VOL. 12  NO. 3

	In This Issue
	2005 Kentucky Folklife Festival
	On the National Front
	Arts Council News
	KAC Announces FY 2006 Grantees Community Conversations Continue Nominations for Governors Awards in the Arts Arts in the Kentucky Economy Women's Summit
	Craft Marketing News
	Arts in Education
	Focus on Folklife
	Resources and Reports
	Quotable Quote
	Hot Dates

The Blue Moon is published bi-monthly by the Kentucky Arts Council, a state agency in the Commerce Cabinet. Please send comments, questions and information to the Blue Moon, Kentucky Arts Council, Old Capitol Annex, 300 West Broadway, Frankfort, KY 40601-1987 or call 502-564-3757, toll free 1-888-833-2787.
E-mail: kyarts@ky.gov

A Celebration of Kentucky's Living Arts, Traditions, and Communities: The Kentucky Folklife Festival 2005

The Kentucky Folklife Festival returns to downtown Frankfort this September 15, 16, and 17. Thousands of visitors will enjoy music, food, crafts, stories, and unforgettable encounters with a wide array of artists from across the commonwealth.

Since 1997, the Festival has been a showcase for Kentucky's diverse folk culture. Each artist who appears at the Festival has been researched by folklorists or community scholars, and has been identified as representing living community art forms and traditions. Three days of demonstrations, performances, and concerts provide audience members with inside perspectives on diverse groups who call Kentucky "home." Visitors also gain insight about their own folk culture and everyday artistic expression.

New in 2005: Fish and Wildlife

One highlight at this year's Festival will be occupational folk culture of the men and women of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR), along with the communities they serve. Research conducted during a state-sponsored oral history project of retirees from KDFWR revealed that the employees work closely with diverse groups across the state. These folk groups include hunters, fishermen and women, families, and children. The staff reaches out to youth through public education programs in the schools and KDFWR-sponsored summer camps.

A group of boys learn from Fish and Wildlife experts in this 1950 photo taken at Camp Currie. This camp in western Kentucky has a long tradition of wildlife and conservation education.

The KDFWR area at the Festival will host a reunion for retirees of the Department from as far back as 1941. Visitors will meet some of these wonderful people as they share their stories, jokes, duties, responsibilities, and other insider knowledge through talk stages and demonstrations. One may hear tales of catching poachers and long nights spent in forests and rivers for the sake of wildlife conservation. Also, they will reveal their unique camaraderie through games, tricks played on one another, and meanings of their nicknames. The workers are bound in a unique fellowship based on their understandings of wildlife as well as the humans who interact with it.

Demonstrations will include duck-, goose-, and turkey-calling contests, building a duck blind, fishing traditions and techniques, and a recreating some of the remarkable learning experiences that occur at the summer camps. The Fish and Wildlife area will be an exciting place to celebrate the work and culture of people who dedicate their lives to conserving Kentucky's natural and cultural resources.

Dance at the Frankfort Convention Center

The downtown Frankfort Convention Center will become a dance hall during the Festival. Activities will include performances, workshops, and a dance floor for anyone who wants to learn moves from a variety of Kentucky dancers and dance groups. Salsa, cumbia, square, contra, step, and polka will all take place under one roof. Dancers from ethnic groups--such as East Indians, Native Americans, Irish, Bangladeshis, Cambodians, and Bosnians--will perform and teach at the Convention Center.

Latino dancers teach salsa to visitors of the 2003 Kentucky Folklife Festival.

Barbecue

Among the Festival's most popular attractions are its foodways demonstrations. Along with a large variety of food traditions brought to Kentucky from all over the world, this year features the traditions of barbecue in western Kentucky. Three vendors from the region will sell their barbecue on the grounds, while visitors partake and learn about cultural expression through food.

...And More!

The Community Crossroads area, which features insider perspectives on some of Kentucky's diverse communities, made its debut at the last Festival. Continuing this year, Latino and Deaf communities will be explored, while various other groups make appearances in the changing "Today's Communities" tent.

Festival visitors will also explore the commonwealth's great diversity in the "Who is a Kentuckian?" Tent, and enjoy evening concerts with Kentucky legends such as Ricky Skaggs.

The Kentucky Folklife Festival is sponsored by the Kentucky Arts Council and Kentucky Historical Society, agencies of the Commerce Cabinet. For more information and updates, or to register a school tour, visit http://folklife.ky.gov.

The Highway 23 Driving Tour and the Kentucky Folklife Festival

This year, travelers will drive down Highway 23, the "Country Music Highway," put in a CD or cassette, and hear stories, songs, history, and heritage of sites outside the windshield. Highway 23 legend Ricky Skaggs narrates the audio tour, which accompanies a tour guide book.

The driving tour is sponsored by the Kentucky Arts Council, the Kentucky Historical Society, and the Highway 23 Cultural Heritage Network. After months of research and planning, this innovative tourism project will be released in September, in time for the Kentucky Folklife Festival. Ricky Skaggs and others will perform at the Festival's Saturday evening concert that celebrates the music of Highway 23.

The Kentucky Folklife Festival will take place September 15, 16, and 17 in downtown Frankfort. Volunteer information is available by contacting kate.hesseldenz@ky.gov. Teachers may register school groups to tour the Festival at http://folklife.ky.gov. Also, contact the Kentucky Folklife Program for information on the VIP (Very Important Presenter) program, a behind-the-scenes workshop for organizers of other festivals. See the Blue Moon headline page for a feature story on the Festival, and for further information and updates, visit http://folklife.ky.gov.

Finally, the Friends of the Festival email newsletter bring subscribers in touch with the latest happenings, changes, and special events that surround the Kentucky Folklife Festival. To receive this free service, simply send an email to Mark Brown at mark.brown@ky.gov and ask to be part of the "in the know" Festival crowd.

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