Community/Traditional Arts

Community/Traditional Arts update

Coming up in Community/ Traditional Arts...
Discovery Research sites, both new and veteran, will likely see some new opportunities coming their way soon. The Maine Arts Commission is exploring ways to bring new energy to the veteran sites, while continuing to work with the newer sites, exploring the culture of their communities. Explorations have included mechanisms for updating some of the early Discovery Research sites, making it possible for them to do some of the web development work now being done by newer sites, as well as making it possible for them to update their cultural directory databases.

The Maine Arts Commission is also exploring new ways to place folk arts fieldworkers around the state. The hope is for a new model to be developed, that allows more in-depth fieldwork to be done in the various regions of Maine, over longer periods of time, both identifying and following up with more of Maine's tradition-bearers.

The Discovery Research program was developed ten years ago, in order to help communities to discover the cultural assets and institutions in their own back yard and plan for the cultural development of their communities. Approximately 30 communities have participated in the Discovery Research process.

One more thing to watch for: the Maine Arts Commission is working to combine the MaineCulture.org web site with MaineArts.com to better allow access to the local arts databases. We're looking forward to smoothing out access to the databases and adding to the MaineCulture.org site.

Where is traditional music happening in Maine?
We would like to hear about where traditional music is happening in Maine in order to highlight the best of Maine's traditional music. Does your community have a regular jam session? Do musicians gather in homes or churches to share tunes? What kinds of music are heard in your community? Does someone in your town or city know a lot of old songs?

If you know about someone or someplace in Maine where traditional music happens, contact Keith Ludden, community/traditional arts associate at 207/287-2713 or keith.ludden@maine.gov.

(Formerly) "Sensing Place" to be republished as "What is Community?"
Discovery Research participants will soon have the return of an old friend to walk with them through the Discovery Research process. The Maine Arts Commission is preparing an updated version of the former guidebook, Sensing Place. The guidebook was originally published in 1995, to help Discovery Research participants explore the culture of their communities.

The guidebook will be updated with the new title - What is Community?

Images and text will not only address communities in geographic context, but also communities that are created by people with similar interests. The publication will guide the community through the questions exploring community history, culture and traditions, as well as the artistic resources in the community.

All Maine Arts Commission printed publications are also available online, Go to the publications section of MaineArts.com.