Folk Arts Fellowship Panel Report

Memorandum

The Folk Arts Fellowship Review Panel was held on October 22, 2010 to recommend awards to individual artists.

Ten (10) eligible Folk Arts Fellowship applications were reviewed by the panel. The panel recommended two (2) Fellowship awards for a total of $5,000.

A complete list of all reviewed applications, final scores, and award recommendations is provided on the following pages.

Panel Meeting Budget:The budget for the Artist Fellowship Program was $50,000. The panel budgets for Music, Theatre, Dance, Literature, Interdisciplinary Arts, and Folk Arts were determined by the number/demand of applications to each discipline.

Panel comment was as follows:
Panelists discussed the option of a preliminary staff review to remove applications that are not actual folk arts applications. One panelist felt that folk art and traditional art need to be redefined. Another panelist suggested everyone read Kristin Congdon's book on folk art.

One panelist commented on the challenge of an online only application for those that fall into this discipline and felt that this was the reason for the low number of applications. She also suggested working with a staff folklorist and finding more panelists focused in particular areas of folk arts.

Public comment was as follows:
Members of the public were in attendance by teleconference.

Panel Biographies

Bob Bethke

Sarasota County

Bob Bethke is a folklorist and retired Associate Professor of English at the University of Delaware. He has been a resident of Sarasota County since 2001. His specialties include American regional and occupational folklife, traditional folksong and folk music, oral folk narrative, visual folk art and material culture. A multiple grants recipient, Bob has done extensive fieldwork in the Adirondacks, Delaware, Alaska, and Yukon Territory, Canada. He is the author of two books, monograph, LP, CDs, and approximately 50 articles and reviews. He has been a consultant to films, videos, and public radio programs, and he has served on folk arts panels for the states of Florida and Delaware. Most recently, he served as editor for "W is for the Woods: Traditional Adirondack Music & Music Making," an award-winning website produced by Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (www.tauny.org). Bob holds a Ph.D in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania.

Andrea Graham,

Laramie, Wyoming

Andrea Graham is a Folklife Specialist in the American Studies Program at the University of Wyoming, where she conducts fieldwork around the state and produces public programs. She also serves on contract as the Traditional Arts Program Coordinator for the South Dakota Arts Council. Andrea has worked for state and regional arts and cultural organizations in Virginia, Tennessee, Florida and Nevada, including ten years as the Folk Arts Coordinator for the Nevada Arts Council. She has also worked as an independent folklorist conducting fieldwork and producing programs in California, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. She holds an M.A. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania, and has worked in public folklore since 1980.

Shane Rasmussen

Natchitoches, Louisiana

Shane Rasmussen was born in 1969 in Hollywood, California, and grew up in California and Oregon. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oregon in 1997 with a double major in English and History he spent four years in Narita, Japan, teaching English as a Second Language. Returning to the U.S., he received his M.A. in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2003. He was the recipient of the Richard G. Neiheisel Phi Beta Kappa Endowed Award in December 2003. In 2007 he received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is now the director of the Louisiana Folklife Center and an assistant professor of English at Northwestern State University (NSU) in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He is the editor of the Louisiana Folklife Journal, the co-founder and co-chair of the Conference on Louisiana Studies, and the founder and co-chair of the NSU Louisiana High School Essay Contest. His research interests are in folklore, cultural, and death studies. With his wife, Susan, he is the parent of four children Wyatt, Audrey, Bridget, and Sophie. The family dogs, Molly and Mrs. Beagle, round out the pack.

Sangeetha Sridhar

Broward County

Individual Artist Sangeetha Sridhar is a senior disciple of Padmabhushan Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam and has been under her tutelage for 14 years. She has had the opportunity to work closely with her Guru in almost all of her productions. Recently she toured South India and performed at many Shiva temples as part of the "Natyanjali Dance Festival" for Shivaratri.  In 2007, she staged her maiden group production Shivanjali and donated the entire proceeds to Bharatamuni Foundation for Asian Culture. In the past year she premiered her second major production Pravaham – The Eternal Tales of Rivers and a short dance drama Kannan Charitram. Bharatanritya Seva Mani, Nritya Salini and a fellowship grant from the State of Florida are some of the rewards for her artistic endeavors.

Sangeetha taught for over 6 years under her Guru's guidance at Nrithyodaya, Chennai to complete her Nattuvangam training.  Sangeetha runs Padmasri Dance Academy where she trains motivated students in the Vazhuvoor bani incorporating her Guru's unique style of dancing based on Natyasastra.   She has also received training in classical carnatic music from her mother and Guru Smt. Vasumathy Swamy.  A performer, choreographer and instructor Sangeetha was also a member of the cultural committee of Shiva Vishnu temple for a few years and the chairperson of the committee for in 2007 and 2008. Academically qualified with a Masters degree in Biochemistry and a Masters Degree in Computer Science, Sangeetha heads the IT department at a private organization in Miami.

2011 Folk Arts Fellowship Panel Funding Recommendations