Monday, October 20, 2008
Registration Closed for David Taylor workshop
Response to the November 3rd workshop with David Taylor has been incredibly positive, so much so that we are now at capacity, with a waiting list. If you have not yet registered, but want your name placed on the waiting list, please email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Planning Cultural Documentation Projects: A Practical Workshop
On Monday, November 3, David A. Taylor, from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, will lead a practical, three-hour workshop on how to develop plans for cultural documentation projects.
He will take participants through the process of planning a project, addressing such factors as the identification of its goals, primary focus, financial requirements, and available resources, as well as the selection of documentation equipment and techniques, the use of consent forms, the development of products derived from documentary materials, and the organization and preservation of sound recordings, photographs and other materials generated through field research.
This workshop will be beneficial to people who are contemplating cultural documentation projects of all sorts, ranging from short-term projects involving a single researcher to complex, long-term projects involving many researchers.
“Proper attention to planning is crucial for the success of any cultural-documentation project,” says Taylor. “As well, if funds are needed to carry out a project, the presence of a clear, detailed and logical plan is very often a crucial factor in determining whether applications for grants are successful.”
The workshop, which is being sponsored by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, will be held on Monday, November 3, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm, at The Lantern, 35 Barnes Road, St. John's. Those wishing to participate should contact Dale Jarvis, Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer, at 1-888-739-1892 ext2 or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca in order to reserve a spot.
The deadline for registration is October 30th. There is no charge for the workshop.
About David Taylor
Dr. David A. Taylor is the head of research and programs at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C. His work includes planning and carrying out research projects and public programs concerned with American, ethnic, regional, and occupational cultures; providing technical and reference assistance to cultural institutions and individual researchers; presenting public lectures about American traditional culture; and leading the Center’s research and programs unit. He also serves as the head of acquisitions for the Center's Archive of Folk Culture, the nation's first archive devoted to traditional life and, with over four million items in its collection, one of the largest repositories of its kind in the world. He is the founder and director of the Center's annual field school for cultural documentation, which was launched in 1994. He has directed a number of team-based, multi-disciplinary, field-documentation projects for the Center, including the “Italian-Americans in the West Project,” the “Maine Acadian Cultural Survey,” and the “Working in Paterson Project.” He has served as a member of the United States delegation to the World Intellectual Property Organization's intergovernmental committee on folklore, traditional knowledge and genetic resources.
Taylor’s areas of specialization include field-research methodology, material culture, maritime culture, and occupational culture. In addition to his work for the Center, he has carried out independent field research on these topics in Maine, Florida, Newfoundland, and Norway. He is an expert on traditional watercraft, and is proud of the fact that his field research and writing served as the basis for the creation of the award-winning Winterton Boat Building and Community Museum, in Winterton, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. Outside of his work at the American Folklife Center, Taylor is involved with research and writing about European and American decorative arts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
He holds a B.A., in anthropology, from the University of Maine, and an M.A. and a Ph.D., both in folklore, from Memorial University of Newfoundland.
He will take participants through the process of planning a project, addressing such factors as the identification of its goals, primary focus, financial requirements, and available resources, as well as the selection of documentation equipment and techniques, the use of consent forms, the development of products derived from documentary materials, and the organization and preservation of sound recordings, photographs and other materials generated through field research.
This workshop will be beneficial to people who are contemplating cultural documentation projects of all sorts, ranging from short-term projects involving a single researcher to complex, long-term projects involving many researchers.
“Proper attention to planning is crucial for the success of any cultural-documentation project,” says Taylor. “As well, if funds are needed to carry out a project, the presence of a clear, detailed and logical plan is very often a crucial factor in determining whether applications for grants are successful.”
The workshop, which is being sponsored by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, will be held on Monday, November 3, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm, at The Lantern, 35 Barnes Road, St. John's. Those wishing to participate should contact Dale Jarvis, Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer, at 1-888-739-1892 ext2 or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca in order to reserve a spot.
The deadline for registration is October 30th. There is no charge for the workshop.
About David Taylor
Dr. David A. Taylor is the head of research and programs at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C. His work includes planning and carrying out research projects and public programs concerned with American, ethnic, regional, and occupational cultures; providing technical and reference assistance to cultural institutions and individual researchers; presenting public lectures about American traditional culture; and leading the Center’s research and programs unit. He also serves as the head of acquisitions for the Center's Archive of Folk Culture, the nation's first archive devoted to traditional life and, with over four million items in its collection, one of the largest repositories of its kind in the world. He is the founder and director of the Center's annual field school for cultural documentation, which was launched in 1994. He has directed a number of team-based, multi-disciplinary, field-documentation projects for the Center, including the “Italian-Americans in the West Project,” the “Maine Acadian Cultural Survey,” and the “Working in Paterson Project.” He has served as a member of the United States delegation to the World Intellectual Property Organization's intergovernmental committee on folklore, traditional knowledge and genetic resources.
Taylor’s areas of specialization include field-research methodology, material culture, maritime culture, and occupational culture. In addition to his work for the Center, he has carried out independent field research on these topics in Maine, Florida, Newfoundland, and Norway. He is an expert on traditional watercraft, and is proud of the fact that his field research and writing served as the basis for the creation of the award-winning Winterton Boat Building and Community Museum, in Winterton, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. Outside of his work at the American Folklife Center, Taylor is involved with research and writing about European and American decorative arts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.He holds a B.A., in anthropology, from the University of Maine, and an M.A. and a Ph.D., both in folklore, from Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
A Winter's Tale - The Podcast
On October 4th, as part of the symposium and gallery show "Invention, Exuberance and Art: The Country Furniture of the Island of Newfoundland", I chatted with William (Bill) Winter about his grandfather Henry William Winter’s life and legacy. We were joined by Newfoundland furniture expert Walter Peddle, and introduced by the curator of history for The Rooms, Mark Ferguson.
You can listen to the conversation podcast here in MP3 format. For other formats, or to listen in streaming audio, go here.
You can listen to the conversation podcast here in MP3 format. For other formats, or to listen in streaming audio, go here.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Transformation of Local Music
Dr. Carol Babiracki will present the first lecture in the Music, Media and Culture series October 7, 7:30 p.m., MMaP Gallery. Her topic is “Transnational Tribals and the Transformation of Local Music in India.”
Carol Babiracki is an Associate Professor of Music, History and Culture in the Fine Arts Department of Syracuse University. Before joining Syracuse, she taught on the faculties of Brown and Harvard Universities, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has spent many years in India doing field research, with a focus on village expressive culture in the state of Jharkhand over a twenty-five year period. Her publications have appeared in the journal Asian Music and in the books Women's Voices Across Musical Worlds, Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives on Field Research in Ethnomusicology, Comparative Musicology and the Anthropology of Music, Ethnomusicology and Modern Music History, and The Western Impact on World Music. She is currently completing a monograph about the role of Mundari music history and performance in the autonomy movement that resulted in Jharkhand statehood in 2000.
Dr. Babiracki will also be making informal presentations in three classes this week. These classes have been opened to members of the university community and the public, although space is limited in some cases.
Tues., October 7, School of Music Video Conferencing Room, 9-11:30 am: Presentation in Problems and methods in ethnomusicology: on fieldwork issues in village India.
PUBLIC LECTURE: Tues.,October 7, 7:30-9:00 pm, Public lecture (MMaP Gallery). Reception to follow. “Transnational Tribals and the Transformation of Local Music in India“
Thurs., Oct. 9, Science building room 2101 at 10:30-11:45a.m., In Introduction to Folklore class “Studying traditional dance: Mundari dance, including a dance workshop & some flute tunes”
Thurs., Oct. 9, Education building room 4008 at .2:00-3:15, In Folklore Research Methods class. “Advocacy in Fieldwork. Defining ‘human rights’ in Jharkhand”
For further information, call 737-2051 or email kharriswalsh@mun.ca or bdiamond@mun.ca
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Newfoundland Historic Trust Seeks Members, Board of Directors
The Newfoundland Historic Trust invites nominations to fill vacancies on its Board of Directors. Prospective candidates would have knowledge and experience dealing with issues pertaining to built heritage preservation, and would be interested in playing an advocacy role within the province of Newfoundland & Labrador.
The NHT is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the built heritage of our province since 1966. Key activities of the NHT include the annual Southcott Awards for Built Heritage Preservation, and the operation of a provincial historic site called the Newman Wine Vaults, located at Springdale and Water Streets in St. John’s.
The Board of Directors are unpaid volunteers, committed to the Trust’s mandate of preservation. The Board usually holds in-person meetings one evening per month. Teleconference attendance can be arranged for prospective members located elsewhere in the province. The NHT will hold an election of officers at the upcoming Annual General Meeting at the end of November.
If you are interested in joining this committee, please submit your resume by 4:30 pm, Friday, October 24th, 2008 for consideration:
Newfoundland Historic Trust • PO Box 2403 • St. John's, NL • A1C 6E7
tel 709-739-7870 • fax 709-739-5413 • email: historictrust@yahoo.ca • www.historictrust.com
The NHT is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the built heritage of our province since 1966. Key activities of the NHT include the annual Southcott Awards for Built Heritage Preservation, and the operation of a provincial historic site called the Newman Wine Vaults, located at Springdale and Water Streets in St. John’s.
The Board of Directors are unpaid volunteers, committed to the Trust’s mandate of preservation. The Board usually holds in-person meetings one evening per month. Teleconference attendance can be arranged for prospective members located elsewhere in the province. The NHT will hold an election of officers at the upcoming Annual General Meeting at the end of November.
If you are interested in joining this committee, please submit your resume by 4:30 pm, Friday, October 24th, 2008 for consideration:
Newfoundland Historic Trust • PO Box 2403 • St. John's, NL • A1C 6E7
tel 709-739-7870 • fax 709-739-5413 • email: historictrust@yahoo.ca • www.historictrust.com
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Intangible Cultural Heritage in Scotland: the Way Forward
Yesterday, I recieved by post a copy of "Intangible Cultural Heritage in Scotland: the Way Forward", a summary of a report prepared by Alison McCleary, Alistair McCleary, Linda Gunn and David Hill of Napier University, based on research commissioned by Museums Galleries Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Arts Council and the Scotland Committee of the UK National Commission for UNESCO.
The report identifies practical steps to be taken in order to safeguard and promote the richness and diversity of Scotland’s cultural practices and living traditions. It came at a perfect time, as HFNL is working on preparing a booklet entitled "What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?" - a first step in a similar direction.
Click here for the full report(439 KB pdf) or summary report (9,935 KB pdf).
The press release on the launch of the report can be found here.
The report summary, beautifully illustrated, gives an overview of Intangible Cultural Heritage in general, and how it relates to Scotland, as well as sections on collecting and managing ICH data, and safeguarding ICH. It recommends four next steps in conserving ICH in Scotland:
The summary also includes two small case studies, one on the "Up-Helly-Aa" festivals in Shetland (shown in the picture above), and one on collecting ICH on the island of Linsmore, on the west coast of Scotland.
Interesting and exciting stuff, with some good recommendations!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Professional Development Coordinator Position
The Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador is a not for profit, registered charitable organization which represents and supports museums and people associated with them.
Job Description
The Professional Development Co-ordinator (PDC) is responsible for planning, organizing, delivery, controlling and evaluating the professional development activities and programme for the members of the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. In addition, the Coordinator will supervise and administer MANL's annual projects with the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) and the Museums Assistance Program (MAP). The PDC works with the Professional Development Committee and under the general direction of the Executive Director to fulfill the professional development goals of the Board of Directors of MANL.
Duties and responsibilities
Qualifications
Deadline for applications: September 25th 2008, 4:00 pm
Applications may be forwarded to:
Human Resources Committee
Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador
PO Box 5785 St. John's, NL
A1C 5X3
tel. 709-722-9034 fax. 709-722-9035
kflynn@nf.aibn.com
MANL thanks all applicants for their interest, however only those
selected for an interview will be contacted.
Monday, September 15, 2008
A Winter’s Tale: The Legacy of Henry William Winter
A conversation with the grandson of one of Newfoundland's legendary furniture makers.
During the late 19th and early 20th century, Henry William Winter, an ambitious self-taught furniture maker in Clarke's Beach, Conception Bay, mass-produced furniture using simple hand tools and a few primitive machines. These included a foot-powered jig saw, a foot-operated lathe and a larger lathe designed to be driven manually or powered by a dog. His home stands today, beautifully restored by his family, as a Registered Heritage Structure.
On October 4th, Newfoundland furniture expert Walter Peddle will introduce us to the work of Henry William Winter. Then, folklorist and storyteller Dale Jarvis will chat with Bill Winter about his grandfather’s life and legacy.
2:00 to 3:00
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The Rooms, 9 Bonaventure Avenue
NOTE:
Space is limited for the Saturday Session.
Please register before September 26 by calling 757-8090.
The Winter Home, Clarke's Beach
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/rhs/cf_listing/039.html
Conception Bay Furniture Maker
http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes9.asp
Facebook event page here.
Event possible with generous assistance from the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
"What Is ICH?" - Workshop in Happy Valley-Goose Bay
~Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop Series ~
FREE Workshop
Friday, Sept 12, 2008
12:30pm – 2:30 pm
Room 249, College of the North Atlantic
Happy Valley-Goose Bay
This Friday, I'll be giving a two hour workshop at the College of the North Atlantic, to discuss what Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is all about! I'll be talking about oral traditions and expressions, performing arts, social events, traditional beliefs and knowledge, and the skills used in all sorts of traditional activites. Come have a say and join in a conversation about what ICH means in Labrador.
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