Groups Encouraged to Apply to Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Program

Aboriginal organizations in Newfoundland and Labrador with a focus on preserving cultural heritage are being encouraged to apply to the Provincial Government’s 2011 Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Program (ACHP).

“Established as a pilot project in 2008, this program has funded a number of successful initiatives designed to support the province’s Aboriginal heritage,” said the Honourable Terry French, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. “As a government, we are committed to safeguarding and protecting Newfoundland and Labrador’s Aboriginal heritage. We want to ensure the practices and cultures of Aboriginal peoples in the province will be celebrated and sustained into the future.”

ACHP supports eligible applicants in the safeguarding of traditions and culture including language, traditional knowledge and skills, storytelling, music, games and other pastimes, knowledge of the landscape, customs, cultural practices and beliefs, food customs, and living off the land.

“By actively participating and contributing to our cultural heritage, Aboriginal peoples in Newfoundland and Labrador are securing its preservation,” said the Honourable Patty Pottle, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. “This province enjoys a unique and rich cultural heritage, and I encourage Aboriginal groups and communities to apply for funding through the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Program to ensure our continued contribution to this province’s cultural tapestry.”

Successful applicants can receive up to $15,000 for projects that document, pass on, and celebrate cultural traditions. For short-term events that recognize traditional culture, a grant of up to $1,000 is available. Applications are reviewed by the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee, composed of representatives from Aboriginal groups across the province.

The deadline for proposals is April 15, 2011.

For an application and further guidelines about the program, visit: www.tcr.gov.nl.ca/tcr/heritage/Aboriginal_cultural_heritage_program.html

Mummers Wanted for "The Walrus" Photo Shoot

Calling all post-Christmas mummers! Newfoundland author Lisa Moore has written an article for an upcoming edition of the Canadian magazine The Walrus, and they are looking for some good photos of mummers to illustrate the edition (and possibly grace the cover).

Scottish-Canadian Photographer Johan Hallberg-Campbell is flying in to do some photos, and we need some volunteer mummers who aren't shy about having their photos taken!

We're meeting on Sunday, February 27th, at 1pm, in the parking lot of Holy Heart of Mary Highschool on Bonaventure Avenue. All ages, shapes and sizes of mummers, janneys and hobby horses welcome!

Photo Above: Mummers Charlotte Reid and Darrell Dye get their gatch on at the 2010 Mummers Parade, posted on the Mummers Festival facebook group by Tyler John.

Help us pick a name for the 3rd Annual Folklife Festival!

We are in the process of planning the 3rd Annual Folklife Festival, which will start the second week of August.

This year, the theme is agriculture, farming traditions, food production, and animal husbandry, and we need a name!

We've created a little survey for you to have your say. See the options, and register your vote. If you have your own suggestion, you can add it to the survey as well.

Help! What do I do with the Boxes Under the Bed?

Boxes Under the Bed: Dealing with backlog interview collections


Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Office, Heritage Foundation of NL
Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives
Partnered Workshop

April 8, 2011 9:30 a.m – 3:30 p.m.
The Lantern, 35 Barnes Road, St. John’s

Well, maybe they’re in your storage room, or in your bottom desk drawer – those shoeboxes of cassettes or videos that were collected by a summer project, seniors’ group or JCP worker. These were the recordings that were going to preserve the voices of the past – but here they sit with no voice at all! You don’t know what’s on the recordings, you don’t know much about who made them – maybe you don’t even have the equipment to play them!

How can you get access to those voices from the past? How can you preserve and use them? Dale Jarvis and Mary Ellen Wright will guide you through the process of identifying, arranging, describing, preserving and providing access to older collections that have been donated or made available to you or that already exist in your holdings. Topics to be covered include:

• Recording formats
• Documentation and consent
• Describing, indexing and transcription of contents
• Access issues
• Digitization
• Preservation of originals

Registration deadline: Participants must register for this course by April 1.

Fees: $35

Some financial assistance for transportation costs is available for members: please contact the ANLA office for more information.

P.O. Box 23155, St. John's NL, A1B 4J9
Telephone: 709-726-2867 Fax:709-722-9035
E-mail: anla@nf.aibn.com

Measures of Support for Intangible Cultural Heritage: Governments, Institutions and Municipalities

The Conseil québécois du patrimoine vivant is hosting an international conference on ICH this April, and yours truly will be one of the presenters, along with representatives from Quebec, France, Brazil, Scotland, Austria and Peru!

Measures of Support for Intangible Cultural Heritage : Governments, Institutions and Municipalities

14-17 April 2011 | Hotel Château Laurier
Québec City, Quebec, Canada

You can check out the schedule and list of speakers at:
http://www.patrimoinevivant.qc.ca/conference

Google Map Workshop in Trepassey

Here we are in Trepassey, with the Google Map Maps workshop crowd! Thanks to all who took part!

View Trepassey Workshop in a larger map

Local folklore grad makes good: Joy Fraser joins faculty of George Mason U

This was posted today in the Publore listserve, and I thought it worth passing along! Congrats to Joy!

The Folklore Studies Program at George Mason University is very pleased to announce that Ms. Joy Fraser will be joining the faculty in August 2011.

A doctoral candidate in the Department of Folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Ms. Fraser received her M.A. in Folklore at Memorial and her M.A. in Scottish Ethnology and Scottish Literature at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. A specialist in heritage studies and cultural tourism especially in the Scottish diaspora, her dissertation explores representations and contestations of Scottishness in folklore, popular culture and tourism, through a case study of expressive culture about haggis as food and legend. Her MA folklore thesis analyzes the discourses of three ghost tour companies in Edinburgh.

Ms. Fraser has published on foodways, legends, folktales, mummers plays, and more. Editor of the journal “Culture & Tradition,” she also serves as co-editor of “Contemporary Legend.” With Dr. Paul Smith, Ms. Fraser is building the Database of Traditional Drama in Newfoundland as part of the Digital Archive Initiative. A performer of Scottish traditions, Ms. Fraser is a fiddler, singer, and step dancer.

We would like to thank everyone who took part in our search: our folklore colleagues who recommended their colleagues and students for our position; our GMU colleagues who served on the search committee and met our candidates; and, most of all, our folklore colleagues who applied for our position. We have been very impressed with the many excellent folklorists we met, with their projects and plans, and with their enthusiasm for our discipline. We are in your debt.

Thank you once again.

Margaret R. Yocom
Debra Lattanzi Shutika

http://folklore.gmu.edu

M&M Makeup and Mashed Potato Mountain

Department of Folklore Lunchtime Seminar Series
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m.
Room ED-4036, Education Building, MUN

Kate Butler (PhD student, Folklore) presents "M&M Makeup and Mashed Potato Mountains: An Exploration of the Uses of Food Play"

For some adults, food play gives a sense of pride while for others, it's a source of embarrassment. Most creative eaters enjoy food play as a "guilty pleasure," which is in keeping with the mixed messages society and the media send us about these sorts of activities. This presentation will explore the wide variety of foods that we eat creatively and the purposes that this play serves, including allowing us to recapture the past and giving us a sense of control over our hectic lives.

Colleagues and friends from Memorial University and beyond are welcome to attend. Please feel free to bring your lunch. For more information, visit http://www.mun.ca/folklore/about/seminar.php.

Say what!? Folklore and oral history interviewing workshop next week

We are getting very close to our "Introduction to Folklore and Oral History Interviews" workshop, which will take place next week, Thursday, January 27th, in Cupids.

The workshop is open to anyone with an interest in local history, culture and folklore. If you are thinking of doing any sort of interview-based research in your community, this is the workshop for you! It is intended to give a background on how to conduct research interviews in the field, and will give people a chance to try their hand at creating interview questions and conducting an interview. 

The workshop will provide an overview of the methodology and explore the practical matters of creating, designing, and executing effective oral history research projects. Topics that the workshop will address include project planning, ethical issues, and recording equipment. 

The workshop will be taught by folklorist Dale Jarvis with the Intangible Cultural Heritage office, Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (yours truly), AND you get lunch. How sweet is that? If you want in, you need to book ahead.

Date: Thursday, January 27th, 2011
Time: 9:30am – 3pm
Workshop fee: $30 (including lunch, preregistration required)
Location: Cupids Legacy Centre, Cupids

To register call Melissa at 1-888-739-1892 ext 3, ichprograms@gmail.com