Community Documentation Workshop
December 7
This documentation workshop will equip grassroots organizations in our region with the skills and perspectives to document and present their cultural traditions and histories from their own points of view. Come learn the basics of community documentation, including: oral history interviewing, basic videography using DSLR cameras, synthesizing interview content, and crafting narratives for video or podcast.
The workshop will be led by talented folklore professionals: TC Owens, folklorist for the Arts Council for the Southern Finger Lakes and Karen Canning, folklorist for GLOW Traditions of Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming Counties.
The free workshop will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the “Fireplace Room” of the Prendergast Library, 509 Cherry Street, Jamestown, NY.
Lunch will be provided. This workshop is made possible through a grant from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation.
To Register: Contact the Tri-County Arts Council, Olean NY at (716) 372-7455 or email New York Folklore at info@nyfolklore.org.
About the presenters:
T.C. Owens is a folklorist and videographer. For the past decade he has worked collaboratively to document, preserve and present the vital traditions of everyday people and their communities. He holds an MA in Folklore from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has worked at the Philadelphia Folklore Project, Media Mobilizing Project, and as a contract folklorist for the Northern Tier Cultural Alliance and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts in Northeast Pennsylvania, where he grew up. He is also a director and producer of the documentary short, Our Side: The Other Atlantic City.
Karen Canning is an ethnomusicologist, folklorist and educator. As GLOW Traditions Director, she frequently collaborates with community, educational, business and civic entities to document and present diverse folk arts of our region such as Hispanic holiday traditions, American folk music, world dance traditions, Native American arts, and occupational folklore. Canning collaborates with Local Learning to lead workshops for traditional artists and teachers and develop residencies in NYS schools, and participates in statewide initiatives to support New York’s traditional cultures. She holds a Masters degree in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, with a specialty in indigenous Mexican popular music. Canning is also a cellist, strings instructor and a member of Panloco Steel Band.
