New York Folklore says a fond farewell to Hannah Davis, who has been our Upstate Regional Representative for the past three years. Her work with us wraps up this month, with a maple presentation at the Rome Art Center. In February, Hannah presented two programs in conjunction with the Munson Williams Art Institute in Utica. The first, taking place at Utica’s First Friday, highlighted the coffee and tea traditions of Utica’s Dominican, Lebanese, and Bosnian communities and the second took place as part of the Munson Williams Proctor “Art Alive” program and highlighted four fine Oneida and Onondaga artists:

Chris Thomas, Beaver Clan – Singer

Adah Shenandoah, Wolf Clan – Dancer

Cameron Shenandoah, Wolf Clan – Dancer

Brittany Ninham, Turtle Clan – Dancer

The Upstate Regional Initiative is a program initiated by the Folk Arts Program of the New York State Council on the Arts. The project was developed to conduct field documentation and programming in counties underserved by the Folk Arts program of NYSCA, with the goal to serve as a catalyst for community based projects and to identify artists and cultural traditions within these regions. In the three years of Hannah’s documentation (2015-2018), she traversed eleven New York Counties, including Cattaraugus, Chatauqua, Tompkins, Cayuga, Seneca, Yates, Allegheny, Monroe, Ontario, Wayne, Broome, and the cities of Binghamton, Rochester, Utica, and Rome. The fourth and final year of this documentation project takes place in 2019 with survey work being conducted in Madison, Cortland, Chenango, and Otsego Counties.