Call for papers - Canadian Museums Association Conference 2010

Call for Papers
Canadian Museums Association National Conference 2010
Evolving Boundaries: Linking People, Place & Meaning
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
May 10-15, 2010

As we grapple with the impact of the global economic crisis, it is even more critical that museums deliver meaningful visitor experiences.

Traditionally museums focused on collecting and presenting the “tangible”, whether these were works of art, natural history specimens or cultural artifacts. Increasingly, we have included an understanding of the “intangibles” of traditional knowledge and cultural practice as essential to a full spectrum of content and experience. This conference will feature exemplary work in human and natural history museums and art galleries that fulfill our traditional mandates.

There will also be a community museums stream of sessions. As a highlight of the 2010 conference, we will be placing a special focus on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), providing a forum for discussion of practical approaches by which museums can creatively link people and place to collections in order to inspire meaning.

Key themes/topics:
The conference will be built around the following themes:

1) ICH: Incorporating ICH into the core museum functions — collecting, research, programming & exhibition. Exemplary projects and their impact on museum audiences.

2) Best practices: New technologies, new partners, new approaches to programming, new organizational models. Innovations that improve the effectiveness of our work.

3) Sustainability: New strategies to help museums to do more with less. New paradigms for securing new resources.

Session formats:

The 2010 Conference Committee will accept proposals for the following session formats:
• Panel: Consists of three or four speakers, who present for up to 20 minutes each, relative to the session theme;
facilitated by a moderator.
• Case study: Consists of one or two persons, usually from the same organization, and focuses on one actual situation,
program or project, the decision-making process involved, implementation, outcome(s), and lessons learned.
• Or something completely different? The 2010 welcomes original session formats! Please include a brief explanation
of your proposed format with your session proposal.
• Cross-disciplinary panels or presentations are particularly welcome.
Selection criteria:

Priority will be given to proposals that are relevant to the key themes (above), are clear and well developed, and confirm a commitment from the presenters to delivery of a high-quality, thought-provoking session.

Proposals will not be accepted if they appear to be a show and tell session or product/service endorsements.

Please note: The CMA is unable to provide speakers with travel funds, honorariums or allowances.

Submit your proposal, NO LATER than JUNE 1, 2009
Email: sramsden@museums.ca
Fax: 416-236-5557

Questions? Sue Ann Ramsden, 416-231-1251

Download the Call for Papers application form in pdf at:
http://www.heritagefoundation.ca/media/2708/callforpaperscma2010.pdf

Newfies, Newfoundlanders and the Politics of Naming

This week's edition of The Scope has an intriguing discussion about the word "Newfie" and what it means in today's society. It includes commentary by people you've probably heard of like author Ray Guy and Kevin Blackmore, aka Buddy Wasisname, as well as by some you may not have heard of, like Mayor Priscilla Corcoran Mooney of Branch, and comic book artist Wallace Ryan.

You can follow the debate at:

http://thescope.ca/2009/04/newfie-e-mail-responses/

and here:

http://thescope.ca/2009/04/newfie-panel-discussion/


From the Dictionary of Newfoundland English

newfie n also newf, newfy BERREY (1942) 52, 385, 734 ~ 'New Foundland,' 'a Newfoundlander,' 'a Newfoundland seaman'; DC 1, 2 (1945-1958); O Sup2 (1942-). A native-born inhabitant of Newfoundland; NEWFOUNDLANDER; sometimes used locally in imitation of Americans and mainland Canadians. Also attrib, and comb newfyjohn(s): St John's.

1945 Atlantic Guardian Jan, p. 16 Then he found out that the 'Newfies,' as the islanders are sometimes called by one another and by the Americans, refer to supper as 'tea.' 1949 DULEY 11 Now he felt dispossessed, crowded on his own streets, mowed down by the ever-increasing numbers of dun-coloured, army vehicles. The strangers were strutting, becoming the 'big-shots,' They looked down their noses at the natives. They were disdainful of a hard old heritage. They began to call the towns-folk 'the Newfies' and like Queen Victoria, the Newfoundlanders were not amused. 1952 Atlantic Advocate Mar, p. 49 He is a strong advocate of the horse and waggon, home-made bread and 'Newfie screech.' 1976 Daily News 22 Jan, p. 3 Anyone who knows anything might be inclined to the conclusion that [he] is just another stunned Newf. 1978 WHALLEY 4 St John's, a mean ironbound slot for a navigator to find in foul weather or in bad visibility, yet a snug haven for so many ships in the long struggle with the dangers of the North Atlantic and 'the violence of the enemy' that 'Newfy-John's' was a name as much to be conjured with as the Murmansk Run or the Rose Garden. 1977 Evening Telegram 24 Nov, p. 8 The Crowsnest is mentioned often ... as an officers' club where the men spent many happy hours while docked in 'Newfyjohn,' the name [used] to refer to St John's.

ICH Update for April 2009 - Aboriginal Cultural Heritage

This month's edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update focusses on the province's aboriginal cultural heritage, and provides an overview of some of the recent projects started under Newfoundland and Labrador's Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Program of the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. Some project include canoe making, oral history training, documentation of sealing traditions, and an Innu youth banner project. Also in this issue, notes from the Federation of Newfoundland Indians on Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge, and an invitation to the 2009 Miawpukek Traditional Powwow.

Download the newsletter here.

New AFC Podcast Now Available

The American Folklife Center (AFC) launches its regular schedule of free podcasts with the first episode in the series, "Voices from the Days of Slavery: Stories, Songs, and Memories." Download the audio recording and a transcript of the program to your Ipod, other portable media player, or to your computer from the Library of Congress website: http://www.loc.gov/podcasts/slavenarratives/index.html. You may choose to automatically download this and subsequent episodes via a free subscription from the Library's podcast website or through Apple Itunes.

This series features oral history interviews with African Americans who endured the hardships of the slave plantations and presents their first-person accounts of life during and after slavery. The series was produced by Guha Shankar and Jon Gold, AFC, and Lisa Carl, Professor, North Carolina Central University. All podcasts draw from the unique collections in the American Folklife Center Archives, one of the preeminent audio-visual repositories of national and international folklife, history and cultural expressions.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for the DAN CROWLEY AWARD

The Dan Crowley Award, offered by the Storytelling Section of the American Folklore Society, is a $200 prize for a graduate or undergraduate student essay dealing with some aspect of storytelling performance in formal or informal settings.

Submissions, which should not exceed 9000 words in length, should be e-mailed to jradner@american.edu as a Word or .pdf attachment *no later than June 1, 2009*. The cover message should include the title of the paper, as well as the author's name, mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address, academic affiliation and year in program, and the name of the faculty member to whom the essay was submitted. Only the title, no identification of the author, should appear on the essay itself.

The prize winner will be notified by the end of August. The award will be formally presented at the business meeting of the Storytelling Section at the Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society in Boise, ID, October 21-24, 2009. For further information, please contact one of the section co-conveners: Jo Radneror Theresa Osborne.

ICH on the road - Edmonton, Alberta

While the City of Edmonton Historic Resource Management Program is primarily focused on the conservation of Edmonton's built historic resources, the City recognizes that these buildings have a story to tell or an activity that occurred in them. These stories, songs, or activities make up an very important part of Edmonton's heritage, that is not a physical reminder of the past (like our buildings) but an intangible connection to Edmonton and Alberta's rich history.

The City of Edmonton Planning and Development Department, in cooperation with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, is pleased to present a half day workshop on Intangible Cultural Heritage. The workshop will be lead by Dale Jarvis, a well known storyteller, author and folklorist who currently serves as the Intangible Cultural Heritage Officer with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador. Dale will guide participants through an overview of intangible cultural heritage, help brainstorm some of Edmonton's unique intangible cultural heritage and provide the City with some strategies for protecting and documenting these important connections to our past.

Friday, March 20th, 2009, 9 am to 12 pm
Governor's Room, City of Edmonton Archives, Prince of Wales Armouries
10440 108 Avenue
Edmonton, AB

The event is being organized by Lesley Collins MSc. Pl., Heritage Planner
BRZ & Heritage Conservation Unit, Planning & Policy Services Branch
Planning & Development Department , City of Edmonton
lesley.collins@edmonton.ca

An afternoon with hookers

On Wednesday, March 11th, I spent the afternoon with 47 hookers.

“Tea… With Hookers!” was an event sponsored by the Intangible Cultural Heritage program of the Heritage Foundation of NL, which saw a room full of rug and matt hookers come together to listen to three of their own discuss the history, craft, art and changing tradition of rug hooking.

The event was held at the Red Mantle Lodge in Shoal Brook, Gros Morne National Park, and was organized by Corner Brook-based folklorist Sandra Wheeler. A seasonal Parks Canada employee in the region, Sandra is a board member of HFNL, and is currently working on a documentary film about rug hooking.

The event took the form of a staged interview, where Sandra introduced everyone, and I gave a brief overview of the province’s ICH strategy. Following that, I interviewed three women: Molly White, Rose Dewhirst and Florence Crocker. Of the three women, Florence was the one who had been involved in the tradition the longest, having grown up at a time when hooking mats was still a functional craft. Both Molly and Rose learned the art more recently, and shared their experiences about what they saw as a tradition that has undergone a fundamental change from craft that produced functional pieces of furnishing for the floor, to an art that produces objects to be viewed on the wall.

See the photos of the event on Flickr

Visit Molly White's shop in Woody Point

4480 Walks on Water

Last Friday, George Chalker, Executive Director of HFNL, and I took Jillian Gould's Memorial University Folklore 4480: Folklore and Oral History class for a walk down memory lane, otherwise known as Water Street, St. John's. We stopped at various points along the way, talking about the changes to the street, and sharing tales of what used to occupy various buildings, different fires, and local characters.

The walk was part of an ongoing class project to document the oral history of St. John's main downtown street. Students will be collecting and recording stories about the street, and will eventually be placing some of their research online as part of an online exhibit about Water Street. The result will be posted on the class blog, still a work in progress. Stay tuned!

Clarenville Place Name Project

On the evening of Wednesday, March 4th, I was invited to give an address on intangible cultural heritage for the Clarenville Heritage Society’s annual general meeting. I started off with a folktale about names and naming that I had learned from a past resident of the area, and spoke on the folklore of naming and some of the possible origins of the name “Clarenville” itself.

The Society also used the AGM to inform the public about a place name mapping project they are working on. The group has hired on Carol Diamond as a researcher for the project, utilizing funding through the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation’s Cultural Economic Development Program. Carol, a Clarenville native, is a Master’s student in Ethnomusicology at Memorial, studying Takudh hymnody of the Gwich’in (an Athapaskan First Nation), focusing specifically on communities in the Yukon.

After the meeting, the group moved from the lecture hall to another room, where we had unfurled maps showing Clarenville and the surrounding area. While some people chatted and shared stories amongst themselves, Carol gathered others around the maps. They pointed out areas they knew, rhymed off names of others, and suggested other residents who might be good sources of local information.

Download Dale’s address to the Clarenville Heritage Society as an mp3 podcast

Listen to streaming audio of the address, or download in other formats

See some of the named rock formations around Clarenville, in this pdf prepared by Society member Darlene Feltham