Congratulations to recipients of the first-annual FAP PDI Peer Consultation Travel Fund! Up to $9,000 was made available in 2025 to support FAPs to travel to engage in on-site, in-person consultations to further a professional development goal or project.
Elena Calderon-Patino (Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA)), Elisha Oliver (Texas Folklife), Summer Confuorto (Massachusetts Cultural Council),and Philitha Stemplys-Cowdrey (Connecticut Museum of Culture and History)
Funding will support a weekend retreat in Providence to further discuss how the group can continue to morph their New England support system into something fieldwide, assisting both colleagues and constituents. Elena, Elisha, Summer, and Philitha will visit communities around the Providence area to meet with members to get their views and opinions on the best ways institutions can provide support and form long-lasting, trusted relationships.
During the retreat, the group will engage in conversation with Elisha, Executive Director of Texas Folklife, to explore the impact and success of her programming across Texas. Together, the group will co-create a toolkit designed to support communities and their peers in other state agencies in documenting, producing, and presenting storytelling and oral histories. These toolkits will also serve as a source of professional development for traditional artists and culture bearers, offering guidance on topics such as grant writing and project planning. Ultimately, the hope is that these resources will empower community members to step into the role of folklorists—authentically sharing their own narratives—and help their organizations grow in sustainability, free from the influence of external cultural bias.
With Elena hosting in Providence, she will arrange visits to community centers, museums, and cultural events within these communities. The group will take this opportunity to meet with community members in order to discuss what communities expect and would like to see from institutional partnerships and funding. Some of these visits will include the Tomaquag Museum, The Korean American Association of Rhode Island and the Cape Verdean Progressive Center.
Kendell Henry (U.S. Virgin Islands Council on the Arts) and Michael Knoll (HistoryMiami Museum)
Kendell and Michael will host each other in person at each of their institutions to develop a plan of action for establishing the first folklife archive in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Visits will facilitate networking and collaboration, connecting each of them with new colleagues and organizations, building up a network of benefit to not only the proposed project, but also initiatives beyond the proposal.
Organized by Michael, Kendell’s travels to Miami will allow for first-hand learning about various aspects of HistoryMiami Museum’s work, including the workings of its folklife program, public archive and research center, and more. Kendell will also meet with colleagues at other Miami organizations undertaking relevant archival work. Ultimately, this trip will inform the identification of Kendell’s needs in developing an archive and provide example models of best practices in this field.
Michael’s trip to the islands will also serve multiple purposes. With Kendell, he will survey the existing and potential infrastructure, including possible partners and resources, for establishing the archive. This will involve site visits, meetings, and more. Michael will also offer a workshop on folklife documentation, archival work, and educational programming for Kendall’s colleagues in the cultural sector. Altogether, this trip will help identify how Kendell’s needs might be met and provide introductory training for his ongoing collaborators involved in public folklore-related work.
Emily Hartlerode, Oregon Folklife Network
OFN is using travel funds to bring a consultant to outline steps in one specific modality for diversifying their funding beyond federal and state grants, developing a greater operating base. The visit will help advance recommendations in OFN’s 2023 Strategic Financial Plan sponsored by the Oregon Arts Commission, to help fortify a more sustainable financial ecosystem.
In pursuit of generating fee-based services like consultancy, and other marketplace deliverables, OFN will deliver a grant-funded in-person workshop in April 2026, leveraging our FTA expertise into curriculum for library professionals. This year, staff will develop lectures, scripts, role playing activities, small and large group exercises that support allied professionals with skills to improve their success working with cultural leaders like folk artists on OFN’s Culture Keepers Roster. This transfers OFN’s existing expertise into skills-building modules on cross-cultural communications, shifting from transactional to relational values, and investing in artist hospitality equal to visitor experience. We require an outside expert to support our success and fortify a path for future fee-for-service deliverables.
This consultant (TBD by an RFP process) will travel in early fall 2025 to attend a trial run of OFN’s 90-minute workshop delivered to our museum colleagues at the University of Oregon, where we are housed. The consultant will become familiar with OFN’s position within our university context, meet key partners who can offer resources, and consider these among the strategies they recommend to OFN. Being on-site is necessary for a consultant to accurately assess the trial workshop, meet multiple stakeholders in situ, and evaluate the diverse facilities and resources as assets available for entrepreneurship. Furthermore, coming to OFN will likely leverage partnership funds from other UO campus programs who may offer a speaker stipend or sponsor lunch with students, maximizing funding and impact opportunities that will attract a strong candidate.