WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016
The Maryland State Arts Council and Maryland Traditions Seek Consultants to Assess the Feasibility of a Maryland Folklife Center
BALTIMORE, Md.—The Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) is seeking proposals from qualified consultants or consultant teams to assess the feasibility of creating a Maryland Folklife Center, which would serve as a public venue for the study, documentation, interpretation, and presentation of traditional arts and culture in Maryland.
The selected consultant or consultant team will conduct a feasibility study assessing the needs of Maryland’s communities and interest groups, and serve to determine the costs involved in creating a center that suits these needs as well as the mission of the MSAC. Full details are included in the Request for Proposals document linked at the bottom of this page.
“We are very excited to move forward with this study, which will assess the possibility of creating a Maryland Folklife Center,” said Theresa Colvin, MSAC Executive Director. “As a venue for folk and traditional artists, a gathering place for the community, and a repository for information about Maryland folklife, such a center would serve residents from across the state, visitors, and researching scholars, while also connecting to regional and national interests in the folk and traditional arts and broader arts communities.”
The MSAC has been home to a folklife program since 1974, making it the oldest continuously running state folklife program in the nation. Now called Maryland Traditions, the folklife program has built a robust archive of Maryland folklife, as well as relationships with diverse cultural communities, through statewide documentation efforts, apprenticeship grants, project grants, an annual folklife festival, annual heritage awards, and other public programming focusing on living cultural traditions.
Recognizing the folklife program’s continuous trajectory of growth as a significant institutional and cultural asset, the MSAC has made it a part of its strategic plan to explore the feasibility of creating an innovative center for the study and presentation of Maryland folklife. The center’s main aim would reflect the mission of the Maryland folklife program to promote the importance of cultural traditions in Maryland, and to help safeguard these traditions for the future.
For information on the project or the RFP, or to view reference materials on the work of Maryland Traditions, see: https://ncta-usa.org/MSAC_RFP
Or contact:
Julia Olin, Consulting Project Manager
Executive Director, National Council for the Traditional Arts
8757 Georgia Ave. #450
Silver Spring, MD 20910
MSAC_RFP@ncta-usa.org
THE RFP:
REFERENCE MATERIALS:
Study: Forloney on US Folklife Centers
Maryland Traditions Online Projects
Notes on Visioning the Maryland Folklife Center
Maryland Folklife Program Assessment
Survey: 2016 Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival
Program Books:
Maryland Traditions Heritage Awards
2014
2013
2012
2011
Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival
2016
2015
2013
2012
2011