Community Scholars Program

Timi and I are looking forward to beginning the Appalachian Sound Archives Fellowship next week, but we're a little tired because so much other stuff is going on. The Clear Creek Festival was the best ever, but there wasn't a lot of sleeping over the weekend. Plus I helped my mom out a couple of days afterward, I've taken on a temporary consulting job that started this week and will overlap with the beginning of the Fellowship. But overall, we're really looking forward to digging in at Special Collections, polishing off old treasures, and surfacing new ones.

On Monday evening, we also begin a Community Scholars Program that will be concurrent with our Fellowship this fall. This certification program is sponsored by the Kentucky Folklife Program, which entails weekly evening courses from mid-September through late November (concurrent with the research fellowship). Participants are trained in “folklife documentation techniques, ethics of working with communities, research methods, presentation of cultural resources, grant writing, and project development,” so it will be such an informative and inspiring opportunity as we prepare for the interview phase of the documentary next spring.

We also recently submitted a grant proposal that we won't know about until late December. I'd love to say more about what that entails, but I'd rather wait until we know whether we actually have something to report! So stay tuned later this year for possible news... (and wish us luck!)