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MSU MUSEUM PLANS 'GRASSROOTS GREEN' 2010 GREAT LAKES FOLK FESTIVAL
Plans are taking shape for the Michigan State University's 2010 Great Lakes Folk Festival, set for Aug. 13-15 in downtown East Lansing.
Grassroots Green
For the 2010 event, the MSU Museum will host tradition-bearers who carry on traditions that help restore, conserve and revitalize the planet. The 2010 Great Lakes Folk Festival will feature traditions of grassroots citizens groups and individuals who engage in green occupations, environmental activism, organic gardening, local foodways, recycled arts in the Folk Arts Marketplace, and folk wisdom for taking care of the planet. Program curators Lynne Swanson and LuAnne Kozma note going green is not just a new trend. For many people a return to sustainable lifestyles, technologies and traditions means relying on time-tested folk wisdom and environmentally sound cultural practices.
"The festival will give visitors an opportunity to see how individuals have been skillfully and knowledgeably working for years on family and community-based activities to reduce, recycle, and reuse resources in their homes, workplaces, and communities," says Swanson.
Access to artistic excellence grant from NEA
The MSU Museum also received a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts that promotes access to artistic excellence.
"I am thrilled that we are able to help art work in this country through more than 1,200 projects across this country. We are supporting projects that have great works of art at the heart of them; that work to inspire and transport audiences and visitors; and that create and retain opportunities for artists and arts workers to be a part of this country's real economy," said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. "It is our job at the NEA to support excellence in the arts, and to connect more Americans with more art, more often. This round of grants certainly furthers that mission.”
Learn more about the NEA grant program here: http://www.arts.gov/news/news09/Announce12-09.html
The MSU Museum's Great Lakes Folk Festival is one of the few events nationwide that presents National Endowment for the Arts heritage fellows and tradition-bearers who share distinctive cultural expressions.
Bookfest is back!
Also on tap for the 2010 GLFF is an expanded MSU Press Youngfolk Bookfest, anchored at the Abbot Road Stage, featuring meet-the-artist sessions. Discussion sessions throughout each day of the festival will feature authors reading from their books, and authors will also be available for signings. Graphic novelists, cartoonists and illustrators display their skills of storytelling through the use of visual art, and literacy experts and educators adding to the rich and enriching experience.
Call for sponsorships
While Michigan State University, the City of East Lansing and National Endowment for the Arts provide a base of support for the event, these resources are limited, and it is only the sponsorships that community colleagues so generously share that make the festival possible. The economic challenges facing so many families make it all the more critical that festival activities be available to everyone in our community.
Museum planners are working vigorously to ensure that the 2010 GLFF will serve the local and greater community this summer by providing a rich experience and an opportunity for celebration that is much needed! With your help, the 2010 Great Lakes Folk Festival will allow this singular weekend of celebration and learning to continue strongly.
Please consider making a donation in support of the festival, online here: https://secure.museum.msu.edu/webCredit/GLFFContributions/form.html .
About GLFF
This award-winning event is of the region's premier arts programs and a summer-time high note -- and is expected to draw more than 90,000 visitors throughout the weekend to celebrate culture, tradition and community. GLFF was named the state's top public humanities program by the Michigan Humanities Council.
MSU Museum staffers work year-round planning the event. The music program, sponsored by the City of East Lansing, includes blues, bluegrass, Cajun, polka, Tex-Mex and more musical traditions from across America and around the world. Watch for music program announcements in early 2010.
The Great Lakes Folk Festival is presented by the Michigan State University Museum, Michigan's first Smithsonian affiliate. The MSU Museum's Michigan Traditional Arts Program researches, documents, preserves, and presents our shared heritage and cultural expressions. Primary financial support for GLFF comes from the City of East Lansing, Michigan State University Office of the Provost and University Outreach and Engagement, nearly 100 corporations, foundations and organizations also support GLFF annually, as well as individual donors, "Great Friends."
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GREAT FESTIVAL, GREAT THANKS!
The Michigan State University Museum would like to take a moment to send a hearty thanks to all the artists, volunteers, sponsors and friends who helped make the Great Lakes Folk Festival a memorable celebration of culture, tradition and community. Sales of both rain ponchos and sunscreen were surely at record highs!
CHECK OUT THESE LINKS:
- Lansing State Journal:
- (Saturday) http://tinyurl.com/n4joxn
- (Sunday) http://tinyurl.com/mr52x5
- State News:
- http://bit.ly/prrgH
- YouTube:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_q7ObiyEgA
- Flickr (by Patrick Kerwin):
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdkerwin
- MIEntertainent.biz (see Mid-Michigan / MI Photos):
- http://www.MIentertainment.biz
Share yours! Send us your photos, online galleries and links and we'll add them to our GLFF web page and MSU Museum Facebook page. Contact: pr@museum.msu.edu
MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR GLFF 2010!
The festival continues to be widely recognized as one of the state's premiere arts and culture events. Be sure to save the date for the 2010 festival, the second weekend in August -- Aug. 13-15, 2010 -- and tell your friends, family and coworkers too!
MSU Museum curators and planners will begin work soon for next year's event.
Check the GLFF web site for updates: http://www.greatlakesfolkfest.net . You can also follow the festival on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/glff .
Of course, you can always make a donation and help support the MSU Museum's efforts in producing the folk festival. Click: http://www.greatlakesfolkfest.net/FriendsoftheFestival/ .
VISIT THE MSU MUSEUM!
Before the next folk festival, make the MSU Museum a destination, in the historic heart of north campus, just steps off Grand River Avenue in East Lansing.
The MSU Museum is Michigan's natural history and culture museum and the state's first Smithsonian Institution affiliate. If you liked some of the Taste of Traditions foodways at the festival, check out the special exhibit, "Michigan Eats: Regional Culture Through Food," here through mid-November. Learn more at http://museum.msu.edu .
Interdisciplinary research, programs and activities are in partnership with the College of Arts & Letters, College of Natural Science, College of Social Science, MSU Extension, and University Outreach and Engagement. The MSU Museum features three floors of special collections and changing exhibits and is open seven days a week free of charge (donations are encouraged). The museum is located on West Circle Drive next to Beaumont Tower on the MSU campus in East Lansing and is accessible to persons with disabilities. Hours are Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. For more information, call (517) 355-2370 .
A WORLD OF ARTS AND CULTURE AT MSU
If you like what you experienced at GLFF, there's a world of arts and culture at MSU too. Explore your world through the vibrant cultural community that is Michigan State University. Discover the hundreds of performances, exhibitions, and special programs that enrich lives on campus, in the community, and throughout the world.
Arts and culture at MSU play a critical role in nurturing the human spirit while contributing to a richer quality of life. Museums, galleries, and gardens along with libraries, historic sites, and performance spaces provide a catalyst for cultural exchange of diverse ideas and inspirations. At the same time, audiences on campus and around the world take advantage of academic and research outreach programs such as public broadcasting, online resources, and publications.
Join us in exploring a world of arts and culture at Michigan State University. Learn more at http://artsandculture.msu.edu.
