 |
|
|
 |
|
|
Program Director:
Lynne Williamson
Core Funders:
National Endowment for the Arts,
Connecticut Commission on the Arts
Project Dates:
Ongoing program
|
|
Program
Overview
Ethnic, immigrant, and occupational communities
in Connecticut have an extraordinary commitment
to maintaining their cultural heritage and identity
while experiencing and adapting to new social and
cultural environments. The Connecticut Cultural
Heritage Arts Program (CHAP) works with these communities
to explore their social, economic and political
realities through traditional cultural and artistic
expression. Serving as the state-wide folk and traditional
arts program, CHAP conducts fieldwork research in
partnership with artists and other community members,
and transforms research results into activities
of interest to a broad audience. CHAP documents
the state's diverse ethnic and occupational artistic
traditions, and supports artists and their communities
through educational and public programs that communicate
these traditions to Connecticut citizens. CHAP collaborates
with a regional network of artists, community scholars,
advisors, agencies and organizations on projects
such as documentation of community traditions, production
of performances and exhibits, radio broadcasts,
curriculum development, promotion and marketing
of traditional artists, and education services. |
|
|
 |
|
Dancer
Rachel Hall from Trinidad prepares the costumes
of young stiltwalkers for their performance at the
Sankofa Kuumba Summer 2002 Festival in Hartford.
Photo: L. Williamson |
|
|
|
| Project
Goals and Objectives |
 |
Conduct
fieldwork research in Connecticut's diverse
ethnic and occupational communities to document
their artistic traditions. |
|
Communicate the
richness of these cultural traditions to Connecticut
residents. |
|
Enhance the capacity
of the state's traditional artists and their
ethnic communities to reach new markets and
audiences for their work. |
|
|
|
|
Project Contact:
Lynne
Williamson
CHAP Director |
|
|
|
Program Details
Building long-term relationships
and trust with partner communities is the cornerstone
of CHAP's work. Fieldwork research that includes participation
in community events, informal conversation, taped interviews,
photography, and discussion provides the basis for project
development, which is done collaboratively between CHAP
staff and community members. The program aims to represent
the vibrant diversity of the state's ethnic and occupational
communities and encourage the preservation and transmission
of knowledge held within the community through its artists
and other cultural caretakers. CHAP's projects often
use traditional arts to examine the social, economic
and cultural concerns faced by member communities. CHAP
has located and documented over 160 visual and performing
artists, along with 75 ethnic and community organizations
from over half of the 125 groups currently represented
in the state's population, including Southeast Asian,
Tibetan, Greek, Native American, Norwegian, Portuguese,
Peruvian, Cape Verdean, Polish, and Puerto Rican communities.
Current CHAP projects include: new folks arts in education
initiatives; cross-state apprenticeship opportunities
with traditional arts masters in Connecticut, Rhode
Island and Massachusetts; summer workshops for adults
to learn traditional art forms; and improving accessibility
of the program's collected archive of information and
images from artists and their communities.
|
|
 |
|
Tibetan
weaver Tsultrim Lama of Old Saybrook, CT works on
a rug.
Photo: L. Williamson |
|
|
| |
|
Click here to visit CHAP's New Website
Southern New England Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program
Click
here to see a list of CHAP Exhibits
Read about CHAP Bus Tour "Tibetan Culture in CT" on March 25, 2006
Click
here to read a Hartford Courant article about CHAP.
|
|
About
ICR | Programs/Topics | Research/Methods
| News/Events
Training/Resources |
Publications
| Contact | Home
|
|
