Folklife and Ethnic Art

Folklorist Residencies

Folklorist residencies focus on contemporary, living traditions, authentically transmitted within a cultural group. Regional cultural specialists collaborate with teachers in designing and implementing hands-on activities with teachers, students and the community.

Residencies last 5 or more days and include teacher inservice workshops and hands-on activities with core groups. Folklorist residencies often also include visiting community folk artists and tradition bearers and students involved in fieldwork. Schools can coordinate folklorist residencies with other projects and artist residencies to provide the conceptual framework for multi-cultural understanding.

Folk and Traditional Artist Referrals 

Looking for community folk artists and tradition bearers from the diverse cultural groups living in southwestern Pennsylvania? Rivers of Steel's Department of Cultural Conservation has conducted ethnographic surveys of many Southwestern Pennsylvania communities and identified some of the many folk artists and tradition bearers of the region. Community resource people can be involved in your school in interviews, visits, performances, demonstrations or multi-day artist residencies.

Folk Artist Training 

Workshops to prepare regional folk artists to present and involve students in interactive traditional arts activities are conducted regularly.

Reference Library 

Rivers of Steel is creating a reference collection of folklife education resources. The collection includes: classroom activities and curricular materials, profiles of model programs and publications of various groups' traditions.

Apprenticeship Exhibition 

Tricks of the Trade is a interactive exhibition of beautiful photographs and information about traditional arts apprenticeships in Pennsylvania. A student treasure hunt activity guide accompanies the exhibition. This travelling exhibition is available for display at your school.