Minutes of the 2003 Folklore & Education Section Meeting
Introductions
Rosemary Hathaway facilitated
the meeting and took notes. About 20 members came and went during the
course of the meeting. Rosemary asked attendees to fill out information
cards updating the section about their activities and current contact
information. She also provided a short update on the section’s finances;
at the time of the meeting, the section had about $2,725.03 in its account
after various 2003 expenditures for the Dorothy Howard prize ($100), food
for the Saturday teachers’ workshop ($537.74), and matching funds
to help bring a teacher and three students who were presenting as part
of a scheduled panel and for the Saturday workshop ($400). All of the
students were also in attendance at the meeting, which was an unanticipated
pleasure and honor.
Rosemary and Gregory Hansen also reported briefly on the section newsletter,
of which they are co-editors, and solicited feedback from attendees about
the 2003 issue and suggestions for the 2004 issue.
Dorothy Howard Prize Logo
Anne Pryor, Junior Convener, took the floor to discuss prototype logos for the Dorothy Howard Prize. Winners of the prize would be allowed to use the logo on the materials themselves and in publicizing their prize-winning work. Anne passed around several different designs, which members then voted on. The winning entry will be displayed in the section’s 2004 newsletter.
[Note: Click here to see the winning logo!]
Remembering Bea Roeder
We paused for a few minutes to reflect on the passing of Bea Roeder, a longtime section member and the 2002-2003 junior convener. Bea’s unexpected and very sudden death in June 2003 was a real loss to the section, as well as to public-sector folklore in general. Several people shared memories of Bea, and discussed ways of honoring her (to be discussed in more detail below).
Saturday Morning Workshop
Paddy Bowman, Coordinator of the National Network for Folk Arts in Education and co-organizer of the Saturday morning education workshop, introduced the workshop presenters in attendance at the section meeting, and announced that Anne Pryor had stepped in to help Paddy organize the workshop after Bea Roeder’s sudden death. This was the 10th annual workshop sponsored by the Network and the Education section. Carol Spellman of the Oregon Historical Society and three students she has been working with in her community documentation program were among the attendees, as was Nancy Widdicombe of the Montana Heritage Project. This was the first AFS meeting at which youth have participated in the whole conference. Paddy and Carol are recruiting volunteers to help with the workshop for 2004; members are encouraged to get in touch with Paddy at pbowman@ix.netcom.com or with Carol at Carols@ohs.org to help plan and publicize next year’s workshop among local educators, folklorists, and folklore graduate students.
Announcement of 2003 Dorothy Howard Prize
The Dorothy Howard Prize Committee
announced the winner of this year’s Dorothy Howard Prize for Folklore
and Education: the multimedia kit The Florida Music Train (2002), written
and developed by Laurie Sommers and produced by the Florida Folklife Program’s
Bureau of historic Preservation and the Florida Folklore Society. For
more information about the kit, contact Laurie at lsommers@valdosta.edu.
The prize committee also announced two honorable mentions in this year’s
awards competition: the Masters of Traditional Arts DVD and Teachers’
Guide (http://www.docarts.com/books/mota_dvd.html),
and the Wisconsin Folks website (http://arts.state.wi.us/static/folkdir/index.htm).
This year’s prize committee consisted of Rosemary Hathaway (who
stepped in for Bea Roeder, who had originally been heading the prize committee),
Kristin Congdon, and Amy Skillman. Many thanks to Kristin and Amy for
their work.
Selection of Senior Convener and 2004 Dorothy Howard Prize Committee
Jan Rosenberg generously volunteered
to serve as the section’s senior convener for 2003-2004, and Carol
Spellman volunteered to serve as junior convener. Cindy Kerchmar agreed
to serve as the “section greeter” to (electronically) welcome
new members to the section, a job we hope will be made easier by changes
in AFS administration that should make it easier for us to access updated
membership lists. Maida Owens and Ruth Olsen generously volunteered to
serve on the 2004 Dorothy Howard Prize committee. The committee will be
rounded out by either the senior or junior convener of the section. Selection
of Senior and Junior Conveners for 2003-2004 and the “Section Greeter.”
Financial Procedures
The section also discussed procedures for handling unanticipated financial expenses that come up during the year. Catering costs for the Saturday teachers’ workshop, which the section has traditionally underwritten, were significantly higher this year, and the section also wished to contribute to the travel expenses for the Oregon students presenting at the workshop. Because both of these decisions needed to be made quickly, the entire section was not consulted, but Rosemary and Anne felt uncomfortable about this. Therefore, the section was queried as to what the procedure in such cases should be. Members present decided that conveners should be allowed to make an executive decision about expenses under $300.00, but only after consultation with the immediate past convener (who would act as a “fiscal oversight” monitor). Expenses over $300.00 should be put to the entire section’s vote (via e-mail). These measures passed unanimously.
Report from the National Task Force on Folk Arts in Education
Paddy Bowman reported on news from the Network. She attended the NASAA meeting in Charleston, SC in December. She also wanted to remind people of the availability of NEA'S ARTS Learning grants. People should contact Terry Liu at NEA, liut@arts.endow.gov for more information. Paddy also solicited feedback about the CARTS website, which is currently being updated; send additions and corrections to regional resources to her at pbowman@ix.netcom.com.
Development of Prize in Honor of Beverly Robinson, Bea Roeder, and Vaughn Ward
Finally, the section discussed
the possibility of developing a second annual prize for the section. At
the 2002 section meeting, this award was discussed as being developed
to honor Beverly Robinson, and would be awarded to a K-12 educator to
allow that person to travel to and attend the AFS meeting. At this year’s
meeting, the section decided that the name/scope of the prize be expanded
to honor Bea Roeder and Vaughn Ward, as well.
Paddy Bowman, Sue Eleuterio, Anne Pryor, and Jan Rosenberg volunteered
to serve on a committee to develop the prize guidelines and application
materials, and to try and solicit applications to award the first Robinson/Roeder/Ward
prize in 2004. Initially, the amount of the prize would be $300.00: not
enough to cover the educator’s total travel expenses, but enough
to offset them significantly and provide an incentive for the winner to
attend the AFS meeting.
Members also discussed how funds for the prize might be raised, since—obviously—this
represents a significant portion of the section’s annual budget,
and we would need to raise money beyond the section’s usual annual
income to award it annually. Possibilities included soliciting donations
from section members (and AFS members in general) via the section’s
newsletter and other AFS publications; holding a silent auction at future
AFS meetings (perhaps during the public programs auction); and asking
the AFS to aid us in our fundraising by creating a way in which people
donating money to the AFS in general could earmark part or all of their
donation for the Robinson/Roeder/Ward prize.
Members also discussed how nominees might be located; ideas included using
the section newsletter to publicize the prize, as well as e-mailing section
members directly to solicit nominations.
