A regional non-profit working to “expand our understanding of ourselves and our neighbors by celebrating the everyday traditions of people who live and work in the American West.”
Activities
The Western Folklife Center hosts gatherings and events on a regular basis, including festivals, performances, and exhibitions. It also sponsors a wide range of educational programs at its Nevada cultural center, including workshops on storytelling and traditional Western arts. Finally, The Western Folklife Center contributes regularly to programming on public radio and television and offers the programming on CDs and DVDs, as well as through an online community. Throughout all of these activities, the Center hopes to invoke “a place of personal meaning”—the everyday traditions and experiences of the West, but also the evocative memories, emotions, and ideas that travel with people around the globe. Rather than focusing on a static and stereotypical culture, the Center hopes to provoke new thinking and challenge assumptions.
Relevant Project(s)
- Voices of Youth sends young people out into the communities with cameras and audio recording equipment, inviting them to capture their communities. With minimal training in folklore and ethnographic techniques, the students are able to connect with their communities and provide a new perspective on the West.
- Back at the Ranch—An Artful Life is an online exhibition focusing on the creative culture of ranching. With a loose definition of “art,” the project explores the long history of creating art—from ranch gear to stories and songs—on the working lands of the West.
- The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is the most famous of the Center’s events, celebrating life in the rural West. While poems scratched out by rough hands over rugged terrain are enough of a draw, the festival also features film, gear, music, stories, photography, and food.
- Deep West is an online community that invites collaboration and connections between people all over the world. With a focus on storytelling and audio/visual arts, the site offers visitors a chance to read poetry and experience the art of people from the West, as well as to contribute their own.
Relevant Methodologies
The activities and publications of the Western Folklife Center pit sentimentality and a deeply-rooted sense of place against a clear vision of the West today and a vision for the future. This unusual and provocative balance of motion and grounding, while not a method so to speak, is one of the most important aspects of the Center’s success. It spawns methods that embrace a multitude of Western cultures and identities, rather than simply focusing on the most obvious or accepted.
Region
American West
More Information
http://www.westernfolklife.org
501 Railroad St.
Elko, NV 89801
775-738-7508 (phone)
775-738-2900 (fax)