8 Complete Kentucky Arts Council Community Scholars
Training in Booneville
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 27, 2016) —When veteran English teacher Stella Baker retired in July, she wanted to stay involved in her Owsley County community, and she wanted to do it in a meaningful way. She was one of eight participants who enrolled in the Kentucky Arts Council’s Community Scholars program to learn how she could be a more effective community asset.
“The Owsley County Historical Society has been working to restore the community pioneer village,” Baker said. “They’ve had a lot of artifacts donated, and they need to be researched. I’m going to be able to help with that.”
The Community Scholars Program trains members of a community in documentation, interpretation and dissemination of their unique local cultural resources and traditional art forms. Training consists of several sessions and occurs twice a year in different communities across the state. Certification as a Community Scholar opens up many opportunities for future research projects.
Baker and her fellow participants completed the course Sept. 29 in Booneville.
“Owsley County is one of the few county school systems that still has a school fair,” Baker said. “As a teacher, it was sometimes more trouble than it was fun, but I wanted to find out why we kept doing it.”
Baker said the fair had been around so long that parents and grandparents come back to the event when it happens.
“It’s a big part of who they are,” she said. “It’s what’s going to keep the next generation going.”
Ultimately, Baker said she’d like to use her Community Scholars training to establish exactly when the fair started and to curate an exhibit detailing the history of the fair.
Baker and her fellow graduates will join a network of more than 200 Community Scholars across the state who are qualified to identify, document, conserve and present living traditions, culture, arts and oral history of their respective communities.
The new Community Scholars, listed by name and county, are:
•Glenn Baker, Lee
•Stella Baker, Lee
•Jennifer Bryant, Owsley
•Sue Christian, Owsley
•Paul Hitchcock, Rowan
•Cheryl McCauley, Owsley
•Linda Bowling, Owsley
•JoAnne Richardson, Owsley
For more information about the arts council’s Community Scholars Program, contact Mark Brown, arts council folk and traditional arts director, at 502-892-3115 or [email protected].
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 27, 2016) —When veteran English teacher Stella Baker retired in July, she wanted to stay involved in her Owsley County community, and she wanted to do it in a meaningful way. She was one of eight participants who enrolled in the Kentucky Arts Council’s Community Scholars program to learn how she could be a more effective community asset.
“The Owsley County Historical Society and the Owsley County Alliance for Recreation and Entertainment have been working to restore the community pioneer village,” Baker said. “They’ve had a lot of artifacts donated, and they need to be researched. I’m going to be able to help with that.”
The Community Scholars Program trains members of a community in documentation, interpretation and dissemination of their unique local cultural resources and traditional art forms. Training consists of several sessions and occurs twice a year in different communities across the state. Certification as a Community Scholar opens up many opportunities for future research projects.
Baker and her fellow participants completed the course Sept. 29 in Booneville.
“Owsley County is one of the few county school systems that still has a school fair,” Baker said. “As a teacher, it was sometimes more trouble than it was fun, but I wanted to find out why we kept doing it.”
Baker said the fair had been around so long that parents and grandparents come back to the event when it happens.
“It’s a big part of who they are,” she said. “It’s what’s going to keep the next generation going.”
Ultimately, Baker said she’d like to use her Community Scholars training to establish exactly when the fair started and to curate an exhibit detailing the history of the fair.
Baker and her fellow graduates will join a network of more than 200 Community Scholars across the state who are qualified to identify, document, conserve and present living traditions, culture, arts and oral history of their respective communities.
The new Community Scholars, listed by name and county, are:
•Glenn Baker, Lee
•Stella Baker, Lee
•Jennifer Bryant, Owsley
•Sue Christian, Owsley
•Paul Hitchcock, Rowan
•Cheryl McCauley, Owsley
•Linda Bowling, Owsley
•JoAnne Richardson, Owsley
For more information about the arts council’s Community Scholars Program, contact Mark Brown, arts council folk and traditional arts director, at 502-892-3115 or [email protected].