Launching Water/Ways in New York

Launching Water/Ways in New York

MANY staff lent a hand at the Water/Ways installation workshop at the Erie Canal Museum on June 27 with representatives from host sites to learn how the pieces go together. Carol Harsh, Director of the Museum on Main Street Program for the Smithsonian Institution (pictured front right) led the workshop.

The Museum Association of New York is so very proud to announce that last week we helped the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse install Water/Ways, the first Smithsonian Institution Museum on Main Street (MoMS) exhibition in New York State. MoMS exhibitions are designed to share the resources of the Smithsonian and act as catalysts for community conversations. In partnership with state-wide service organizations, MoMS invites small museums to participate in a national exhibition program and create education programs and cultural events that center on local culture and history.

Water/Ways explores the connections between human beings and water—focusing on the environment, culture, and history. Each host museum will add to the Smithsonian’s exhibition with an exhibition from their collections to tell the story of the importance of water in their own communities. MANY has partnered with New York Folklore to develop folk arts programming that will infuse the Water/Ways exhibition with local stories. New York Folklore Director Ellen McHale shared with me what she thought about the importance of our partnership:

“History” is a moving target as it can be what happened 200 years ago, and also what happened 20 years ago. Too often, the lens of history is conceived of narrowly – omitting the voices of women, children, the poor, people of color, immigrants, marginalized groups of all sorts, etc. My goal, and the goals of my folklore and museum colleagues, is to infuse the nationally focused exhibition with local voices, to provide relevance for today’s current audience demographics while including the overarching humanities themes of the exhibition. For the story of water in New York State, it is very important to include the voices of our Native populations who have important connections to water and who have maintained residency in our communities from before European colonization and into the present day. It is also important to include the voices of our most recently-arrived residents.”

There are six museums where you will be able to see the Water/Ways exhibition in the next ten months. To learn more about Water/Ways click here. The exhibition opened to the public at the Erie Canal Museum on June 29 and will open at Wells College in Aurora in partnership with the Aurora Masonic Center and the Village of Aurora Historical Society on August 24, at Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village on October 5, and at the Chapman Museum on November 23. In 2020, the exhibition opens at the Hudson River Maritime Museum on January 11 and at its final New York venue, the East Hampton Historical Society on February 29.

I hope you will find time in your schedule in the coming months to visit these museums, see the exhibition, and participate in the programs. Generous funding and support from our sponsors allowed us to produce a coloring book for family audiences and an app by OnCell that shares information about exhibitions and programs.

Click here to view the original article.

Water/Ways logos and dates

Folkways and Waterways Grant Received

Folkways and Waterways Grant Received

New York Folklore is pleased to announce the receipt of a $49,500.00 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, through the Regional Economic Development Council’s Consolidated Funding Application for 2019. Working in partnership with the Museum Association of New York, “Folkways and Waterways” examines the role of water as portrayed in and utilized by traditional arts and culture. The importance of water will be expressed through traditional arts presentations and performances and through the creation of digital media portraits by community members. This project is part of a nationwide traveling exhibition of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and Museum Association of New York, that was adapted from an exhibition organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York.

Exhibition Schedule

Erie Canal Museum, Syracuse
Opens June 29, 2019

Aurora Masonic Center (hosted at Wells College), Aurora
Opens August 17, 2019

Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village, Amherst
Opens October 5, 2019

Chapman Museum, Glens Falls
Opens November 23, 2019

Hudson River Maritime Museum, Kingston
Opens January 11, 2020

East Hampton Historical Society, East Hampton, NY
Opens February 29, 2020

Through “Folkways and Waterways,” each exhibition venue will work with New York Folklore and their regional folklorist to augment the exhibition with local performances, presentations, and digital stories. “Folkways and Waterways” is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Local Students to Become Junior Curators for Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition about Water

Local Students to Become Junior Curators for Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition about Water

New York Folklore and Schoharie River Center Partner for Smithsonian Educational Initiative

New York Folklore has been selected to create one of sixteen projects nationwide for the Smithsonian’s Stories from Main Street: Youth Engagement and Skill-building Program (Stories: YES). The program is a collaboration between youth participants of The Schoharie River Center and New York Folklore to develop stories around the theme of the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street Exhibition “Water/Ways”.

Stories: YES participants weave national narratives from the exhibition into the history of their own region by conducting research and interviews to create a project highlighting their communities. The program engages kids with regional history and contemporary local issues, while providing an opportunity to use professional equipment and learn real-world skills. Youth projects will be displayed locally and their digital stories will be shared on Museum on Main Street’s website. Equipment purchased through the project will be available for future student success.

Funding for Stories: YES is generously provided to Museum on Main Street (MoMS) with internal Smithsonian Institution Support from the Smithsonian Youth Access Grants Program. MoMS is a partnership between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and state humanities councils. It was created to serve museums, libraries and historical societies in rural areas, where one fifth of all Americans live. SITES has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, DC for over sixty-five years. It connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science, and history, which are shown wherever people live, work and play.

Since 2010, New York Folklore has been working in partnership with the Schoharie River Center, a youth development program that engages youth in educational and scientific inquiry of their regions’ waters, to document the region and to create digital portraits of the Mohawk Watershed.

For information on the local Stories: YES project or to participate, please contact John McKeeby, Executive Director of the Schoharie River Center at john.mckeeby@scoharierivercenter.org or Ellen McHale, Executive Director of New York Folklore at emchale@nyfolklore.org or 518-346-7008.