Check out Saturday programming that bridges AFS and the Oral History Association Annual Meetings. Local Organizing committees from OHA and AFS have been working on local collaborations, including a celebratory block party to build relationships with local writers, researchers, and tradition bearers who work in the Greater Atlanta Region and AFS/ OHA supporters.
AFS is excited to deepen our partnership with the Oral History Association at this year’s Annual Meeting, with Saturday October 18 as a key day of overlap for networking and collaboration. For those planning to arrive for this collaboration, explore the following highlights. Check the Annual Meeting program for up-to-date information about sessions.
Daytime Workshops, Site Visits, and Celebrations
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. – Workshop: Teaching With Folk Sources
(registration required on the Local Learning website)
This interactive workshop will feature speakers and content from Local Learning, Vermont Folklife, the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program, New York Folklore, the Veterans Oral History Project, and the Library of Congress. Over the past four years, Local Learning has worked collaboratively with partners across the nation to use American Folklife Center (AFC) collections of the Library of Congress to engage, inspire, and inform learners of all ages. Engage with new curriculum, learn how to activate your archives in learning spaces, and build standards-connected activities focusing on building and accessing oral history and ethnographic primary sources.
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Community Writing Workshop
Registration is $30/person (includes a workshop, lunch and coffee/snacks), is capped at 25 participants, and will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Creative Writing and Storytelling Section and the Independent Folklorists Section present The Troubling Intersection of Past and Present: A Place-based Creative Writing Workshop. Come write at the Wren’s Nest! The Wren’s Nest is the museum home of Joel Chandler Harris, a 19th C folklorist and journalist best known for authoring the Uncle Remus tales.
Come write at the Wren’s Nest, museum home of Joel Chandler Harris, 19th C folklorist and journalist who authored the Uncle Remus tales. The Wren’s Nest is located in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood, known for its culture, diversity, and evolution. Participants will experience writing in place through exercises in layered observation, historical complexity, personal reflection, and generative writing. This workshop is for writers and creators of any genre and level of experience. It ends with a celebratory, voluntary sharing of works created during the workshop. Explore place, gain community, and experience your own degree of personal transformation.
This workshop is sponsored by the Creative Writing and Storytelling Section and the Independent Folklorists Section.
2:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. – AFS-OHA Joint Block Party
Location: Project South, 9 Gammon St SE, Atlanta, GA 30315
This community event in historic South Atlanta will be an opportunity for Oral History Association annual meeting guests and American Folklore Society conference participants to interact and experience some of Atlanta’s material culture. There will be a number of food trucks, booksellers, local organizations, music, and limited free parking. Free transportation to and from the Crowne Plaza Midtown hotel every 30 minutes will be provided. This is a free event open to the public along with information on archiving, folklore and oral history for your community.
Vendors, artists, and organizations will be provided with a table and 1 or 2 chairs on a first-come, first-served basis, so sign up fast. There will also be some wifi access, but vendors are encouraged to utilize their own hotspots for sales.
Meet your host: Project South was founded as the Institute to Eliminate Poverty & Genocide in 1986. Their work is rooted in the legacy of the Southern Freedom Movement and a mission of cultivating strong social movements in the South. Project South builds regional movement power with partner organizations through collaborative organizing, policy work, movement communications, governance projects, and regional campaigns.
Vendor registration form coming soon!
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Visit the Center for Puppetry Arts
Open to all Annual Meeting attendees. *FREE: Register by September 17th*
Participants will meet at the Center for Puppetry Arts where members of the museum’s exhibitions staff will discuss the museum-specific aspects of their work and how they tie performances into interpretation. After touring the museum, we can head to the AFS & OHA block party! Open to all conference attendees.
Sponsored by AFS Folklore and Museums Section.
Evening
Reflecting on the Impact of MACP’s Folk Arts & Cultures Grants
Welcome Reception: A Taste of Georgia
Atlanta Folklore Film Series, Double Bill: Each Bead and Musu Simi