. InHouse, an historic site which has enough space for on-siteSince 1988, the Center has resided at the Gamaliel PainterVermont Council on the Arts in 1982 to found the Center.ist Jane Beck left a position as folk arts coordinator at thetions from the Governor’s Conference on the Arts, folklorserves a statewide constituency. Based upon recommendaLike Texas Folklife Resources, the Vermont Folklife CenterMiddlebury, VermontVermont Folklife Center,

From its very beginning, the Vermont Folklife Center has

the recognition the Center received for its first video in Vermont’s rural communities. Jane Beck herself creditscus is the people, the landscape, and the traditions rootedword, the oral interview and oral history. Its dominant foconcentrated much of its programming around the spoken

On

My Own (and subsequent Peabody award-winning radioseries Journey’s End) about the life and times of Daisylate nineteenth century, as critical to establishing theTurner, an African American native of Vermont born in the

narratives in a variety of accessible formats. continued to make available their recorded histories andCenter’s viability early on. Since that time, the Center has

Voices from Vermont, a weekly radio series for Vermont Public Radio, uses

out Vermont regarding aspects of local culture and history.periodic workshops and conferences for teachers throughteachers, educators and the general public. They also holdmanuals and resource guides utilizing their research forabout Vermont’s rural life. They have developed severalnarrative and anecdote to examine various issues and topics

In addition, the Center has an ongoing exhibition series,

hibition, most of which are developed by Center staff. One such exThe Warmth of Words: Wisdom and Delightthrough Storytelling, was a sound installation featuring sebitions such as the 1993 lections from the Center’s sound archive. Occasional exhi- Deer Camp: Last Light in theNortheast Kingdom tour nationally. More recently, however,community-based venues throughout the region.velop small, low-security exhibitions suitable for travel tocies throughout New England and upstate New York to dea loose-knit network of small museums and folk arts agenthey have begun identifying and working cooperatively with

and a statewide touring program.journalists), a radio series for NPR broadcast nationwide,cluding artists, scholars, recording industry personnel andHouston concert, an Austin concert and symposium (inTexas. Documentation efforts ultimately resulted in atraditions (polka, conjunto, cajun and zydeco) native toinfluences and blending of four distinct musical

Touring performing arts programs and exhibitions has

success of the 1994 dies to presenters. In particular, TFR is building on thesistance to artists and presenters, and TCA provides subsiRoster. TFR produces thematic folk arts tours, provides as-(TCA), is a folk arts component to the TCA Touring Artsbetween TFR and the Texas Commission on the ArtsTouring Traditions, begun in 1992 as a cooperative venturebroader audiences and develop an earned income base.proved to be another area which has enabled them to reach

Canciones y Corridos tour which offered

cess, they are developing an exhibition senting network for future programs. Building on this sucers in South Texas and, in effect, created a loose-knit preextensive technical assistance to community-based presentLa TradicionTejana—Focus on Tejano Traditions to tour these commutouring programs. programs in the Rio Grande Valley more closely with nities and, in the future they intend to link their educational
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C H A P T E R F I V E

development and maintenance of cultural traditions.and traditions; and personal or community control over thebroader markets; increased visibility and respect for artistsvisibility, and control—that is, access to resources andissues and problems often cluster around notions of access,and problems to speak and act in a common voice. Theseties are beginning to come together around common issuesand more frequency, some traditional artists and communitures live in isolation from the rest of the world. With morealized art world. But neither do traditional artists and culhave membership in organizations active in the institutionists do not describe themselves as artists and few of themof them as “non-joiners.” It is true that many traditional artartists as practicing outside institutional settings. We thinkparticular community, we tend to characterize traditionaltions which are passed on informally through time within aBecause the folk arts are normally defined as those tradiIn concrete terms, these needs are most frequently metto new venues and audiences—and these are forms of techbusiness and marketing fundamentals, and gaining accessdevelopment—developing promotional materials, learningassistance often focuses on issues of artistic professionalences outside their local community, for instance, technicalcies. For those performing artists who wish to reach audiances and technical assistance from a range of service agenthrough the formation of broad-based coalitions and alli-

“Sometimes people must

those resources.”strengthening ofthe preservation andabout change as aboutprocess is not so muchSometimes the developmenta certain piece of land.a cultural heritage, pride,a sense of identity,their hands, history,language, the skill ofintelligence, imagination,resources available:people always haveto change the world...before they sally outfirst fortify their base

1

Patrick Breslin, in Cultural Expressionand Grassroots Development

Organizing

or agencies.nical assistance most frequently found in arts organizations

 For craftspeople, however, as Theresa Hoffman’s article

and South America.American communities and throughout areas of Centralmost prevalent throughout Appalachia, in some Nativetives. The development of artists cooperatives has beencessful models as have the development of artist cooperamentoring and peer exchange have proved to be highly sucing among artists and other relevant organizations,ence or “gathering” models emphasizing information shartoric preservation and cultural tourism activities. Conferopment to folklorists, museums and others involved in hismerce, state departments of tourism and economic develcies—from parks and forestry personnel, chambers of comexpertise and cooperation of diverse individuals and agenare natural or human) or broader markets have required theindicates, issues of access to scarce resources (whether they

Key issues for many of these artists are not whether to

tures and their culture. And this is perhaps the ture but how to maintain ownership and control of their fudevelop, change, or preserve their traditional arts and culkey issue inpractice and one fraught with peril if local participation,economic development is an increasingly hot topic andthe culture or heritage of a particular locale as a strategy forcultural tourism or preservation efforts. The marketing of
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American and Rural CommunitiesPlanning for Balanced Development: A Guide for NativePlanning for Balanced Development

, by anthropologist/cultural

New Mexico 87501, (800) 253-2747.contact Clear Light Publishers, 823 Don Diego, Santa Fe,as well as Native American communities. For more information,suggests, much of the information is applicable to ruralresources, sample forms, lists, and budgets and, as the subtitlecommunity development. It contains a wealth of practicalthe generation and management of resources for sustaineddevelopment which complement cultural revitalization; andeconomic and business development and cultural tourismand cultural tourism development; in-depth examinations ofmethods for cultural revitalization, business development,comprehensive community needs assessment; planningplanning and implementation and surveys methods forprocess that stresses community participation at all levels ofin northern New Mexico. The book outlines a cultural planningPojoaque in the creation of the Poeh Center at Pojoaque Pueblocommunity planning developed by Guyette and the Pueblo ofplanner Susan Guyette documents a field-tested model of

the beginning. Susan Guyette’s book concerns and sense of ownership are not addressed from

Planning for Balanced Development offers useful strategies for eliciting comcultural resources that provide its foundation.” ment, and this includes looking after the health of the strengthen a community’s overall cultural tourism environ- long-range development strategies is to continually Tennessee Arts Commission has remarked, “The goal of sources. As Robert Cogswell, director of Folk Arts for the in conserving one of the state’s important cultural re- ances between business and conservation interests assisted sweetgrass basketmakers, innovative arrangements and alli- components of success. In the case of South Carolina’s Pro-active stances on cultural conservation are important munity participation and maintaining community control. 2

(Photo by Dugan Aguilar/©1996 Dugan Aguilar and CIBA)California Indian Basketweavers Gathering.Amanda Carroll (Yurok), age seven, at the 1995
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“Once I become famous,

Malledellis Nelson (Penobscot

baskets.”make any more IndianMama will not have to

)

encouraged to leave the reservation.century. In order to earn a decent living, young people werewhy basketry all but disappeared from our culture in thiswith poverty and this negative association helps explainFor many people on the reservation, basketry was linkedand her basketmaking was practiced to feed her children.tribal healer who used medicines from the Maine woods,(my great-grandmother) was a traditional native woman, ascot Indian Reservation at that time. Malledellis’ motherepitomize the perception of native basketry on the Penoban aspiring young native dancer and actress, and theyThe words at left were spoken in 1927 by my great-aunt,by Theresa Hoffman

South Carolina and CaliforniaTraditional Basketmaking in Maine,Hanging by a Blade of Grass:

By 1990, there were

(then an apprentice basketmaker) and folklorist Kathleenfirst meeting, held in 1992, was co-organized by myselfMaine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA) in 1993. Thequody and Penobscot tribes, gathered together to form thebasketmakers, representing Maliseet, Micmac, Passamain Maine, a dedicated group of some 75 Maine Indianash basketry, one of the last intact vestiges of native cultureResponding to a strongly-felt need to hold on to brownMaineunder the age of 60 in the entire state of Maine.fewer than one dozen native basketmakers from four tribes

tions.about the obstacles and goals for preserving basketry tradimarked by a spirit of intertribal cooperation and lively talktional Arts Apprenticeship Program, and sessions weremeeting grew out of the Maine Arts Commission’s TradiMundell of the Maine Arts Commission. In part, that first

Through the years, other forces besides negative image

ibility for native basketmakers and traditions in Maine.small basketry exhibit at a local airport, and increased vising projects thus far have produced a poster, brochures, acommon issues and market baskets to the public. Marketing and festival is held, where basketmakers meet to discussaccess to natural resources, an annual basketmakers gatherstories, were dying. In addition to emphasis on supply andtrees, deeply “rooted ” in native culture through creationbasketmakers had known for a decade, that the preciouswork of the task force foresters confirmed whatash problem and its negative impact on the tradition. Thestate and federal foresters and basketmakers to analyze theganize the Brown Ash Task Force, a consortium of tribal,was killing the “basket tree,” prompted the Alliance to orDonald Sanipass (Micmac), who claimed that somethingMIBA attempts to respond. In 1993, basketmakers likeequate access to markets being key among them—andsupply, lack of access to basketmaking materials, and inadhave intensified the serious decline of the tradition—poor
71

(Photo by Cedric N. Chatterley)Works in progress: brown ash splint baskets by Maliseet basketmaker Jim Tomah. Aroostook County, Maine.
72

lective manner.where are organizing to address common problems in a colFaced with similar issues, traditional basketmakers elseSouth Carolina

3 Nearly 300 basketmakers in the Mount

Sweetgrass Basketmakers Association. “ It’s ironic,”conference also led to the formation of the Mount Pleasantthreatening or trying to help preserve the heritage. Thescientists to folklorists, who were either inadvertentlywith a diverse audience, ranging from land developers tomaker Henrietta Snype brought basketmakers togetherfolklorists Dale Rosengarten, Gary Stanton and basketSweetgrass Conference in Charleston, co-organized bymost rapidly developing areas of the East Coast. A 1988of sweetgrass were literally paved over, in this one of thedozers broke the silence in the last decade. Major sourcescenturies old tradition of sweetgrass basketry, when bullPleasant, South Carolina area were quietly practicing their

said

cally relied on to supply us with sweetgrass.”also wiped out many of the wetlands that we have historibrought more potential customers to our region, but it hasAssociation President, “increased development hasMary Jackson, Mount Pleasant Sweetgrass Basketmakers

Since the conference, with the assistance of local agensince harvested their first crops. The unique and relatively been planted at three local sites and basketmakers have cies and Clemson University, 10.5 acres of sweetgrass have

O R G A N I Z I N G

the earth and to the future. We have a lot of responsibility tomore to us than just a craft. It’s a tie to our ancestors and tobasketweaver Kathy Wallace remarked, “Basketmaking iscial to the continuity of the tradition. Yurok/Karuk/Hoopamaterials is a primary concern for basketweavers and cruceremonial and traditional use than for sale and access toing itself. Native California baskets are made more often fortually significant to Native California culture, as the weavbud, hazel, ferns, alder, spruce, and many others, is as spiriand dyes such as bear grass, sedge, juncus, deer grass, redwhich include more than one hundred plants for basketsGathering was held. Gathering materials for basketweaving,since 1991, when the first California Indian BasketweaversCalifornia Indian basketweavers have made great stridesCaliforniaketry prices to double in the past five years.ketry. In fact, a new awareness by collectors has caused bastage of South Carolina, with an impressive exhibit of basairport in Charleston proudly boasts of the sweetgrass heritive contribution to the local economy and ambiance. Theers who regard this distinctive cultural tradition as a posibeen saved by local zoning efforts and foresighted developon Highway 17, equally endangered by development, haveof “extinction,” at least in the local area. Basket sales standsrare species of grass has been brought back from the brink

Maine. (Photo by Cedric N. Chatterley ©1996)ash suitable for basketmaking. Aroostook County,Valentine Polchies return from the woods with brownMicmac basketmaker Richard Silliboy and apprentice
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T R A D I T I O N A L B A S K E T M A K I N G I N M A I N E , S O U T H C A R O L I N A A N D C A LI F O R N I A

to hold the festival every three or four years rotating each year among different villages.Yup’ik dance groups from the Russian far east. Another is planned for 1996. It is the CYMA’s hopeArts support, the 1992 festival in Emmonak included dance groups from 12 Yup’ik villages, Nome, and Naukanserving lower Yukon River area villages, hosted Mountain Village Dance Festival. With NEA Folk & Traditionalfestival in 1985. Then, in 1989, the Coastal Yukon Mayor’s Association (CYMA), a nonprofit organizationthe creation of dance festivals throughout the lower Yukon River region. St. Mary’s sponsored an intervillagein a festival designed to pass on dance traditions to younger generations. The success of that event stimulated1982 from nine villages in Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta where traditional dancing was still practiced to participateConcerned about the survival of Yup’ik cultural heritage, the City of St. Mary’s first brought together artists intempo of thunderous large round frame drums.calling out “chale!” (encore!). The dancers repeated their movements with greater intensity to the quickeningberries, or muskrats and beavers popping their heads above the water. The audience encouraged them byand danced from kneeling positions, moving their arms and torsos to describe songs about hunting, picking(dance festival). They exchanged gifts in a ceremonial potlatch. Then elders moved to the center of the floorfrom villages throughout the lower Yukon River region and Russian Siberia for a Yup’ik Eskimo “Yuraryarait”In 1992, in a high school gymnasium in Emmonak, Alaska, nearly 600 Yup’ik Eskimos of all ages gatheredCity of Saint Mary’s AlaskaYup’ik Traditional Dance

Culture, P.O. Box 1566, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504, (505) 984-2534.throughout the year. For more information, contact the Fund for Folktance in pre-planning stages. Inquiries and proposals are acceptedto help provide folklorists or other specialists to give technical assisimplementation grants to $15,000. Awards of up to $1,500 are availablegrants for nonprofit organizations are generally limited to $5,000;help stabilize and strengthen their families and communities. Planningcommunities) to explore ways in which culture and traditional art canHmong, Cambodian, Afghan, Ethiopian, Guatemalan, and other refugeeand community-based mutual assistance organizations (representingrefugee and immigrant service providers, folklorists, cultural specialists,American culture in Maine; and a mid-Atlantic regional conference forcolloquium of community scholars, artists, and folklorists on Francointergenerational gathering of master and novice Missouri fiddlers; acultural traditions. For example, these grants have made possible ancultural specialists, and others engaged in preservation of grassrootsconferences that bring together folk artists, tradition bearers, folkTrusts, awards funds and technical assistance to support gatherings andThe Fund for Folk Culture, supported by a grant from The Pew CharitableConferences and Gatherings ProgramFund for Folk Culture
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pass it on.”O R G A N I Z I N G

Norma Turner (Western Mono) echoes this sendid.” materials and making baskets] . This is what the old people leaving offerings. We need to give thanks [when gathering timent. “ In my classes, I talk about culture and I talk about

The California Indian Basketweavers Association

ongoing effort.public about the importance of gathering materials is anpesticide spraying in their supply areas, so educating thedevelopment. Basketweavers face constant threats fromareas, however, already been completely obliterated byImportant sources of basketmaking materials have in somevegetation, rather than spray excess growth with pesticides.areas have encouraged highway officials to cut roadsidesuccessful bear grass burns and basketweavers in somefor example, the U.S. Forest Service has been conductingmanagement issues. With urging from native basketmakers,in bringing awareness to natural resource access andCalifornia tribal affiliations. CIBA has been instrumentalbegan, and now counts some 400 plus weavers 36 majorthe numbers of basketweavers since their annual gatherings(CIBA), founded in 1992, has noted a steady increase in

(404) 874-7244.Atlanta, GA 30309181 14th St, N.E., Suite 400Southern Arts Federation,information about TATAP, contact:with bookings during the conference and provide follow-up throughout the year. For morea chance to show their talent for potential engagements in the upcoming season. SAF staff assistbookings with presenters. They also perform at the SAE showcase for 200-300 presenters—Exhibit Hall where they distribute promotional materials and work with SAF staff to negotiateand showcase, participate in a series of pre-conference workshops, have booth space in the SAEArtists attend the Southern Arts Exchange (SAE), the region’s performing arts booking conferencein developing professional promotional materials such as demo recordings, video clips, or photos.to offer. Through an application process, selected traditional artists and groups receive assistancearts and seeks to bring new exposure to some of the most talented traditional artists the region hasof both. TATAP helps traditional artists in the South become competitive in the world of performingpresenters, SAF staff intends to create a program which can effectively link the needs and interestsnetworks. Realizing that assistance to traditional artists goes hand-in-hand with assistance toongoing program which assists community-based presenters to develop presenting capabilities andArts Federation (SAF), emerges from the Underserved Presenters Technical Assistance Project, anThe newly-created Traditional Artists Technical Assistance Project (TATAP), initiated by the SouthernTraditional Artists Technical Assistance ProjectSouthern Arts Federation
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(Photo by Dale Rosengarten)intersection of Highway 17 North and Highway 41, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, 1994.Sisters Marie M. Rouse and Elizabeth L. Mazyck at their roadside basket stands,

T R A D I T I O N A L B A S K E T M A K I N G I N M A I N E , S O U T H C A R O L I N A A N D C A LI F O R N I A

“For the Milwaukee Art

making should not be lost.”distinctions that go into itsart, we are arguing that theand individual context of allto emphasize the culturalvalued. But by attemptingall art should be equallyWe are suggesting thatwe should treat all art...have affected how we believetheir origins to our audienceare learning to communicatetaught art and the ways weMuseum, folk art and self10

Milwaukee Art MuseumRussell Bowman, Director
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O R G A N I Z I N G

Learner’s Circle at the 1992 California Indian Basketweavers Gathering. (Photo by Hank Meals)Anita Bussell (Hupa/Mattole) assists Janey Eslick (Yurok) and Kimberly Peters (Yurok) in the

“It is extremely important

Jacquelyn Ross (Pomo)

ideas and concerns.”other’s weaving and shareforth. It lets us see eachpesticides, access, and soplant issues—gathering,all involved informed aboutyoung. It helps to keepbetween the old and thefor incredible interactionand weaving. It allowsconcerned with basketsconnections for thoseyear. It provides manyfeeling throughout thetouchstone for goodThe Gathering is ato keep having Gatherings.
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T R A D I T I O N A L B A S K E T M A K I N G I N M A I N E , S O U T H C A R O L I N A A N D C A LI F O R N I A

Funding for organizational support, critical for the future

governmental funding become increasingly rare.Hopefully, they will continue to play a role, as sources ofsupport and to an extent in protection of natural resources.foundations have played an important role in organizationalof natural materials are nurtured and protected. Privateresource experts are a must, in order to ensure that sourcescooperative relationships with landowners and naturalbasketmakers cannot obtain supplies at “Basketworld,”have been inconceivable in the past. Because traditionalships were poor and oppressive, is entirely new and wouldgether with governmental agencies, where past relationServices. The notion of these cultural groups working toas Offices of Tourism to Highway Departments to Forestcultural organizations have formed with groups as diverseSouth Carolina. Unprecedented partnerships between thefor rebuilding basket sales stands, after Hurricane Hugo inbasketry apprenticeships in Maine, to emergency dollarsfrom annual basketweavers’ gatherings in California, torespond to the localized needs of each group and rangedment for the Arts Folk Arts Program was flexible enough totural planning. Initial support from the National Endowdemands a holistic approach to fundraising as well as culand cultural needs to economic or environmental needssometimes comes from surprising places. Linking artisticof these organizations, is typically difficult to locate and

and its goals.issues, while maintaining ties with the larger organizationweavers, as basketweavers focus on local activities andBasketweavers and the Central California Indian Baskettion have formed, such as the Northern California Indianin Association activities. Several sub-groups of the Associathroughout California who come together to participatein contrast, draws its membership from tribes spreadues to take place there. The California organization,church and communication between basketmakers contincommittee meeting of basketmakers took place in a localtogether with faith, as well as sweetgrass. The first steeringSweetgrass Basketmakers Association appears to be wovensues. The community fabric in the Mount Pleasantmembers of all four tribes together to work on common isance is the only organization which successfully bringslar cultural background. In Maine, the Basketmakers Allifrom forming groups with other communities, even of simithe close-knit communities sometimes discourage peopleand employment taxes. Political boundaries existing withinbringing competition for materials and sales, to paying salesranged from heightened consciousness of the art formfrom within the communities. Basketmakers’ initial fearsformed is remarkable in itself, given the many obstaclesThe fact that these grassroots cultural organizations werePartnerships
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Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464P.O. Box 761AssociationMount Pleasant Sweetgrass BasketmakersOld Town, ME 04468P.O. Box 3253Maine Indian Basketmakers AllianceCIBA@oro.net(916) 292-0141Nevada City, CA 9595916894 China Flats RoadCalifornia Indian Basketweavers AssociationFor more information...O R G A N I Z I N G

(Photo by Dale Rosengarten)Marie M. Rouse working on a basket, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, 1994.
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T R A D I T I O N A L B A S K E T M A K I N G I N M A I N E , S O U T H C A R O L I N A A N D C A LI F O R N I A

saying, ‘I know how to do that, I can teach you.’ ”are coming out and seeing us younger people doing it andwho have the knowledge, but left the tradition. Now they(Cahuilla\Apache) said, “There are a lot of hidden peopleteach her. California Indian basketweaver, Lorene Sisquocweaver, because she could find no more Wintu weavers tomaking skills from Vivien Hailstone, a Karuk basketMichelle Scholfield Noonan (Wintu), learned baskethanging by a blade of grass. California Indian basketweaver,

Basketmakers from the three regions unanimously acsoutheast and the Great Lakes. Richard Silliboy (Micmac), basketweavers’ gatherings are also being planned in the Basketweavers Gathering in May, 1996. Regional Native Basketweavers Association) and a Southwest Indian subsequent formation of the Northwest Native American Basketweavers Gathering in October, 1995 (as well as the west, resulting in a Washington State American Indian inspiration for basketmakers in the Southwest and North- Annual Gatherings. Their gatherings have been a source of basketmakers participate in the Learners’ Circles at CIBA’s the cornerstone of CIBA.” A significant number of new Director, Sara Greensfelder, “The Annual Gatherings are sues, socialize and teach. According to CIBA Executive annual celebrations of the tradition to discuss common is- of weavers. Basketmakers in Maine and California gather in knowledge a great need to come together as unified groups

sues as a group.”pening and people are coming on board, dealing with istogether more [often]. Basketmakers see something hapMIBA basketmaker, notes, “The Alliance needs to come

Mt. Pleasant basketmaker Henrietta Snype

notes, “It’s time for another conference. We should be focusing on marketing abroad and other new projects.”

Although my great-aunt did star in a silent movie and

strong to be wished away.the same gauges and blocks; a basketmaking legacy toosity of Maine, made in three different generations, but usingexhibit space at the Hudson Museum gallery of the Univermade by my great grandmother, my great aunt and me sharewhich came with a $10,000 cash award. Today, basketsart honor given by the National Endowment for the Arts,eted National Heritage Fellowship, the nation’s highest folkmaker Mary Mitchell Gabriel became a recipient of the covthe country. In 1994, 86-year-old Passamaquody basketcome one of the most respected and sought after folk arts indepths of extreme poverty and oppression in Maine to be91. Since that time, basketmaking has arisen from thegreat-grandmother made baskets until she died at the age ofbecame a well-known dancer in the U.S. and abroad, my

the organization, as well as for the individual basketmaker.erative effort; as a vehicle for economic self-sufficiency forresearching the possibility of marketing baskets in a coopwork. The Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance is currentlytheir culture and realize higher prices for higher qualityhas risen, as basketmakers find a renewed sense of pride increased in Maine and in both areas, the quality of basketslittle known art form has benefited all. Prices have also into the Association, the increase in prices for this previouslytheirs. Although not all Mt. Pleasant basketmakers belonging efforts to be critical to the successful continuation ofCarolina consider market expansion and increased marketof their weaving heritage, basketmakers in Maine and Southsider economic development important to the maintenanceWhile most Native California basketweavers do not conPassing It On

Intergenerational teaching as a means of cultural presersome tribal groups, the basketmaking tradition is literally with little more than their cultural knowledge and skills. In ter having been forced from their West African homeland pass on the tradition that their slave ancestors clung to, af- to granddaughter. These basketmakers are determined to sweetgrass basketry, passing skills from mother to daughter According to Mary Jackson, people are coming back to resulted in increased numbers of younger basketmakers. vation is stressed among all three groups and has directly
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C H A P T E R S I X

It won’t

Counting Us In

 go away. To compile mailing lists for the survey asin a community or region. lection, preservation and presentation of traditional culture training, have shown a significant contribution to the col- “community scholars”—individuals who, without formal Cultural Studies maintains a database of approximately 600 Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife Programs & other mailing lists from state and regional arts agencies. The (and, on occasion, ethnic arts) grant applicant lists and ceived 1539 addresses covering 42 states from folk arts sessing the range of folk arts interest and activity, we re- 1 In 1992, the Department of the

Interior’s Indian Arts and Crafts Board published PotentialCraftspeople, Marketing Outlets for Native American Artists and

an address directory containing 1302 entries.2

ries of art museums.ums listed 91 entries under folk arts as one of seven categoThe 1995 Directory of the American Association of Muse3 According to the 1994 Quilting inAmerica survey, there are an estimated number of active,country.dedicated quilters in excess of 800,000 throughout the

4 In the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’

1995 Profile of Member Organizations, folk or traditionalof music by members (out of a list of ten).music is ranked as the third most-frequently presented type

5 In their 1991-92

presented music.music was ranked by both groups as the most frequentlysurvey of members and non-members, folk or traditional

6

“A few years back,

Anonymous

real. It won’t go away.”what it describes isI answered, ‘becauseit something else,’‘retro’ term. ‘Callwas an off-putting,folklore or folk artremarked thatfoundation whoa prominent nationalprogram officer fromI was talking to a

What do numbers tell us? For one thing, the numbers

ganizations do and what they look like.when we restrict our notions of what art is, what “arts” orand meaningful participation in the cultures around ushow we diminish our choices and opportunities for a fullarts programming and organizing. Ultimately, they suggestpresenting art which exist alongside accepted notions ofthere are alternative ways of organizing, distributing andmovingly about two such art forms. They also indicate thattistical surveys of arts activity. Joe Wilson’s piece speakscurring throughout this country that rarely registers in stathere is a significant level of cultural and artistic activity ocabove and those listed throughout this study tell us that

The chapter’s title, however, is also meant to suggest that

our society.of recognizing diverse artists and cultural contributions inpayments owed rhythm and blues artists are still other waysRhythm and Blues Foundation to lobby for back royaltythe People’s Hall of Fame or the efforts of the National“other” is a beginning. The National Heritage Fellowships,data information gathering beyond the catch-all category ofsimple and not so simple ways. Broadening categories intraditions and organizations that enrich all of our lives—inneed to welcome and honor the artists, the many culturalcultural institutions in this country. It also means that wewe do more than count the full range of artistic activity and
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Performers for Austinlore: Black Urban Performance Traditions, a program produced by Texas FolklifeResources, gather for a publicity photo. (Photo by Lynne Dobson/courtesy of Austin American-Statesman)
82

C H A P T E R S I X

Tough Arts of the UnderclassBlues and Bluegrass:

“People think I stick to

Appalachian musicianStanley Hicks

almost see their forms.”hear their voices andI sing their songs I canmother and father. Whenpersonal, a gift from mymusic. But this music isheard a lot of goodNew York after the war;they started. I worked inand television sincewrong. We’ve had radioisolated, but they’rebecause we’re a littlethis old mountain music

tion.wearing horizontal stripes. They listened with rapt attenernmost county fifty years earlier and meeting a musicianon the western slope of the Blue Ridge in Tennessee’s eastalmost as common as third beers. I told about a long walkDog Taylor in a Chicago blues joint where fist fights wereence. He told of having his life changed by hearing Hounding manner of a zealot inquiring after a conversion experi-“Tell me how you discover the blues?” in the soul-searchless, but still tourists come. One earnest European pleaded,search for artifacts associated with him is invariably fruityouthful Johnson was laid in an unmarked grave. AnyRobert Johnson. Mysteriously poisoned in 1938, therented mini-van, visiting sites associated with blues masterThey’d been trekking the torpid and featureless Delta in ain accents, generous with beer, and eager to talk the blues.1994 I met a van load of young German tourists, blond, richin what has been dubbed “cultural tourism.” At Ole Miss in

I first heard the blues on a hot June afternoon in 1943. I

repaired roads and bridges. White guards in porkpie hats(“the real capital of Mississippi”), chain gang members whomost were from five hundred miles to the West in Memphiswashed frame buildings. The prisoners were all black and3. The inmate barracks were long rows of A-roofed whiteroad that led past Brushy Mountain Prison Camp Numberwas five years old and following my Grandma along a gravel

understanding of why our popular culture is so strong.tarian myopia distorts our artistic perception and confusesancient Egypt, with upper and lower parts. This odd egalionly one socio-economic group (“middle”) structured likeof an American underclass. We like to pretend that we haveNashville and Washington. Yes, I know it is jarring to speakpering despite the inattention of New York, Hollywood,Blues and bluegrass are arts of the underclass that are prosby Joe Wilson

The recent success of blues and bluegrass fascinates bemusic in New Orleans dance halls and brothels. 19th century country schools; jazz from the background yearnings: cakewalk music grew from a fundraising tool for flect our national experience and our highest and lowest jazz, country, rock, rap, hip-hop. Some of these sounds re- jostle, blend and re-blend: minstrelsy, cakewalk, ragtime, America long ago from Africa and Europe continually fuel our popular culture. Concepts that came to North folk arts of the American underclass, blues and bluegrass pean and African forms since colonial times. As in other cient tree of American culture, one that has grafted Euro- cause these musical forms are modern branches of an anThe South has been the place where Africa and Europe

place today as Europeans and a stream of Japanese engagejostled and blended most. It is an especially interesting
83

Award. (Photo by Cedric N. Chatterley ©1996)frequently perform together and are both recipients of the North Carolina Folk HeritageBlues guitarist John Dee Holeman and pianist Quentin “Fris” Holloway. The two men

According to the Winter 1996 On the Radio

Arbitron ratings, Spanish language/music radio stations placed in

The 1995 stations feature bluegrass music programs.In the U.S. alone, according to the International Bluegrass Music Association, more than 900 radioover 300 Spanish language radio stations in the U.S.Los Angeles, the number one radio station is a Spanish language/music station.* There are nowthe top ten in each of the top three U. S. radio markets (New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago). In

Living Blues Directory lists 456 blues programs on public and commercial radio stations

in 44 states and 10 countries (including 41 in Australia and 1 in Macedonia) The 1990 BroadcastingYearbook lists 15 all-blues radio stations in the U.S..**Old Time HeraldOld Time Music on the Radio, a project of the Old Time Music Group (which also publishes the

), recently published survey results of 156 public, commercial, listener supported,

The 1990 old time Appalachian music as part of their programming.***community and college radio stations in the U.S., Canada, Australia and France which broadcast

Broadcasting Yearbook lists 6 all-polka radio stations in the U.S. In Wisconsin alone,

according to the 1996 Polka Showcase, published annually by the Wisconsin Orchestra Leaders*Source: Association, there are 59 disc jockeys programming polka music on 23 different radio stations.****

Billboard, April 27, 1996 p. 86.

**Source: The Broadcasting Yearbook, (Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publictions, Inc., 1991) p. F-72***OTR Radio Station Survey Results. Elkins: West Virginia, 1996 n.p.

****Source: Richard March, Wisconsin Arts Board.
84

side a high barbed wire fence.shoulder slings watched from rickety towers perched outand bib overalls with 30-30 caliber lever action carbines in

Grandma and I were walking from Mom and Dad’s little

they died.leased some day. Horizontal meant they’d be in prison untilplained stripes to me. Vertical stripes meant they’d be refrom the camp entrance. One of the Bryant children exwater at the springhouse of the Bryant home across the roadwould be good to rest her young charge and drink somebefore we came to the prison camp. Grandma thought itRoaring Creek. It was ten dusty miles and we’d walked sixfarm on Bulldog Creek to her home above the high falls on

A huddle of prisoners had gathered at a twelve inch

euphoric performance.had to take my hand and pull me away from his intense andlooked scary, that he was actually very nice. My grandmaBooger Bear, lead trusty on the bridge crew. He said he onlyenchanted me. My new friend whispered that he wasand Roebuck guitar and singing with a heartfelt passion thattenance and horizontal stripes was playing a booming Searstooled leather wallets and belts. A big man with fierce counsquare opening in the fence. Through it they sold hand

After that I saw Booger Bear many times. A showman,

Guitar players visited Booger’s bridge crew, seekinghis powerful hands could bend in half a steel bridge pin.

December to buy hams for the camp Christmas dinner.into “Booger’s bucket.” This container was emptied eachsupply of Prince Albert smoking tobacco, but most wentphy. Nickels and dimes earned with his music bought hisBring ‘Em Back,” a song we believed to be his autobiogra-“The Easy Rider” and the oft requested “Wish I CouldLord,” “My Dough Roller Is Gone,” “Walking Blues,”classics of the Mississippi Delta: “I Want To Die Easyother man and strangled both. His songs were the bluesa lore about him: he’d caught his wife in the arms of aninstruction in his fluid finger-picked guitar style. There was

Three years after hearing Booger Bear I discovered blueOle Opry on Saturday nights. glow of yellow kerosene light as we listened to the Grand my family had a battery-powered radio and we sat in a warm had not yet found its way to our part of the Blue Ridge, but grass during its earliest defining moments. Electric powerWe were present at the radio in 1946 when youthful

and the band members were as vocally proficient as instrutheir sound. An acoustic bass and guitar provided rhythmfiddler Chubby Wise tied ribbons of rich phrases aroundmandolin stuttered and soared while Southern long-bowScruggs offered effervescent banjo “breaks,” and Monroe’sentire South tuned in during the weeks that followed.Bill Monroe’s band, the Bluegrass Boys. It seemed that theNorth Carolina Piedmont banjoist Earl Scruggs joined

The In the U.S. alone, there are over 140 annual blues festivals.Owensboro, Kentucky, has a membership over 2,300.The International Bluegrass Music Association, based inA Few Blues and Bluegrass Musical Facts

Living Blues Directory lists 37 annual festivals abroad.

Commission’s Folk Arts Program published a For Tennessee’s Bicentennial, the Tennessee Artsblues music on a regular basis.There are also over 800 clubs throughout the U.S. that book

Folk Music

Directory containing over 300 listings of artists—includingDirectory: Mississippi and Areas of Northwest Alabama” * “The African American Shape Note & Vocal Music Singing Conventionand hymns. Bluegrass was listed as ninth.**included country music, blues/ rhythm and blues, and gospelParticipation in the Arts, the five most popular forms of musicAccording to the Census Bureau’s 1992 Survey of PublicSinging Conventions, most of whom meet on a regular basis.*over 24 active African American Shape Note and Vocal Musicfor bookings. In Mississippi and Northwest Alabama, there areblues, bluegrass, country, gospel and sacred music—available

Mississippi

Folklife 27 (1994): 1-44. Special Issue.** Nicholas Zill and John Robinson, “Name That Tune,” AmericanDemographics, August 1994, p.24.

C O U N T I N G U S I N
85

*Michael McCall, “The Country Music Foundation,” reverence. It’s not just about artifacts and mementos. Its about music.”*visit for anyone who enjoys music. They do their work with a lot of devotion andFoundation is so respectful of the music, and its such an entertaining place toand CMF Board Vice-President, Emmylou Harris says, “The Country Musicunreleased material by artists such as Hank Williams or Faron Young. MusicianMusic. Their acclaimed series of historic recordings makes available rare andhas a publications program and is now at work on an Encyclopedia of Countryequally serious about making materials accessible to the public. The Foundationrecorded before World War II. While CMF takes their archives seriously, they area 40,000 square foot facility and a library with 95 percent of all country musicmore than just a Hall of Fame....” The organization now has a full-time staff of 32,the need for a research center. It was clear that the music required somethingDirector Bill Ivey said, “From very early on, the Foundation’s board recognizedNearly 300,000 people a year visit the CMF Hall of Fame and Museum but, ascenters in the U.S. devoted to the study of American folk and popular music.Foundation, one of the most popular and significant museums and research1996 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary for the Nashville-based Country MusicCountry Music Foundation

Schwann Spectrum,

Spring, 1996, pp. 12A-17A.

B L U E S A N D B L U E G R A S S : T O U G H A R T S O F T H E U N D E R C L A S S

(Photo by Robert Cogswell)Informal bluegrass jam session at the 1987 Smithville Fiddler’s jamboree.
86

imitators.the history of American music has spawned as many instantinsinuating immediacy of a new popular form. No band inold Celtic ballads, a rich African-derived harmony, and thehome, and religion. They had the lonesome quality of theleaving home for the factories of the North, lost love, the oldmentally sophisticated. The songs they sang were about

Ours was a family of musicians and we knew the ancient

sound soon moved north with Southern migrants.on the Southern backwoods “kerosene circuit,” this newFirst performed for live audiences in country schoolhousesplaying even the rests, always a forward rush in the music.work, trying to learn Scruggs’ keep-it-syncopated style,The younger banjoists in our community were instantly atno longer in charge; other instruments could take the lead.was a new music for concerts, not dancing. The fiddle wasSouthern string band had arrived at a fork in the road. This

These sounds were of interest to major label recording

ness anticipates fads, invests early, and gets out. No one ining business in 1959, interest had waned. The music busiBut, by the time I arrived in Nashville to work in the recordnotch to the right of the bluegrass station on the AM dial.cheap furniture. The station offering blues was just oneand on a Virginia radio station advertising used cars andWashington, D. C. in 1956, it blared in tough hillbilly barscompanies through most of the 50s. When I arrived in

Hall of Fame in 1995. (Photo by Harvey Wang ©1996)Tony Spina, owner of Tannen’s Magic Shop, was inducted into City Lore’s People’sC O U N T I N G U S I N

Lore’s Board of Directors.honorees are selected by a committee working closely with CityCity Lore members and interested individuals and each year’sowner of Tannen’s Magic Shop. Nominations are invited frommusician and cultural advocate Juan Gutiérrez, and Tony Spina,klezmer violinist Sid Beckerman, quilter Virgina Hall, Puerto RicanHall of Fame honorees include lindy-hop dancer Frankie Manning,exhibits about grassroots culture in New York City. Past People’sgallery and resource center to highlight the honorees and houseof the program. And, in the future, City Lore plans a multimediain the city’s neighborhoods. Most of the honorees perform as partYorkers the stories about local heroes who contribute to cultureplacards in city buses and subway cars tell one million Newembody tradition in their communities.” To publicize the event,to quote City Lore Director Steve Zeitlin, “who live their art andPeople’s Hall of Fame awards which celebrate those individuals,Hall at Cooper Union to attend the annual ceremony for City Lore’sto the city’s folk culture. Hundreds of people crowd into the Greatindividuals are honored every year for their creative contributionsSince 1992, five or six of New York City’s most extraordinary“Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things”The People’s Hall of Fame:
87

to our traditional artists everywhere.”when we can reflect on how lucky we are, how great a debt we owetemporary pause in this unending stream of creative energy, a timeteeming cities. The National Heritage Fellowships simply serve as atongues, people who live in our quiet places and people from ourthe visual artists and the performing artists, the speakers of manyships gather in and celebrate old immigrants and new together,director of the Folk Arts Program, said in 1988, “ ...these Fellowbuilder Mone and Vanxay Saenphimmachak. Bess Hawes, formersinger Ralph Stanley, and Lao weaver/needle worker and loomcorona maker Genoveva Castellanoz, Appalachian banjo player andKing, Navajo basketmaker Mary Holiday Black, Mexican Americanfrom 1982 to 1996 to recipients who include blues musician B.B.and the Arts Endowment Chairman. 197 awards have been madetraditional arts, and are reviewed by the National Council for the Artsselected by a national advisory panel of experts in folk andlife of the nation. Individuals are nominated by a fellow citizen,to the well-being of the traditions they represent and to the culturalhonoring artistic excellence, authenticity of style, and contributionsFellowships to a baker’s dozen of traditional artists every yearThe National Endowment for the Arts awards the National HeritageNational Heritage Fellowships

the business believed that blues or bluegrass had a future.

The industry could hardly have been more wrong. There

processes when compared to True Belief.cal as it was musical. But revivals and adoptions are punya small educated elite in a process that was at least as politimiddle class origins. Blues and bluegrass were adopted byprotesting the war and their own—shades of Egypt— upperwas a revival of these arts in the 60s among young Yankees

During these years, migrants from the Delta made Chicertain they own this art. who are sometimes themselves performers and absolutely ers. Tickets and other products are purchased by persons serves well. Here it is not easy to separate sellers and buy- are carefully focused. In fact, “audience” is not a word that centered on rural festivals. The audiences for these forms bluegrass, some also in beer joints and clubs, but largely noisy barrooms. There was a corresponding growth in floors. The music became electric in order to compete in cago blues an urban music performed in clubs with danceOver a period of twenty-five years, networks of organized

growth and stability in these art forms. Eight recordingsmall businesses and voluntary groups have engenderedassociations. There’s a welter of statistics which show thatpop businesses, independent record labels and voluntary“grassroots,” is often applied to this support from mom andsupport developed for these art forms. The cliched term

B L U E S A N D B L U E G R A S S : T O U G H A R T S O F T H E U N D E R C L A S S

(Photo by Jan Boles ©1996)1987 National Heritage Fellow Genoveva Castellanoz, maker of coronas, Nyssa, Oregon.
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of them issuing only blues recordings.there were 233 companies issuing blues recordings, mostcompanies issued most blues recordings in 1960. In 1995

7 This proliferation

music).bluegrass (and, for that matter, other forms of traditionalcompanies largely irrelevant to new recordings of blues andof small independent record labels renders major recording

Chicago-based Alligator Records is now the premiere

inheritance in 1971 to start Alligator.ping clerk for a small Chicago blues label. He used a $2,500gram on the college radio station and took a job as a shipIglauer immersed himself in the blues, hosted a blues prome by the collar, shook me, and spoke directly to me.”Iglauer who recalls, “It was as if he reached out and grabbedMcDowell. In the audience was college student Bruceesis at a concert by blues performer Mississippi Fredmore blues recordings than any other label. It had its genblues label, one that has a world-wide following and sells

The Sugar Hill label specializes in bluegrass and contemquent recipient of record industry awards. issues the best-selling bluegrass recordings and is a fre- reer in mid-thesis to start a shoestring label. Sugar Hill now Duke University. Poss abandoned a budding academic ca- 1978 creation of Barry Poss, then a James B. Duke fellow at porary folk. Located in Durham, North Carolina, it is aMuch of this is obviously a triumph of niche marketing.

C O U N T I N G U S I N

group of arts leaders.They are as much in thrall of great artistry as any otherspired by the artists and art forms, not by business schools.recording companies in the past twenty-five years were inother businessmen who created a new wave of successfulcritically important factor not to miss: Iglauer, Poss andpand the audiences for older folk art forms. But there’s acation skills to weld new audiences that support and exIt reflects the use of cutting edge technology and communiIn 1995, there were 127 local blues societies and 289 loorganizations. ing the preceding 20 years and virtually all volunteer-run cal bluegrass societies in the U.S. — almost all created dur- 8 They range in size from a hundred meming members. A year and a half later it had grown to a thousand dues-pay- began in 1988 with a meeting of eight fans in a barbershop. An example is the Washington, D.C. Blues Society which mer festivals and concert series supported by ticket sales. bers to thousands. Most have newsletters and sponsor sumIn 1965, the first bluegrass festival was held in Virginia.array of locations, including five on winter cruise ships.In 1996, 516 bluegrass festivals will be held in an amazing

9

300 bluegrass bands are active in Tokyo, Japan.Czech Republic is a bluegrass festival. Today, more thanthem as well. The largest outdoor music festival held in theThese are in the USA and Canada, but other nations have

Quilting in Americaquilting, the first in-depth survey of American quilters,In an effort to gauge the breadth and depth of interest inQuilting in America

, sponsored by Quilters Newsletter

❚the following information:Response rates for both surveys exceeded 76% and revealedfrom club, magazine subscription and fabric customer lists.second to 2,000 randomly selected known, active quiltersto a random sampling of 40,000 U.S. households and thesummer of 1994.* Two surveys were distributed—the firstMagazine and Quilts, Inc. of Texas, was conducted in the

 An estimated 15.5 million quilters over the age of 18 (or 6%

❚age of 52. 32% are aged 18-34.The majority span two generations (35-75) with an averageof the U.S. population) are involved in quilting in some way.

 Total annual quilt market expenditures are estimated at

for nearly 50% of these expenditures.quilting-related purchases of $400 or more per year) account(estimated at 840,000 quilters or 5.4% of all quilters with$1.554 billion. A core of self-identified active quilters
89

❚ The densest concentration of all quilting activity per capita❚Northeast and the Pacific Coast regions.affluence, active quilting activity occurs most frequently in thesouth central and mountain states. Perhaps indicating greateroccurs in the middle of the country—upper midwest, plains,

 A majority of active quilters prefer traditional quilts and

The Quilt Journal*Source: Jonathan Holstein, “Discovering ‘The Dedicated Quilter,’”active quilters prefer to work alone.quilting as a leisure pursuit and, surprisingly, 92% of known,techniques. A majority of known, active quilters pursuequilt patterns and most combine machine and hand-piecing

 (1995), vol. 4, no.1, pp. 14-16. An executive

Custom Research, Inc. is available from Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine.summary of the survey conducted by NFO Research, Inc. and ABACUS

B L U E S A N D B L U E G R A S S : T O U G H A R T S O F T H E U N D E R C L A S S

(Photo by Roland Freeman ©1996)Quilter Lorraine Mahan, Philadelphia.

What speaks to these audiences? Many audience memyoung contemporary bands is Russian. speak internationally to working people; one of the finest sublime joy or a whisper from the abyss. Bluegrass seems to gious experience as art form. They enable the sharing of a lar, shook, and given a message. The blues are as much reli- bers seem to share the Iglauer moment: grabbed by the colThe statistics are impressive, but attendance figures,

keeps the old by keeping it new.band tree tell us that a secret of longevity is innovation; onetwo modern branches of the old growth Southern stringgrass continue to evolve, good ideas are welcome. TheseThere seems to be plenty in these forms. Blues and blueis concerned with elasticity. Is there room for growth?cal measure of any art form. A far more important measurerecord sales, and audience demographics are not the critiBut surely the best kept secret is that ownership enablesof believers or not at all.art is kept in the hearta lesson for everyone:the soul. And these tough arts of the underclass offer upare like other great art forms in having the power to speak toYet they are surviving and thriving. This is because theyoften ignored by philanthropic and commercial entities.nalized American art forms, supported sporadically andcontinuity. Blues and bluegrass are two of the more margi-
90

Coming Home

“If we continue to

call home.”no place to trulyno place to visit andsoon there will beour cultural forms,allow the erosion of

1

Alan Lomax

C H A P T E R S E V E N

sources.among diverse cultural groups and expanding cultural rebroadening constituencies, encouraging understandingsimply a matter of respect and the benefits are several:expressions....” to quote Kurt Dewhurst. In many ways, it’ssees strength in complex cultural traditions, practices andtural vision, one that honors cultural differences, one thatmost important one being to develop “a new kind of culhowever, requires several challenges—the first and perhapscommunities. To fully cultivate and sustain these resources,parate areas of traditional culture and among disparateglimpsed the immensity of involvement and interest in disand traditions and through the statistical data, we haveand organizations function in relationship to communitieswe have also explored the ways in which individuals, eventsgotten and sometimes willfully ignored. Through example,artistic and community resources which are frequently forA second challenge is largely pragmatic and involves confindings presented throughout this study and develop demands that we fully grapple with the information and cultural presentation and conservation. Such a challenge as more holistic and flexible approaches to efforts involving tutes “art,” what constitutes an “arts” organization as well development of more inclusive definitions of what consti- pation possible. Central issues in this process involve the sidering the ways to make broader recognition and partici- century begins. and conflicting cultural trends confronting us all as a new Agencies, folklorist Robert Baron identified two dominant arts published by the National Assembly of Local Arts We return to the beginning. In a recent monograph on folk 2 Mass communications, new technologies mitment,” to return to a phrase from the introduction. are no longer tied to each other through “practices of com- bols and hold some beliefs and values in common but we sympathies or affiliations to certain public or national sym- teams or shop at some of the same stores. We may share some of the same television shows, cheer the same football cies, languages, values and artistic traditions. We may watch with how best to serve a populace with diverse cultural lega- place in the U.S. (and elsewhere), they must also grapple nize and adapt to the dramatic demographic shifts taking lic” because there are many publics. As institutions recog- descriptive adjectives that characterize “the American pub- ties with growing intensity.” No one knows anymore the ethnic and regional communities are asserting their identi- and sense of sameness. At the same time, however, “local, at breakneck pace and leaving behind a “cultural gray-out” globe, appropriating elements of local and regional cultures and mass culture are penetrating the remotest areas of the Throughout this study, we have suggested that tradi- do bind people one to the other and they constitute rich tional arts and folk culture are manifestations of the ties that
91

(Photo by Martha Cooper ©1996)Casitas are traditional gathering places for neighborhood social activity.Daily activity at a Puerto Rican casita in New York City.

grams.tion programs and ethnic or minority arts funding profor the folk arts also exists in rural initiatives, arts in educamentioned previously suggest that programmatic supportfor the folk arts exist in myriad places. NASAA estimatesand statistical information indicate, funding and resourcesclubs and roadside basket stands. As some of the numbersschools, folk arts organizations, historical societies, bluesCarnegie Hall, community development corporations,contexts and meanings. Folk arts activity finds a home inpass a multiplicity of genres, aesthetic systems, culturalor genre defined in a traditional sense. The folk arts encomsented earlier indicate, we are not considering a disciplineAs the case studies and data from NASAA and NuStats premethods of inquiry to expand this information base further.

3 Many civic and community organizations generate

and mass media.of distribution in the institutionalized worlds of commercereciprocal exchange. Some folk arts find broader networkssupport through locally-based systems of bartering and

The point here, however, is not to collectively congratueight to ten years. for the folk arts has hovered in the 2-3% range for the past well. We must remember that state and federal arts funding late ourselves on serving the folk arts and traditional culture 4 Rather, we should pause to consider the

ask ourselves if cultural activity so pervasive yet oft timesimmensity of folk and traditional arts activity. We should

similar functions for communities as well. They transmission of living artistic and cultural traditions servetion and training efforts involving the presentation andtions, they must also realize that conservation, documentaas a critical force of stabilization for many cultural organizacome to recognize the importance of organizational supportties? While many funding programs and policy makers havestrengthen artistic and cultural traditions within communithe daily life of communities. What are meaningful ways toand humanities—distinctions which often do not exist intions between presentation and conservation, between artstraditional arts activity is best served by artificial distincby-program fashion. We should ask ourselves if folk andhidden is best served or viewed in a piecemeal or programare the

with others right now.generations. Without them, there will be nothing to sharewithout them, there will be nothing to pass on for futurecritical efforts of stabilization and continuity for some and,
92

Susan AuerbachAbout the Contributors

, formerly the Folk Arts Coordinator for

Traditional Arts, 1983-1995 In Good Hands: State Apprenticeship Programs in Folk &freelance writer and arts consultant. She is the author ofthe City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, is a

(NEA, 1996).

Deborah Boykin is the folk arts coordinator for theMark FogelquistMississippi Arts Commission.

 teaches bilingual education and a

Theresa Hoffmanfrequent instructor at mariachi festivals in the Southwest.authority on mariachi history and performance, he is aUclatlán in Los Angeles. An internationally recognizedBefore taking up teaching, he was the director of Mariachischool and high school levels in Wenatchee, Washington.mariachi-in-the-schools program at the junior high

 is a geologist for the Penobscot Nation.

Elizabeth PetersonBasketmakers Alliance.member and the executive director of the Maine IndianShe is a Penobscot basketmaker as well as a founding

, formerly Director of Traditional Arts

report.an arts consultant. She is the author and editor of thisfifteen years experience in folk arts programming and asfor the New England Foundation for the Arts, has over

Buck Ramsey is a native Texan and a regular at thetraditional cowboy songs—Cowboy Poetry Gathering. He has two recordings of

Rolling Uphill from Texas

and My Home, It Was in Texas—and a book of poetryAnd as I Rode Out on the Morning to his credit. In 1995,David Rocheawarded by the National Endowment for the Arts.he was a recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship

 is an arts consultant and project director

for local cultures/Musical Traditions, Inc., a consultingJoe Wilsonmedia consultant for several projects.thirty years. He has also served as a music producer anddiverse traditional and folk arts programming for the pastFrancisco Bay Area. Mr. Roche has been involved inand producing nonprofit arts organization in the San

 has been the Executive Director of the

of and radio programs. He is also co-author with Lee Udalland international tours by folk artists as well as recordingsfor which he has produced numerous festivals, nationalNational Council for the Traditional Arts since 1976,

Folk Festivals: A Handbook for Organization

and Management.
93

the data are based on the to the NEA and NASAA. In particular, some ofFinal Descriptive Reports as submitted annuallyby the author and is based on data from states’of State Arts Agencies is information requested1. All information from the National AssemblyChapter One

1994 State Arts Agency

Profile and some are preliminary 1994 data3. Elinor Bowles, tions responding to the questionnaire.typology is based upon the listing of organizaand analyzed by NuStats in 1995-96. Themittee members for the study, and implementedconsultation with NEA staff and advisory cominstruments were designed by the author inwhich NuStats conducted for this study. SurveyNuStats, Inc. are based upon the two surveys2. Unless otherwise noted, all data fromColumbia and American Samoa.which exclude Connecticut, the District of

Cultural Centers of Color

4. the Arts, 1992) p. 25.(Washington, D.C.: National Endowment for

An American Dialogue: The National Task

ArtsForce on Presenting and Touring the Performing

 (Washington, D.C.: Association Of

5. Peter Guralnick, Performing Arts Presenters, 1989) p. 29.

Lost Highway (Boston:

David R. Godine, 1979) p. 6.

Notes

Census, information comes from the U. S. Bureau of the6. Unless otherwise noted, all general statistical

Statistical Abstract of the United States,

Seeds,” 7. Kate Carter Frederick, “Seeds, Glorious1990.

Garden Ideas and Outdoor Living

Society” Are Shaping the World’s First Multicultural8. “The New Face of America: How ImmigrantsOrganization.from the United Nations Food and AgricultureSpring 1995: 36. Data are based on information

Time (special issue) Fall 1993: 15.

Information source is Newcomers in AmericanSchools (New York: Rand, 1992).Habits of the HeartSullivan, Ann Swidler and Steven M. Tipton,9. Robert Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M.

 (Berkeley and Los Angeles:

on the 1. NASAA data requested by the author, basedChapter TwoUniversity of California, 1985) pp.153-54.

1994 State Arts Agency Profile, indicate

fourth out of 26 funding activity categories.amounts spent apprenticeship programs rankactivity category for folk arts, although in dollarship grants awarded exceeds any other funding($417,849). The total number of apprenticeapprenticeship programs awarded 237 grantsthat 33 state arts agencies administering

research3. Information for this article was based onCano, Pepe Martínez and José Hernández.with individuals including Belle Ortiz, Natiresearch of written materials and on interviews2. Information for this article was based on

conducted by Auerbach on behalf of

the 1995 survey of apprenticeship programs, the NEA Folk & Traditional Arts Program for

In

Folk & Traditional Arts, 1983-1995Good Hands: State Apprenticeship Programs in

. Research

2. David Maybury-Lewis, foreword, George Mason University, 14 April 1988.1. Carlos Fuentes, “Crucible of Fiction,” lecture,Chapter Threecoordinators.well as interviews with artists and folk artsincluded data from written program surveys as

Cultural

from Latin America and the CaribbeanExpression and Grassroots Development: Cases

, edited

numerous articles and concert program notes.Luther Wilder and Cecily Cook as well asSam, John and Sophiline Shapiro, Judithdance were based on interviews with Sam-Ang3. Research for the sections on Cambodianp. xiv.and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1994)by Charles David Kleymeyer (Boulder, CO

The Makers of Cajun Music5. Barry Jean Ancelet and Elemore Morgan, Jr.,Alumni Association in San Francisco.organized by University of the PhilippinesGiray and members of the kulintang workshopKalanduyan, Usopay Hamdag Cadar, Danielbased on interviews with Danongan Sibay4. Research for the sections on kulintang are

 (Austin: University

Essay on Oregon Folk Art,” 1. Barre Toelken, “In the Stream of Life: AnChapter Fourof Texas Press) p. 33.

Webfooters and

request of the author.arts private non-profit organizations at theare based on survey work conducted with folkdeveloped by NuStats, Inc., Austin, Texas and4. All charts and tables in this article wereArts, Arcata, CA, 10 Oct. 1995, p.3.3. Bruce Coppock, speech, Grantmakers in theHolmes, Marie Farmer and James Miller.Mary Ann Norton, Edna Montgomery, IreneGeraldine Nash, Essie Mae Buck, Gustina Atlas,views with Patricia Crosby, Hystercine Rankin,newspaper and magazine articles as well as inter2. Research for this article is based on numerousCommission, 1980) p. 8.edited by Suzi Jones (Salem: Oregon ArtsBunchgrassers: Folk Art of the Oregon Country
94

beanment: Cases from Latin America and the CaribCultural Expression and Grassroots Develop1. Patrick Breslin, “Identity and Self-Respect,”Chapter FiveFund’s support in preparing this article.Fund. The author gratefully acknowledges thereport for the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digestarticle appeared in an earlier unpublishedWertkin and Steve Zeitlin. Portions of thisMcCarty, Scott Nagel, Ethel Raim, GerardJasper, Debora Kodish, Tim Lloyd, Taraducted with Jane Beck, Phyllis Brzozowska, Patous written materials and on interviews con5. Research for this article is based on numer-

 edited by Charles David Kleymeyer (BoulTennessee’s Business Folks: Grassroots Issues in Cultural Tourism,” 2. Robert Cogswell, “Doing Right by the Local ers, 1994) pp. 39-40. der, CO and London: Lynne Rienner Publish- 6:1 (1995): 14.

4. Russell Bowman, “Speakeasy,” Sisquoc, Henrietta Snype and Kathy Wallace.Dale Rosengarten, Richard Silliboy, Loreneviews with Sara Greensfelder, Mary Jackson,tional newsletters, written materials and inter3. Research for this article is based on organizaNew ArtExaminer September, 1994: 61.

Department of the Interior, 2. Indian Arts and Crafts Board, United Statesn.p.Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies, n.d.)D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Center for1. “Community Scholar Survey,” (Washington,Chapter Six

Potential Marketing

CraftspeopleOutlets for Native American Artists and

 (Washington, D.C.: Indian Arts

3. American Association of Museums, on the author’s tabulations.and Crafts Board, 1992). Total entries are based

The

Official Museum Directory 1995 (New Provicated Quilter,’” 4. Jonathan Holstein, “Discovering ‘The Dedi- dence, NJ: RR Bowker, 1994) p. 1521. The Quilt Journal (1995), vol.1995 Profile of Member Organizations 5. Association of Performing Arts Presenters,4, no.1, pp. 14-16.

 (Washof the 1991-92 Membership Survey 1992 Profile of Member Organizations: Results 6. Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Presenters, 1995) pp. 11-22. ington, D.C.: Association of Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.: Association of Performing Arts

Presenters, 1993) pp. 17-22.

7. Living Blues 1995 Blues Directory (Oxford,

1. Alan Lomax, Chapter SevenKentucky.Bluegrass Music Association, Owensburg,9. Source of information is the International8. Ibid.based on the author’s tabulations.MS: University of Mississippi, 1995). Totals are

An Appeal for Cultural Equity,

2. Robert Baron, 1985) pp.40-46.(Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution,Program Book edited by Thomas Vennum, Jr.1985 Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife

Anchored in Community—

Folk Arts and the Local Arts Agency, National1994 State Arts Agency Profile3. National Assembly of State Arts Agencies,5:1 February, 1996 pp. 1-3.Assembly of Local Arts Agencies Monographs

. As requested

from 1986-1994. As requested by the author.information based on state arts agency profiles4. National Assembly of State Arts Agencies,by the author.
95

Other Works Consulted

Cobb, Nina Kressner. Looking Ahead: PrivateCostello, Laura J., ed. the Arts and Humanities.Washington, D.C.: President’s Committee onSector Giving to the Arts and the Humanities.

Celebrating America’s

Cultural Diversity. Washington, D.C.: NationalCraine, Kimberly, ed. Assembly of State Arts Agencies, 1993.

A Rural Arts Sampler:

Fostering Creative Partnerships. Washington,DiMaggio, Paul J. and Francie Ostrower. 1992.D.C.: National Assembly of State Arts Agencies,

Race,

Ethnicity and Participation in the Arts. Nationalences in the United States” sion: The Social Composition of Arts Auditural Democracy in a Period of Cultural ExpanDiMaggio, Paul J. and Michael Useem. “CulPress, 1992.Report #25. Washington, D.C.: Seven LocksEndowment for the Arts, Research Division

Social Problems

Feintuch, Burt, ed. 26 (1978): 179-197.

The Conservation of

Culture. Lexington, KY: University of KentuckyForman, Shepard, ed. Press, 1988.

Diagnosing America:

Anthropology and Public Engagement. Annture.” Thesis. Tufts University, 1992.Ethnomusicology and the Mediation of CulGraves, Bau. “Ethics and Ethnics: Public SectorArbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.

Grogg, Ann Hofstra. Museums Count: A Reportby the American Association of Museums. WashHufford, Mary, ed. ums, 1994. ington, D.C.: American Association of Muse- Conserving Culture. UrbanaLevine, Mindy J. and Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.

Culture and Community: A

Performance Network.Documentation and Evaluation of the National

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Multicultural America. New York: Pantheon,and the Partnering of Communities.” “‘Local Life Aware of Itself:’ Alternate Roots1990.

High

Performance Winter, 1993. Special issue.Parker, Patricia L. Keepers of the Treasures:to Congress.Tribal Preservation Funding Needs SubmittedTraditions on Indian Lands, A Report onProtecting Historic Properties and Cultural

 Washington, D.C.: United States

Ohrn, Steve, ed. Service, Interagency Resources Division, 1990.Department of the Interior, National Park

Public Program Newsletter,

Program, n.d.ms. National Endowment for the Arts, Folk Artston, D.C. June 30-July 1, 1986.” Unpublishedthe National Endowment for the Arts, WashingFunding Policies by the Folk Arts Program of“Report, The Meeting on Crafts and Publiclore Society 13-14 (1995-96).Public Program Section of the American FolkSpitzer, Nicholas and Robert Baron. Public Folklore. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Insti- Taussig-Lux, Karen. tution Press, 1992. Folk Cultural Programs Survey Report. Washington, D.C.: National United States. Arts Program, 1994. Endowment for the Arts Folk & Traditional National Endowment for the President and to the Congress. Arts. The Arts in America 1992: A Report to the Washington, ---. National Endowment for the Arts. D.C.: National Endowment for the Arts, 1992. National Westat, Inc. Arts, 1996. Washington, D.C.: National Endowment for the Chronology of Federal Involvement for the Arts. Endowment for the Arts1965-1995: A Brief A Sourcebook of Arts Statistics: 1989. Washington, D.C.: National Endowment ---. for the Arts, 1990. 1992 Addendum to the 1989 Sourcebook of Arts Statistics. Washington, D.C.: National Zeitlin, Steve and Paddy Bowman. Endowment for the Arts, 1992. Folk Arts

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 May 3-4, 1993. New York: City

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Summary

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96

Many people were involved

Acknowledgments

 in the conception and preparation of this report. Most importantly,

institutions everywhere. Their daily lives and good deeds remind us that ancestors are never ghosts.ists and individuals who work on behalf of traditional arts and culture in public agencies and privatefor advice, information and stimulating discussion. Finally, I want to thank all those traditional artRosengarten, Matt Walters and other friends and colleagues too numerous to mention, I offer thanksPat Jasper, Amy Kitchener, Richard March, Michael Moore, Kathleen Mundell, Tom Rankin, Dalemile to provide a wealth of data in record time. To Jane Beck, Paddy Bowman, Robert Cogswell,Director of Information Services at the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, went the extraprovided crucial editorial assistance and a close, critical reading of the manuscript. Kelly Barsdate,expertise and collective wisdom in meetings and discussion. Nancy Sweezy and Robert BaronMembers of the Folk & Traditional Arts Study Advisory Committee shared generously their ideas,throughout this report, I offer gratitude from all who have worked in the field of folk arts.Director of the NEA Folk & Traditional Arts Program whose presence and influence is felttance in preparing some of the sidebar material was invaluable. To Bess Lomax Hawes, the formertion and former NEA staff members Norma Cantú and Terry Liu. In particular, Terry Liu’s assisduration of this project. I also extend thanks to Barry Bergey in the Division of Heritage & Preservaof Research, at the National Endowment for the Arts for their counsel and guidance throughout theI would like to thank Dan Sheehy, Director of Folk & Traditional Arts, and Tom Bradshaw, Director