In an increasingly fast-paced globalized society, how does one preserve ancient traditions and cultural heritage?<\/p>\n
Over the past year, a group of professors and students from Goucher\u2019s Master of Arts in Cultural Sustainability (M.A.C.S.) Program has been working on two projects addressing that question and exploring a range of innovative approaches to highlight the traditions, customs, practices, and art forms of Maryland communities.<\/p>\n
When Amy Skillman, the M.A.C.S. academic director, heard about the opportunity to collaborate on a proposal to create a Maryland Folklife Center, she immediately pulled together Goucher faculty, alumnae\/i, and students to envision what such a center would encompass for the National Council for Traditional Arts (NCTA), an organization dedicated to the documentation of folk and traditional arts in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a unique opportunity for a hands-on learning experience in a professional team environment\u2014not just a graded assignment, but practical experience creating something that would be used and put into practice,\u201d says Skillman.<\/p>\n
Students, including Brandon Jones, M.A.C.S. \u201918<\/strong>;\u00a0Laura Williams \u201917, M.A.C.S. \u201918<\/strong>;\u00a0and Jenna Winton, M.A.C.S. \u201918<\/strong>, researched other folklife center models around the country and created a survey to evaluate stakeholder interest in varied options and institution content.<\/p>\n Numerous Goucher faculty members volunteered to help with the proposal, including Sociology and Anthropology Professor Rory Turner, who originally helped launch the M.A.C.S. Program. Frances Ramos-Font\u00e1n, director of Goucher\u2019s Futuro Latino Learning Center and M.A.C.S. student, took part in the project, as well, by translating the survey into Spanish.<\/p>\n Managed by the NCTA, the Goucher group was tasked with creating proposals for three different versions of what a Maryland Folklife Center could include. In any form, the center would offer information and resources for teachers, artists, and community organizers, as well as include interactive materials and lesson plans to bring the folk arts to a larger audience. They held nine community forums throughout the state to solicit feedback from stakeholders on the three proposed models, which included an online-only center, a new stand-alone center, or connecting the web of existing cultural centers around the state through a centralized administration and marketing office.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery week that we\u2019ve met with the students, they\u2019re doing this really intense data analysis work then pulling their heads out of it and having these conversations that are more about ethics, responsibility, and community impact,\u201d says Skillman.<\/p>\n The survey results and stakeholder feedback indicate that the network model, with a centralized administration hub, is the most popular. Next steps for the program will include developing funding models and conducting additional feasibility studies.<\/p>\n Michael Vlahovich, M.A.C.S. \u201917<\/strong>, and Heather Gerhart, M.A.C.S. \u201917<\/strong>, are another example of M.A.C.S. students and alumnae\/i working together to preserve traditional arts. They set out to find a way to capture personal narratives about two communities\u2019 culture through \u201cSaving What Matters,\u201d a cultural exchange service learning opportunity for students to document stories from Maryland and Bosnia.<\/p>\n The pair received a grant through the State Department\u2019s World Learning Organization, which focuses on international student exchanges. The grant provided the opportunity for Vlahovich\u2019s Coastal Heritage Foundation nonprofit to partner with the organization Cultural Heritage without Borders Bosnia-Herzegovina.<\/p>\n \u201cHeritage is the tool we are using to build a better relationship with a foreign country,\u201d says Vlahovich.<\/p>\n While Vlahovich\u2019s organization focuses on preserving the cultural heritage of Maryland\u2019s Chesapeake Bay maritime communities, Gerhart\u2019s experience with digital storytelling allowed the collaboration to teach Goucher students how to develop digital stories about what role women are playing in Chesapeake maritime life and share those virtually with Bosnian students who would be sharing stories about their ancient pottery heritage.<\/p>\n \u201cI trained in digital storytelling as part of my graduate Capstone project.\u202fI had an interest in narrative and the power of story, and I was also grappling with the ethics of speaking on behalf of the communities we work with as cultural researchers\u2014what privilege do we assume when we try to represent others and tell their stories?\u201d says Gerhart. \u201cA major goal of the work was for students to reflect on their reactions and assumptions and make these transparent to their audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Working with Skillman, they created an exchange that included five Goucher graduate students and students from the University of Sarajevo. Goucher students and alumnae\/i traveled to Bosnia-Herzegovina in May to visit artisans trained in an ancient pottery craft, while students from Bosnia traveled to the United States and went fishing on the Chesapeake Bay with watermen and women and experienced the traditional maritime lifestyle of the Eastern Shore.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was vast community support for this project,\u201d says Vlahovich of the many watermen and women, museums, and hosts on Maryland\u2019s Eastern Shore to participate in the in-person cultural exchange.<\/p>\n \u201cThe M.A.C.S. Program encourages its students to think deeply about ways to contribute to community vitality and social justice,\u201d says Gerhart.\u202f\u201cCultural sustainability practice is about working in partnership\u202fwith\u202fcommunities.\u201d<\/p>\n This summer, members of the Goucher community joined with those from the University of Sarajevo at Goucher to collaboratively share and reflect on their experiences in the Saving What Matters project.<\/p>\n