I need help getting Mummers Festival postcards out to local businesses

The 3rd annual Mummers Festival is already underway, with events taking place throughout December. Everything leads up to our fabulous Mummers Parade on Saturday, December 17th! 

I've got stacks of Mummers Festival postcards, with details on all the events, which I'd love to get out to local businesses around town. If you can take a stack and help distribute them, please call me at 739-1892 ext 2, or drop me an email at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Craft Enterprise Facilitator wanted

Craft Enterprise Facilitator

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS:  December 19, 2011

The Anna Templeton Centre for Craft Art & Design is seeking a full-time Craft Enterprise Facilitator to manage a new craft studio incubator being established in Quidi Vidi.

Job Description:

Working under the guidance and direction of the ATC Board, the Craft Enterprise Facilitator will be responsible for developing a strategic plan for the long term management and operation of the craft incubator.  S/he will also research and define a training framework that will allow tenants within the craft incubator to grow and develop their enterprises.   

Activities will include, but may not be restricted to the following:

- Coordinate strategic planning activities to determine long term management structure, financing and operational methodology

- Build relationships with funding partners, creating applications, reports, and supporting documentation as required

- Liaise with community organizations and agencies with an interest in the development of craft enterprises including the Anna Templeton Centre, City of St. John’s, Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, College of the North Atlantic, Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development, Quidi Vidi Community Association, and others

- Develop and implement a promotional plan

- Develop and/or finalize policy documents defining the criteria for selection of tenants, leases, operating manuals, and other documents that may be required

- Coordinate application process for tenant selection

- Develop and implement programming for the benefit of the tenants

- Carry out any necessary administration tasks

Qualifications:

The ideal candidate for this position will have a dynamic combination of skills and abilities gained through educational and work experiences, and hold the following attributes: 

- Diploma and/or degree in craft, business and/or adult education or any combination of relevant education and experience

- Knowledge of craft, the Newfoundland and Labrador craft community, and the resources available

- Knowledge of business practices

- Training or experience in teaching and facilitating

- Experience in writing successful grant applications and seeking support from public funding organizations

- Experience using social media tools, writing & designing brochures & promotional materials

- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

- Ability to work independently and efficiently; and within the structure of a steering committee and board of directors

It is expected that the successful candidate in this position of Craft Enterprise Facilitator will contribute their available time, skill, knowledge and resources to the overall success of the craft business incubator.

Remuneration:  $37,500 annually

Please note this position is dependent on funding approval.

To apply, e-mail your resume and a letter of application to bevbarbour@hotmail.com

Applications may also be mailed or hand delivered to:

Anna Templeton Centre for Craft Art & Design

278 Duckworth Street

St. John’s, NL

A1C 1H3

Newfoundland trout basket from Tors Cove

Thanks to Anne Manuel at the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, I've got more photos for my current obsession project on traditional basket making in the province.

This one is a woven trout basket, made by Gladys Linegar, who I believe now lives in Tors Cove. When I put out the original call for names of people who are making baskets, several people mentioned the Linegars who sell baskets along the road in Tors Cove.

I like the blending here of tradition and modernity, with the basket being made of traditional materials with the shoulder strap being made of seat belt material. A few more pictures of the basket below.

If you know of a basket maker in the province, or have a basket I can photograph, give me a call at 1-888-739-1892 ext 2, or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

Volunteers needed for Mummers Festival! #newfoundland

We need your help! Volunteers play a vital role in these events. Even the smallest efforts have big effect. We hope you find as much joy as we do by participating in this community event!

Below is a list of roles we need filled. To sign up, please send an email to:

volunteer@mummersfestival.ca

Be sure to include:

• your full name
• your phone number
• the role(s) you would like to take on
• your email address

Many thanks! We look forward to working with you.

Hobby Horse Training:Learn how to make a hobby horse and then help us as a trainer. You will show others how to make them at our workshops. You will need to attend our training session on Tuesday, November 29 from 7:00-9:30 pm. Then sign up for at least 1 of our 3 Hobby Horse Workshops: Dec. 3 (10am-2pm), Dec. 6 (7-9:30pm), Dec. 10 (10am-2pm). *If you have made a hobby horse before, you can skip the training session.

Postering:This one requires many hands! We REALLY need help with this one by putting up posters and distributing postcards. We need help with the following areas: Throughout St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Torbay, Flatrock, Pouch Cove, Portugal Cove/St. Philips, Bell Island, CBS, Goulds, Southern Shore, Placentia/Argentia, Conception Bay North. This will happen late November/early December.

Materials Collecting:Help us gather up the needed materials for our workshops. You will need a car for this one. We have a list of items and locations for pick up. This will be ongoing between now and mid-December.

Sign Making:Help us paint and design various signs for the Festival. This will be ongoing between now and mid-December.

Parade Marshals:We need mummer marshals at our Rig Up and Parade. Various tasks include: setting up clothing stations, offering directions and information, monitoring the parade as we move along. Marshals will be briefed on Parade Day (Dec. 17) at 11:30 am.

Mill lunch basket from Botwood, Newfoundland

As part of our new project on traditional basket making, today I met up with Kristin Harris Walsh, who owns a mill lunch basket made in Botwood. She acquired the basket from Jane Burns, who researched mill baskets as part of her folklore thesis.  You can download a copy of Jane's article on mill baskets in pdf format here.

I've included a few more examples of this Botwood mill basket below. If you know of someone still making this type of basket, or have an example you'd let me photograph, you can email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Moravian architecture slides added to Memorial's Digital Archives Initiative

We are in the process of adding a series of scanned photographic slides to the ICH Inventory on Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative. The Moravian Architecture of Labrador collection is from folklore thesis fieldwork I did along Labrador's north coast in the summer of 1995. At the moment, there are photos from Hopedale, North West River, and Happy Valley, with more photos to be added shortly from Nain, OKaK, Hebron, and beyond. All photos were digitized by DAI staffer Chris Mouland.

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.

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

Intangible Cultural Heritage Podcast - A Good Boat!

In the late 1970s an American folklorist, David Taylor, conducted a series of interviews in the Trinity Bay area while researching his Memorial University folklore thesis, "Boatbuilding in Winterton: The Design, Construction and Use of Inshore Fishing Boats in a Newfoundland Community".

In "A Good Boat!" - the first intangible cultural heritage podcast - we present short clips of two of those interviews.

The first, dating from March 22, 1979 is part of Dr. Taylor’s interview with Mr. Lionel Pearcey, who was born December 8, 1918, in Winterton, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. Mr. Pearcey lived most of his life in Winterton, although he would spend time away from home working in mines, as a fisher, and as a carpenter. In the interview, Mr. Pearcey discusses different types of boats, and explains the difference between a speedboat and a trap boat.

The second clip, recorded in Winterton on August 15, 1979, is part of an interview with Mr. Herbert Harnum. Mr Harnum was born November 30, 1919 in Winterton, where he worked as a fisherman with his family. In this clip, Mr. Harnum describes the qualities of a good boat.

To listen to David Taylor’s full interviews with Mr Harnum, Mr Pearcey, and other traditional Newfoundland boatbuilders, visit Memorial University’s Digital Archive Initiative online at collections.mun.ca.

• Download the podcast in MP3 format
• Listen to a streaming audio version of the podcast.