Come join us for our Oregon Culture Nights series highlighting our current year’s Traditional Apprenticeship Artists Program awardees. The Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program is a yearly program that offers a $3,500 stipend to traditional master artists and culture keepers to aid in the teaching of their traditional arts to an apprentice from their same community. Each year, a select few are given this funding to pass on their traditions to others, at the end of the program the artists are required to showcase the work they have been doing with their apprentice. The Oregon Folklife Network offers them a spot in our Oregon Culture Nights where we can showcase their work to our community.

August 10^th Sreevidhya Chandramouli:

The series will begin in August where we will start off the event with Sreevidhya Chandramouli who is a tenth-generation descendant from the illustrious Karaikudi Vina Tradition of South India. The Vina is a traditional Indian stringed instrument. Sreevidhya’s apprentice this year is Nidhi Yadalam who has been working with Sreevidhya for a few five years. They will be giving a performance and Q&A on Thursday, August 10^th at 6:00 pm.

August 17^th Antonio Huerta:

Please join us to welcome back Antonio Huerta, who will perform the following week, the week of August 17th, where he will perform traditional charrería, a traditional skill in horsemanship, cattle work, and sophisticated rope work. Antonio grew up in Jalisco Mexico where his family made their living farming and raising cattle, horses, donkeys, pigs, and chickens. He learned charrería and his horsemanship skills from his father and grandfather and hopes to pass on these traditions to others. His apprentice this year is Miguel Ruiz Topete, Jr. a young Charro from Corvallis, Oregon. Miguel learned from his father, who trained horses and inspired his passion for riding, roping, and cattle work. Antonio will be showcasing his rope skills during his performance and giving a demonstration on charrería, before opening the floor for a quick Q&A.

August 24^th Kumu Hula Andrea Luchese:

Next up in the series on Thursday August 24^th, is Kuma Hula (Master teacher) Andrea Luchese, the founder and teacher for for Hālau Hula Ka Pi’o O Ke Ānuenue “the arch of the rainbow,”, a Hawaiian cultural dance school. She learned under the teachings of Kumu Hula Raylene Haʻaleleʻa Kawaiaeʻa and Kumu Hula Keala Ching in the hula traditions of Halau ʻO Haʻaleleʻa and Na Wai ʻIwi Ola. Her apprentice is Tia ‘Ohi’a Lehua Kumakua ‘Ahihi McLean, born and raised in Maui. She began her schooling in Hula at age five, reignited her passion for it as an adult, and began learning from Kuma Hula Andrea in 2010. Please join us to hear Kuma Hula Andrea and her apprentice Tia for their performance and Q&A.

Each Performance will start at 6:00 and last the full hour, with a fifteen-minute Q&A.

After years of ups and downs in funding, the Oregon Folklife Network is pleased to announce it has been awarded $20,000 from the Oregon Arts Commission. This grant is designated to assist OFN in reaching its goal of financial stability after significant, campus-wide funding cuts in 2018.

Major revisions to the University of Oregon’s budget model at that time reduced the Oregon Folklife Network’s annual budget by $100,000. This revision was fortunately not based on OFN’s performance. Nevertheless, the drastic reduction in funding meant that OFN had to look elsewhere for support. Despite the massive disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal rescue funds allowed some much-needed, yet temporary stability for the last few years.

With those rescue funds coming to an end, OFN had to make a choice: reduce the scope of its programs and focus more closely on a narrow set of goals, or commit to building back up its annual budget to support a wider range of traditional arts- and culture- based programming for the state of Oregon.

The Oregon Arts Commission, a longtime partner of OFN, granted this $20,000 to help create a strategic financial plan, which will allow OFN to continue offering and refining a variety of cultural events. It has decided to use this grant to hire Kelley Nonprofit Consulting to provide a comprehensive strategic plan. Kelley has a reputation for guiding cultural agencies serving underserved communities. OFN acting director, Emily Hartlerode, is confident that their assistance will be a great benefit: “I feel like we’re in good hands, working with people who are compassionate about the kind of work we do, and conversant with the kinds of funders that support the work that we do.”

This much-needed operational assistance will help OFN achieve its goals for stability, hiring new staff, and supporting existing and new statewide folklife programs. Thank you again to the Oregon Arts Commission and Kelley Nonprofit Consulting.

Written by Jessica Oravetz