It is hard to celebrate the good work that Oregon Folklife Network has accomplished in the first part of 2022 while violence in the U.S. and globally reveals tremendous suffering caused by intolerance. When asked how America appears from the outside, Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, Admiral James Stavridis replied, “we lose the ability to step forward, be an example to the world, if we cannot solve these problems of disorder in our house here at home.” OFN, alongside folklorists around the nation, combat social and political tension with our tools for finding common ground. But is it enough?
The American Folklore Society rushes to aid Ukrainian scholars to preserve their archives of songs, photographs and videos documenting dances, festivals, and cultural celebrations. New York CityLore invites I’m From: Across the Great Divide poems, to get Americans from different backgrounds and political orientations talking to one another about our shared humanity. Meanwhile steadfast programming like the National Endowment for the Arts annual National Heritage Fellowships honor America’s finest master artists whose lifelong commitments to tradition weaves our collective national fabric.
Here in Oregon, OFN does our part to strengthen our unity with statewide programming that celebrates our diversity. We recently brought Western women’s traditions to the High Desert Museum stage, and proudly welcomed as courtesy staff, Native colleague and consultant, Deana Dartt. Watch for this summer’s Oregon Culture Nights to connect with Persian, Black, Irish, and Asian Indian artists from our tenth Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program cohort. As folklorists, we readily marry conservative goals to preserve age-old practices, with liberal goals to sustain all cultures equitably. Harmonizing these apparent opposites is critical to healing society locally and globally.
Supporting Oregon Folklife Network with your donation, advocacy, and participation directly and positively impacts social cohesion in our state, and is critically important to our world. Your support enables us to elevate Oregon’s diverse expressions of individuality while amplifying our common drive to intimately know and practice our cultural roots. Share our newsletter with a friend. Follow us on social media. Donate, and double down your cultural support while leveraging a Cultural Trust tax credit. Your family, your friends, and your neighbors near and far will benefit.
Thank you!
Emily West Hartlerode, Interim Director