It looks as though funding from NEA is secure for another year. Among other very important things, this means that if folklorists need funding to present at an education meeting, we can help. It means the CARTS newsletter, Web site, and Catalog will continue. Please check the Resources section of www.carts.org and send me additions and corrections. Find summer institutes for teachers around the country as well as new Local Learning lesson plans that can be used for teacher training or student activities. Finally, take advantage of a super new guest artist residency designed by City Lore’s new media manager Makalé Faber. Users may listen to a story by NEA National Heritage Fellow Mary Louise Defender Wilson and choose from a variety of interdisciplinary activities. The Spring 2002 CARTS newsletter will feature Sense of Place. Amanda Dargan and I are already thinking about next year’s issue on tolerance, so if you have ideas for that issue, let me know.

Fall 2002 Meetings

The American Folklore Society (AFS) meets in Rochester October 16-20, 2002, and local educators will have a chance to work with folklorists experienced in K-12 education. The 2001 workshop at AFS in Anchorage was very highly rated. Native educators and students shared profound work. Check www.afsnet.org for the '02 meeting schedule in late summer. Possible sessions include new media and folklore in education, exploring the new edition of FieldWorking, a cemetery tour, and folk artist residencies in addition to the annual Saturday morning workshop the Network and Ed Section co-sponsor. As a member of the AFS Nominating Committee, I encourage Ed Section members to submit names of candidates for president, executive board, and nominating committee by May 1.

The National Association for Multicultural Education meets October 30-November 3, 2002, in Washington, DC--actually in nearby Crystal City, VA. Look for info at www.nameorg.org. I’m on the planning committee and have been asked to round up local folklorists to help train teachers to conduct oral interviews as a part of ongoing free hands-on offerings for participants. I’ve proposed a session, "Leveling the Playing Field: Everyone’s Got Folklore."

Several folklorists have proposed sessions for the Atlanta meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English November 21-26, 2002. Find information about the meeting at www.ncte.org. We’ve just learned that a full-day workshop has been accepted. Up to 60 teachers may sign up for "Building Layers of Literacy Through Integrating Folklore and Fieldwork into Your Curriculum," Tuesday, November 26. Presenters include Bonnie Sunstein, Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater, Jackie Thursby, Laurie Sommers and her South Georgia colleagues Sandra Worsham and Diane Howard, and myself.

Arts Education Partnership News

The January 2002 meeting at the Heard Museum in Tucson focused on economically disadvantaged schools. Find some interesting points in the online summary, http://www.aep-arts.org/January2002report.htm. For example, there’s an online article from Principal Leadership, "The Science of the Arts," by Eric Jenson which you can read by clicking here.

May 16 the new arts education research compendium will be released. Link to an order form ($25 + $4 postage) from www.aep-arts.org.

June 30 the Partnership meets at Columbia College in Chicago.