Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Living Heritage Podcast Ep075 What is an Art Hive?



Dr. Leah Lewis is an assistant professor, counseling psychologist, creative arts therapist and project lead of the Open Art Studio or Art Hive. Art Hives are forms of community based practice, grounded is social justice and art therapy frameworks. Also known as open studios, art hives create publicly accessible spaces for people to gather, exchange, and make art.

The art hive project at Holy Heart highschool is working with newcomer youth attending the ESL programming there, all of whom are immigrants and / or refugees. In this episode Leah explains Art Hives, the history behind them, and describes an great example found in Montreal. We also discuss the importance of arts in building community, and explore how to use the Art Hive as a place to learn leadership skills as well as practice creativity.





###

The Living Heritage Podcast is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio. Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.


Friday, March 17, 2017

Living Heritage Podcast Ep070 Sharing Our Cultures


Lloydetta Quaicoe is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sharing Our Cultures, Incorporated. The program, established in 1999, engages high school youth in skills-development workshops which culminate in them sharing their cultures with the public and over 800 Grade 6 students at a three-day event at The Rooms. Lloydetta obtained her PhD in Education at the University of South Australia. Her areas of research are the psychosocial needs of newcomer children and youth and their sense of place and belonging.

In this episode we discuss the beginning of Sharing Our Cultures, the growth of the program over the past 25+ years, the importance of the program and how students and the general public respond, this year’s theme and what to expect at the event. Lloydetta also explains how Sharing Our Cultures is going national this year.

Listen on the Digital Archive:
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/singleitem/collection/ich_oral/id/702/rec/1


Sharing Our Cultures - Photo courtesy of The Rooms NL Twitter.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Living Heritage Podcast Ep019 Aboriginal Engagement with Catharyn Andersen



Catharyn Andersen is an Inuk from Nunatsiavut in northern Labrador. She is the Special Advisor to the President on Aboriginal Affairs at Memorial University. Before joining Memorial, she worked with the Small Craft Harbours program with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. She was the Director of the Torngâsok Cultural Centre, the cultural arm of the Nunatsiavut Government, from 2003 to 2008, and also worked as the Inuttitut Language Program Coordinator with the cultural centre. She is an alumna of Memorial University. In this episode, we talk about Catharyn’s position as Special Advisor, her work with the Torngâsok Cultural Centre, aboriginal language and cultures, and the construction of an aboriginal house at Memorial University’s St. John’s campus.



Thursday, July 23, 2015

Living Heritage Podcast Ep003 - Community Engagement with Dennis Garreck @SaskCulture



In this episode of the Living Heritage podcast, folklorist Dale Jarvis speaks with Dennis Garreck of SaskCulture. 

Dennis Garreck has over 30 yrs experience working at the local, municipal, and provincial level as a programmer, manager and consultant. Dennis has been with SaskCulture for the past 14 years, working with communities on cultural engagement and planning, as well as managing three funding programs and liaising with provincial cultural organizations. Most recently he has been working on an ecomuseum advisory committee, community engagement animateurs, a living heritage region, and community outreach. Dennis talks about the work of SaskCulture to engage citizens across Saskatchewan in their own heritage and culture, inclusivity and cultural diversity, the ecomuseum concept, and the importance of maintaining and sharing local stories.




Thursday, July 31, 2014

Mobilizing Culture - The ICH Update for July 2014


In this edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador: we outline our plans for the Petty Harbour Memory store, a public recording booth which will be set up to archive memories of growing up in Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove; the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador announces a $5000 grant for research on the historic fishery in the province; heritage intern Terra Barrett reports on community celebrations in Petty Harbour; Lisa Wilson gives an update on a recent tombstone rubbing workshop held in Cupids; Heather Igloliorte gives insight into two projects around mobilizing Inuit cultural heritage in Labrador; you all get an invite to the unveiling of the commemorative plaque for the Cable Avenue Registered Heritage District in Bay Roberts; and a reminder about our upcoming four-day "Fishing for Folklore" workshop in Petty Harbour, this September.

Download the newsletter in PDF and other formats from archive.org

photo: Grass basket, base 11.3 cm in diameter. Grass, red and black thread. Collected in Aillik Bay, near Tornavik, south of Hopedale. Received from F.G. Speck, July 4th, 1914. Collection of the Canadian Museum for Civilization.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Tradition in Motion: A day with the Mizzen Heritage Square Dancers



Our intangible cultural heritage office sometimes uses what we term a “project-based training” model. You can read all about that in this occasional paper.  Yesterday, we took that model on the road, with a group of Memorial University students, to Heart's Content.

Dr. Jillian Gould is an Assistant Professor within Memorial University’s Department of Folklore, whose research interests include public folklore, ethnography, and fieldwork. Since 2011, her class has been partnering with HFNL to deliver a type of project-based training as a component of the graduate public sector folklore course. Typically, graduate students organize some kind of public folklore event or workshop, a model which engages the public while teaching the students practical and varied skills in facilitation, group work, community outreach, and project planning. 

This semester, students are working on organizing a workshop on traditional Newfoundland set dancing, in cooperation with the Mizzen Heritage Square Dancers. Thos dancers will be coming into St. John's to run a workshop later in March, but I suggested that the students go out to Heart's Content, meet the dancers in advance, learn the dances, and be better able to facilitate the workshop when it happens.

So yesterday, two carloads of us drove out to Trinity Bay, and met up with the dancers of Heart's Content at the Society of United Fishermen Hall. The dancers demonstrated two dances, the old fashioned square dance, and the Lancers, and students were able to run through the square dance twice. Then everyone took part in the Virginia Reel, and finished up with a lunch prepared by the community. Students, where possible, did on-the-spot folklore interviews with many of the participants.



Some of the students had never been to Heart's Content, and the set dances were new to most of them. It was a great experience, and everyone was moved by the kindness and generosity of the folks from Heart's Content. At the end, the dancers made sure everyone left with a Heart's Content pin. It was tremendous fun, and a great way for students to see folklore in action, rather than just reading about it. 



Stay tuned for more information on the in-town workshop itself. 

Photos by Cyndi Egan.  

Thursday, September 26, 2013

A Persian bonfire for a grey Newfoundland day


I'm in Corner Brook for a meeting sponsored by the Qalipu First Nation, and it is a dreary, grey day here on the west coast. I was delighted therefore to open my mailbox and find a note and photo from Shabnam Inanloo Dailoo, the Heritage and Community Engagement Adviser with Western Heritage in St. Albert, Alberta.

A native of Iran, Shabnam was one of the many people I had the pleasure of meeting at the Alberta Museums Association conference last week. She was intrigued by my mention of Bonfire Night traditions in Newfoundland, and asked me if I knew of the end-of-year bonfire traditions in Iran.

Happily, I was! A few years ago, as part of our Festival on Fire, we organized a talk between Dr. Philip Hiscock and Ebrahim Monajemi, comparing bonfire traditions in Newfoundland and Iran. You can listen to that interview on the Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory for Newfoundland and Labrador.

Shabnam, who has done research on traditional Persian gardens, describes the photo as a "Persian fresco on the walls of Chehel Sotun Garden (40-column garden) from 17th century depicting the bonfire ceremony.... clearly an intangible cultural heritage associated with a cultural place in an artistic way."

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Cultural Landscapes talk in Bay Roberts, March 21st

The Bay Roberts Visitors Pavilion

Don't forget to join the HFNL on Thursday, March 21st for our guest speaker Julian Smith. He will be giving a free talk on creating cultural landscapes in our communities. Everyone is welcome!

Time: 1pm-2pm
Date: March 21st, 2013
Location: Bay Roberts Visitors Pavilion, on the Veteran's Memorial Highway.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Program grant deadline April 15


The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Program program supports initiatives that involve the safeguarding of traditions and culture.

There has long been awareness among Aboriginal groups of the increasingly urgent need to preserve their culture by passing along knowledge to the next generation. In some cases, this program may build on efforts already initiated by Aboriginal organizations. These initiatives include: language programs that build pride and establish identity; traditional music programs for children; and events that encourage the interaction of elders and children through storytelling, craft, and going out on the land.

This program aims to build capacity among Aboriginal groups in Newfoundland and Labrador in the areas of knowledge and skills development related to the safeguarding of ICH.

What types of projects can be funded?
· Documenting and recording cultural knowledge through research, collecting oral histories, and inventorying aspects of cultural heritage

· Passing on cultural knowledge through teaching, demonstrations, publications, and websites

· Educating and raising awareness of cultural traditions

· Recognizing tradition-bearers through awards and special events

· Celebrating with festivals and events, or incorporating cultural activities into existing events

· Identifying and supporting cultural enterprises that use aspects of traditional culture (for example, craft production; cultural tourism)

· Professional development for Aboriginal cultural workers, educators and knowledge holders

What is the program deadline?
The deadline for the receipt of applications is April 15, 2013. Projects must be completed by March 31, 2014.

For more information and application forms, contact:

Lucy Alway, Heritage Program Officer
Tel: 709-729-1409
Email: lucyalway@gov.nl.ca

Dale Jarvis, Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer
Tel: 1-888-739-1892
Email: ich@heritagefoundation.ca

(photo: canoe under construction, Conne River)

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Help wanted - The Cultural History of Jam Jams, Billy Boots, and Pineapple Crush


Purity Jam Jams, Billy Boot garbage bags, and Pineapple Crush pop have become iconic Newfoundland products, with unique ties to Newfoundland history and culture.

Morgan Murray at The Scope is trying to unravel/uncover/figure out the history of the cultural significance of these products in NL, e.g. how and why they have become so popular, and the important political, historical, and social factors that have made them, and kept them so.

If you have any information, theories, insights, or wild guesses about any of these products, please contact Morgan at morgan@thescope.ca.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Meeting Mr. Menchenton, Norris Arm basket maker


One of the interesting parts of the research we've been doing on baskets and basket makers is getting to know more about the real men and women behind the baskets.  Here in Grand Falls-Windsor, we've learned about basket makers like Angus Gunn and Everett Janes, and this week, we met the daughter of Mr. Alfred Menchenton.

Alfred Menchenton was a name we'd come across before, and we even have one of his baskets already documented on Memorial University's Digital Archive Initiative (DAI). He was a jack-of-all trades: a woodsman, a carpenter, a builder of logging camps, model-maker, and a prolific crafter of lunch baskets for workers at the mill in Grand Falls.

In the September/October edition of "The Rounder" for 1981, reporter Glen Fiztpatrick wrote, "Over the past couple of years, Mr. Menchenton has become an expert. He made 250 baskets last year and sold them all and could have sold more if the time was available to make them."

The same reporter had found Mr. Menchenton's baskets in the Grand Falls tourist chalet, and had gone looking for the creator. He tracked him down at his shed in Norris Arm North.

"He was in the process of preparing the long narrow strips of birch and pine which were hung along the walls, in readiness to be made into baskets later this winter," wrote Fitzpatrick. "His equipment included an electric table saw and an electric planer, necessities, he said, to produce the smooth strips used to construct the sides. He assembled the saw himself, building the table in which it was placed, and bought the planer second hand."

Over thirty years later, Mr Menchenton is no longer with us. But his daughter and her husband drove us out to that same shed, and there, untouched, was the scene as the reporter had described it. All his tools were still in place, and pieces cut out, ready to make a new basket. Strips of wood were fixed into a form to provide the curve needed for basket ends and handles.  The table saw he built was still sitting inside the door, and the walls were festooned with tools, jigs, pieces of wood, and the snowshoes he had also apparently been adept at creating. One expected Mr. Menchenton himself to walk in, and pick up his work where he had left off.

Mr. Menchenton won't be about our Tea 'n' Baskets event tomorrow at the Mount Peyton Hotel in Grand Falls-Windsor, where we are inviting owners of baskets to come, show, and tell about their histories. Even though he won't be there, we are hoping some of his baskets will be.










Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Cape Breton Mi'kmaw elder Margaret Pelletier on the Spirit of Basket Weaving







"I think with me, there is a spirit within me that makes the basket. I always told my mother that. It's like I can make the basket, I'm just the physical form. You probably feel like that if you are a basket weaver. You are just the physical form that is there, but you have to have that spirit within you that moves your hands and makes the basket, and you're not actually making it yourself. And I think if we had more people that felt like that, I think we'd have so many basket weavers. But I really would like to increase as many basket weavers as we could, because it is really such a fine art, and it is so nice to do."

 - Clip from an interview with Margaret (Margie) Pelletier, a Mi'kmaw elder and basket maker from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. Recorded at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada, on 17 March 2012 by Dale Jarvis.


Sunday, March 18, 2012

Tea 'n' Baskets today in Corner Brook! Bring your mill basket, we'll bring the tea.



Today, Sunday, March 18th from 1-3pm at the Glynmill Inn, Corner Brook, HFNL will be hosting an event called “Tea ‘n’ Baskets”. This event is an opportunity for those who still have mill lunch baskets to come out and show your basket and share your memories. 


Bring your basket, we’ll provide the refreshments! HFNL staff will be on hand to photograph mill baskets, to become part of an educational website.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

13th annual Sharing Our Cultures event celebrates Newfoundland and Labrador's cultural diversity


The public is invited to the 13th official opening ceremonies of Sharing our Cultures - À la découverte de nos cultures, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 18, at The Rooms in St. John’s. Admission to Sharing Our Cultures is FREE but regular fees apply for The Rooms’ exhibits. The other two days – March 19 and 20 – are open ONLY to the media and to students who have registered.

This event highlights the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the province’s Multiculturalism Week (March 18-24). The theme this year is “sharing our languages”/«partager nos langues».

Mr. Les Linklater, Assistant Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, will bring greetings during the ceremonies. The guest speaker is Mr. Remzi Cej, past participant of Sharing Our Cultures, a Rhodes Scholar, and current Chair of the Human Rights Commission.

Two of the young authors, from Labrador and the West Coast, will read their stories in Cultural Con‘txt’ in English and French, respectively. Cultural Con‘txt’, the latest initiative of Sharing our Cultures, is a publication of stories by students from around the province. There will also be performances by the Mi’kmaq Dancers and Drummers, World Voices choir, and students from Natuashish and Colombia.

From March 19 to 20, about 1,200 Grade Six students from St. John’s, Dunville, and Chapel Arm will visit this unique educational event and engage in bilingual cultural activities, interact with host students, and learn languages from around the world.

This project is supported by Citizenship and Immigration Canada; Office of Immigration and Multiculturalism; The Rooms Corporation; Department of Education; Eastern School District; École des Grands-Vents; CBC Radio-Canada; Memorial University, and Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association.

For more information please contact: Lloydetta Quaicoe, Project Coordinator (709) 727-2372

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Mummers in the Schools - a Legacy Activity


Earlier this year, the Provincial Historic Commemorations Board designated the Christmas tradition of mummering and janneying as as a Distinctive Cultural Tradition or Practice of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

As part of that commemoration, the province set aside funds for some type of Legacy Activity project which would promote the tradition.

We started off with a series of questions. We all know what mummers look and sound like, but there’s much more to it than dressing up and dancing around. What do mummers do? What is a hobby horse? Where do mummers come from? What are the best ways to disguise yourself? And does the current generation of students, particularly urban students, know much about the tradition at all?

With those thoughts in mind, HFNL's ICH office sponsored a Mummers in the School program as part of the 2011 Mummers Festival (www.mummersfestival.ca). The program is designed for grades 4-6, and this year is lead by Ryan Davis, who is the coordinator of the annual festival.

All this week, Ryan has been touring schools in St. John's, Goulds, Paradise and Portugal Cove-St. Philip's with a slide show on mummering, his own hobby horse, and a tickle trunk of mummers costumes to get kids excited about this old Newfoundland tradition. Kids (and teachers) have been given a chance to dress up and give their classmates a chance to guess who is under that old lace tablecloth.

Feeling left out? No problem, the Mummers Parade is this Saturday, and we want YOU to be in it, in costume! See you there!

Some comments so far:

Hi Dale, I just wanted to send you an email to say Thank you for setting up the presentation for today. The kids and teachers absolutely loved it. It was very well done and interesting. Tell Ryan how much we enjoyed it!!! Thanks again.
Krista Molloy, Larkhall Academy

Thanks for an interesting and timely presentation for our students.Ron Parrott, Principal, Larkhall Academy

Thanks so very much!! Great sessions today! The kids are so very excited.
Several want to go home and make a hobby horse, including a few teachers!!
Thanks again!

Jill Moores, Paradise Elementary

The photos below are from Larkhall Academy in St. John's:












Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Living Deadwood: Imagination, Affect, and the Persistence of the Past.


23 November, 2011 · 7pm
Memorial University,  Bruneau Centre, IIC 2001

Dr. Rebecca Johnson will speak on "Living Deadwood: Imagination, Affect, and the Persistence of the Past." Edward Said argued that stories about the past tell us less about that past than about cultural attitudes in the present. In this presentation, Rebecca Johnson turns to popular culture to explore that observation. We will consider the place of imagination, with its structures of feeling, in our current legal, social and economic ordering. 

Dr. Johnson uses the HBO TV show Deadwood as a point of entry to explore and re-consider the affective emotional investments that help sustain persisting colonial relationships in our contemporary legal, social, and economic orders. 

The George M. Story Lecture in Humanities is co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice-President (Research) and the Office of the Dean of Arts. It was established to honor the memory of Dr. George M. Story, a scholar of international repute and one of the editors of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English.


Monday, November 21, 2011

Baskets, Belbin's, The Battery, and more.


In this month's edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador, we go looking for traditional basket makers; Mel Squarey interviews Chris Belbin about the history of Belbin's Grocery; a new cell phone oral history project is launched in The Battery; and Tales of Town returns to The Rooms Theatre, with memories of Christmas past.

Download the newsletter in pdf format

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Remember, Remember: Bonfire Night Memories at The Rooms


Coffee and Culture at The Rooms
November 3, 2011 @ 2:30pm

Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night, was a tradition looked forward to with great anticipation in many communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly by young people. Faced with concerns about fire safety and vandalism, the tradition faded, though it is now seeing a bit of a revival. At this special Coffee and Culture, graduate students in Dr. Jillian Gould's Public Folklore course at Memorial University present oral histories with some of the people they've interviewed who have warm memories of Bonfire Night from years past.

Coffee and Culture programs are included with the cost of admission to The Rooms.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Folklore 6740 Looking for Community Bonfires


Register Your Bonfire Night Event
Living in Newfoundland and Labrador has historically involved fire, from kitchen woodstoves to “mug ups” to community bonfires. One of the most important fire-related events is the November 5th bonfire celebrations, which have been a long standing, province-wide tradition.

The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL), in partnership with Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Folklore 6740: Public Folklore graduate level class, is organising a list of community events surrounding this lively and interesting tradition, as well as hosting celebratory events for the Second Annual Festival on Fire: Bonfire Night.

The Second Annual Festival on Fire: Bonfire Night will take place during the beginning of November. The project is a part of both HFNL’s goal to maintain the intangible cultural heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador, and of the graduate students’ education in public sector folklore, preparing them to have a part in preserving such traditions and helping communities to do so as well.

Dr. Jillian Gould, the professor of the Folklore 6740: Public Folklore graduate class, asserts: “The project is a unique opportunity for our students — to experience the entire range of public folklore fieldwork: from planning and interviewing, to presenting and celebrating. And most importantly, it’s a chance for students to tap into a significant cultural and historic event, giving them a greater sense of place, while strengthening relations between MUN and the larger community.”

To begin, organizers are asking communities to contact them about any Bonfire Night events they have already planned.

Communities or local fire departments wishing to register supervised, official town bonfires should send the following information by Friday, October 21st, 2011:

1. Name of community
2. Location of bonfire in the community
3. Start time and date
4. Backup bad weather date if applicable
5. Name/Contact information of official contact person.


Send information to:
Festival On Fire  
festivalonfire@gmail.com
www.festivalonfire.ca
Telephone: 709-739-1892 ext 3
Toll Free: 1-888-739-1892 ext 3
Fax: 709-739-5413


Along with registering your event you can also mark it on our Bonfire Map!