Contact: Sheryl HayesSheryl@virginia.edu
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
145 Ednam Drive Charlottesville, VA
22903-4629
Phone:(434)924-3296
Fax: (434)296-4714
For Immediate Release
May 19, 2008
Contact: Sheryl Hayes
Sheryl@virginia.edu
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
145 Ednam Drive
Charlottesville, VA
22903-4629
Phone:(434)924-3296
Fax: (434)296-4714
For Immediate Release
May 19, 2008
Virginia Folklife Program at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Announces New Folklife Apprenticeship teams
(Photos Available upon Request)
The Virginia Foundation for Humanities (VFH) has named the recipients of the 2007-2008 Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship awards. Nine groups of Master-Apprenticeship teams will help preserve a folkway unique to Virginia which has shaped and will continue to shape Virginia in the future. The nine month period of exchange already underway will culminate in a showcase this September, in which each group will share the creative and inspiring results of their apprenticeship with the public.
2007-2008 Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Teams:
Selected from around the state, the Program pairs an experienced master artist with an eager apprentice for a one-on-one, nine-month learning experience, in order to help ensure that a particular art form is passed on in ways that are conscious of history and faithful to tradition.
These master artists were selected from an open competition for applicants in all forms of Virginia’s traditional expressive culture. The master artist is one who has achieved a high level of skill in the particular traditional art form, who is regarded as a master of the craft by his/her peers, and who has learned and developed his/her skill within its traditional context. The apprentice is one who has demonstrated an interest and proficiency in the art form prior to the apprenticeship, and who shows a sincere commitment to learning the nuances of the tradition, and carrying the tradition on into the future.
The apprenticeships accomplish much more than the teaching and learning of a particular craft or skill. During the apprenticeship period, the master artist and apprentice enter into a mutually enriching relationship which is both cultural and personal, connecting to lessons and memories from the past and shared visions for the future.
The first five years of the Folklife Apprenticeship Program is chronicled in In Good Keeping: Virginia’s Folklife Apprenticeships. Written by Jon Lohman, with 224 pages of evocative photographs of Virginia Master Folk artists and their apprentices, In Good Keeping celebrates a wide variety of folk traditions both old and new to Virginia. Visit the Virginia Folklife Program’s website at www.virginiafolklife.org to order your copy!
The Folklife Apprenticeship Program is an important initiative of the Virginia Folklife Program (VFP). The Virginia Folklife Program documents, presents, and supports Virginia’s living cultures, traditions, and folkways. The VFP is a program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, a statewide organization created in 1974 to develop the civic, cultural, and intellectual life of the Commonwealth by creating learning opportunities for all Virginians.
The purpose of the VFH is to bring the humanities fully into Virginia's public life, assisting individuals and communities in their efforts to understand the past, confront important issues in the present, and shape a promising future. The Foundation brings together people from across the Commonwealth with differing backgrounds and viewpoints--interested citizens, scholars, community leaders, and experts from many fields--creating an environment in which new ideas are encouraged and new ways of thinking are possible. For more on the Foundation visit www.virginiafoundation.org.
For more information, please call the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities at 434-924-3296 or visit www.virginiafolklife.org.