6/28/2006

Filed under: Board Member Updates by site admin

We are pleased to invite you to attend “Carriers of Culture:Living Native Basket Traditions” events in Washington, D.C. June 30-July 4 and July 7-11, 2006 produced by Michigan State University Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. These activities reflect over ten years of planning and research by MSU Museum faculty, students, and staff in collaboration with cultural specialists, Native artists and arts organizations and members of tribal communities across the U.S. Based on visitation to previous festivals, the program is expected to be seen by over 1,000,000 visitors and thus should be an important step in promoting a wider awareness and understanding of the diversity, complexity, and richness of weaving in contemporary Native communities and within the American cultural landscape. One activity in D.C.–the preview exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian runs all summer and is a precursor to a much larger planned exhibition that will be at Michigan State University Museum and that will travel across the nation to major exhibition venues.

– Marsha MacDowell, Ph.D. Curator, Michigan State University Museum and Professor, Art and Art History
– C. Kurt Dewhurst, Ph.D., Director, Michigan State University Museum; Professor, English; and Senior Fellow, University Outreach and Engagement
Project Directors, “Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions”

About the overall 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

http://www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2006/index.html

About the “Carriers of Culture: Living Native Traditions” program

http://www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2006/Basketry/index.html

Artists featured in the “Carriers of Culture” program at the festival

http://www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2006/Basketry/Participants/Native_Hawaiian.html

“Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions” Schedule

http://www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2006/Schedule/Basketry/June30.html

Information for Visitors

http://www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2006/Festival_Information.html

Related activities at NMAI include basket dances, films, additional demonstrations, and a “preview” exhibition coordinated by the Michigan State University Museum

http://www.nmai.si.edu/subpage.cfm?subpage=events&second=dc&third=performances