Kwanzaa

Practicing cultural sustainability through Seven Communal Principles

Umoja - Unity

Kujichagulia - Self Determination

Ujima - Collective Work and Responsibility

Ujamaa - Cooperative Economics

Nia - Purpose

Kuumba - Creativity

Imani - Faith

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African American Storytellers Retreat

Another great benefit of the MACS program is the administrative support and assistance students receive in attending conferences related to their focused area of  cultural sustainability.  I was able to document the African American Storytellers Retreat after taking Cultural Documentation with Harold Anderson, Ph.D.  This semester, in Field Lab with Andy Kolovos, Ph.D, the discourse extends into logging, archiving, and interviewing.  Oral History with Joel Gardner, Ph.D provides exemplary perspective and technique.  Our core text book is"Doing Oral History" by Donald A. Ritchie.  In 2012 after attending the retreat, I will add oral history interviews to the archived photos and video from 2011.  I  think that a mixed media course on photography and videography would be advantageous, especially for neo-phytes such as myself.  I rarely picked up a camera prior to MACS, not even while raising my children.   


In the meantime, if you have any suggestions after watching this video, please feel free to comment.

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Willingboro Senior Citizen Center - No Ordinary Day of Observation

Pat Delahaye making quilt for soldier oversees

Lillian Burroughs "Crazy Quilt"

On Friday October 21st, I went to the Willingboro Senior Citizen Center for my first day of observation.  It was a two-fold process - fulfilling an assignment for Cultural Documentation Field Lab and doing ethnography for the first Phase of In FACT's SCATTS program (Discovering the Folklife traditions of Willingboro).  Well, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, It was Motown Revue Day.  Before the program started, I took the time to venture into the Creative Arts room where the Quilting Diva's greeting me warmly, and shared the passion of their craft. Have you visited your local senior citizen center lately?

                      Click below to watch:
     Video of Motown Revue

A friend asked me in a vibrantly pitched voice.... 

                  "These are SENIORS?"

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MACS as a matter of In FACT

Board Members in this photo (head of table to left):  Patricia Burch, Constance English, Cassandra Allen, Saundra Gillard Davis, TAHIRA, Gordon Boelter, Esq., Coniqua Abdul-Malik, Rita Moonsammy, Queen Nur, Herman English

Photo taken by board member:  Alonzo Jennings.

In FACT:  Innovative Solutions through Folk Art, Culture and Tradition 

is a cultural sustainability organization that was incorporated as a non-profit in New Jersey on July 8, 2011.  In FACT, Inc. is a social enterprise with a mission to perpetuate and preserve folklife traditions and to use these traditions to sustain communities and affect social change.  Through matriculating my Masters in Cultural Sustainability at Goucher College, this is how it came to be:

1.  Fall 2010 - Cultural Sustainability - Rory Turner, PhD.
Developed SCATTS (Sustaining Culture and Tradition Through Storytelling) as a Groundwork Project that involves fieldwork, folk arts workshops and a concert & exhibition.

2. Fall 2010 - Financial Skills - Pat Ouerdnik.
Developed business plan for non-profit organization, originally titled Caught By the Tale.  The business plan houses SCATTS.


3. Winter 2011 - Social Entrepreneurship - Rebbeca Saltman and Tiffany Espinosa.
Developed social enterprise concept and national scope of company.  Changed name to In FACT:  Innovative Solutions through Folk Art, Culture and Tradition.


4.  Winter 2011 - Cultural Documentation - Harold Anderson, PhD.
Developed plan for fieldwork and learned documentation techniques.  Fieldwork is the first phase of the SCATTS project.

5.  Communications 2011 - Communications - Kate Pippin
Developed six-month Communications Plan moving organization to next level, including strategies for 1st board meeting, and day-to-day priorities.

6. Fall 2010 - Leadership - Ross PhD

Learned techniques in leadership that framed selection of board, and increased my skills as President/CEO of company.

7.  Summer 2011 - Grantwriting - Melissa McCloud, PhD
Wrote and won Brimstone Grant from the National Storytelling Network for the SCATTS project.


8.  Fall 2011 -  Cultural Partnerships - Rita Moonsammy PhD and Amy Skillman PhD
Developed cultural partnership plan for second program: Community VOICE Circles:  VOICE (Victorious Outreach Igniting Civic Engagement).  Gained additional cultural partners for In FACT.


9.  Fall 2011- Field Lab - Andy Kolovos, PhD
Conducting initial fieldwork for SCATTS program.  Thomas Carroll PhD is the fieldwork consultant on the SCATTS project.  More to come....

10.  Fall 2011- Cultural Policy - Robert Baron, PhD
Writing papers and studying discourse on Cultural policy that has significance to policy and civic engagement initiatives of In FACT.  Conducted an interview with Joyce Goldsmith, Burlington County Division of Parks Cultural Coordinator for 1st paper.  More to come....


The faculty and administrative staff of Goucher provide multiple networking opportunities that are advantageous to my development as a cultural worker and to the establishment of the corporation.

In FACT is on the move with a dynamic board that knows how to give PRAISE:
Passionate
Resourceful
Action-oriented
Innovative
Strategic
Energized

Visit our website:  In FACT, Inc.

For more information about the developments from each course click on the MACS Course Work link above.

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365 Ways to Sustain Culture & 54

I have a new and profoundly fun challenge.  Let's post  365 Ways to Sustain Culture.

This challenge was inspired at the NJ Council of the Arts Multi-Day Artist Training last month.   The Keynote speaker for Day 1, Noah Scalin, shared, that back in 2007, he heard a voice that said, "Make a Skull a Day." - and so he did for 365 Days.  He presented a slide show with remarkable creative skulls made from flower petals, a sheet, scratchboard, soysauce, wire, bottle parts. construction blocks in the middle of NY city, dance steps..... you name it. The original creations are called Skull a Day 1.0.  He is now up to Skull a Day 5.0, has exhibited in major museums, and has published books including:  A Daily Creativity Journal:  Make Something Everyday & Change Your Life.  Noah had lots of help from bloggers. I am hoping to have the same.

Noah's workshop inspired me to blog 365 ways to sustain culture.  My anticipated MA degree in Cultural Sustainability from Goucher is this Spring 2012.  My goal is to list 365 ways to sustain culture on this blog, with lots of ideas from fellow bloggers by the time I receive my MA.  That brings me to Part II the number 54.  I will be 54 this year, so my goal is to gain a minimum of 54 followers to this blog.  Please join me in this adventure, and spread the word to friends and colleagues.   Four ways to add to the list:
1) In Comments below.
2) In Comments on the 365 Ways to Sustain Culture page. (Where the list is kept)
3) E-mail me at kaabd001@goucher.edu.
4) My facebook Page.

I'll Start:  365 Ways to Sustain Culture
1)  Blog about it.

Visit Noah's Blog

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Keepers of the Culture Pays Tribute to Ladybird

In February, Keepers of the Culture: Philadelphia's Afrocentric Storytelling Group honored Lady Bird Strickland, a remakable eighty-four year-old, full of stories. Her paintings tell of a rich legacy and colorful folklife. Sitting at her feet, I heard tales from the riches of her southern childhood, to the sophisticated syncopated days of Harlem, to the marching demands of the civil rights movement.

In the griotic tradition, we sustain our community values by honoring our elders. They hold a treasured role in society.... at least that's the way of long ago, and oceanic miles away. With the flourishing of senior homes and intergenerational disconnect, a sore is festering. The custom of listening to our elders borders on becoming a relic. How do we listen once again to those who carry the wisdom? How do we teach the young to sit at their feet and inhale the stories? How do we impart the need to tell new stories to heal the wounds of today?

For more on Lady Bird Strickland visit: Lady Bird's Blog

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The Word on Voices of Courage

Voices of Courage:  Profiles of 19^th Century African American Women began its national tour in Sacramento, California in 2009 in conjunction with the opening of the Smithsonian’s Freedom’s Sisters. 

If you have experienced the show or will be attending its presentation in my hometown of Willingboro on March 26 please join the comments below by posting to my blog and/or webpage.

Reviews: 

The program, Voices of Courage:  Profiles of 19^th Century African American Women, was remarkable for its educational value, historical accuracy, for a wonderfully developed script, and costuming that represented each character.  Queen Nur's energy, commitment, and reverence for each of the women she portrayed was extraordinary! "The hour-long Voices of Courage program completely held the attention of the audience.  Their comments were extremely positive and several attended her repeat program. " - Mary Mijares, Sacramento Public Library

 The artist “became” each character, changing her clothing accessories and props as she talked about the woman she was portraying.  She alternated between talking and singing, sometimes asking for students to sing along or clap to the rhythm.  She had draped a colorful throw over a chair and made up the stage to be an inviting living room setting where she could “tell stories.”  Her stories and delivery were so captivating that sometimes the audience didn’t even notice that she was changing clothing pieces.  – Sonya Ryhal, Springfield Arts Council, Ohio.

Newspaper Article:

Storyteller Queen Nur resurrects pioneers

http://www.saljournal.com/news/story/Queen-Nur-1-17

Share a Story

Who are the modern day Voices of Courage?  Please share a story.

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Voices of Courage Resound During Women's History Month

Is the celebration of women limited to one month?  Absolutely not!  However, March deemed National Women’s History Month is a pristine opportunity to elevate the spirit, lives and deeds of the female gender.   It is a perfect time to attend events highlighting achievements of women.

I am honored to present my national show Voices of Courage:  Profiles of 19^th Century African-American Women at the Willingboro Public Library on March 26th at 2:00 p.m.   The interactive performance is designed for audiences 10 and up.  

Did you know the poplar version of Sojourner Truth’s historical “Ain’t I  A Women” was written 12 years later by the southern white women who presided over the Women’s Convention where the original speech was orated?   In Voices of Courage, story lovers hear an account of Sojourner's true delivery reported at the end of the convention.  The audience sings the lyrics written by Sojourner for the Buffalo Soldiers and chants courting songs from the lifetime of Ida B. Wells.  Voices swell in a traditional verse of This Little Light of Mine when Mary McCleod Bethune stands up to the Klu Klux Klan.  Other women exalted during this program are Maria W. Stewart, Harriet Tubman, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Cathy Williams and, Mary Church Terrell.

In sharing footsteps along the journey of these voices of courage from the past, it is my hope that we are fearless in raising our voices today.

Other Programs this Month:

Black Women and Folklore Tradition Bearers of Our Community”

Opportunities to celebrate Women’s History are rich in our region.  In Philadelphia, On March 19, 2011, my colleague and dear friend, Caroliese Frink Reed, Master storyteller and instructor will present an enriching three hour workshop at the Wynnefiled Library, 54^th and Overbook Avenue at 1:00 p.m.

For more Women’s History Month events visit:  http://philly360.visitphilly.com/news/2011/02/28/philly-360-legacy-presents-top-picks-for-women-s-history-month-in-philadelphia.

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