South Florida Folklife Center. Folk Arts in the Schools Program - 1987-1989

This series consists of materials documenting the Folk Arts in the Schools Program, a project created by the Historical Association of Southern Florida (now HistoryMiami Museum) and Dade County Public Schools to cultivate local students’ appreciation for traditional and folk arts of various ethnic groups. The program was intended to develop students’ aesthetic sensibilities and self-esteem by presenting high-quality examples of traditional arts created by skilled practitioners, as well as expanding students’ knowledge of folk arts as distinct from art forms normally taught in the schools. Schools with large ethnic and minority populations were targeted for participation. An initial pilot project developed curriculum materials based on fieldwork and bibliographic research derived from “Traditions: The South Florida Folk Festival” (HMF9004) and specifically tailored to the needs of the Haitian, Latino, and African-American students in Edison Senior High School in Miami. The program was led by Tina Bucuvalas, then Folklife curator for The Historical Association of Southern Florida and supported by grants from Arts in Education Program of the Florida Arts Council the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). In 1987, Bucuvalas wrote a teacher guide for a folk arts course and collaborated with teacher Connie Favret to create exercises aimed at elementary and secondary students; subsequently, Buculvalas and Favret conducted classroom sessions and teacher workshops. Materials include: program proposals, agreements, budgets, and correspondence; notes and evaluations; and photographic prints, as well as 35mm slides, and contact sheets.

Additional digital formats of audio, video, and image files available: Records were digitized 2015 – 2016. Users must contact staff ahead of visit for access.

Arranged into two series by format.

Digital materials available on Folklife Archive external drive.

Finding Aid Authors: Katherine L. Fleming, David Font, Vanessa Navarro, and Katharine Labuda 2014-2016.

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