Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
The 1998 Festival program formed part of a larger, multi-year Río Grande/Río Bravo Basin project that included:
Folklife Field Research Schools held in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado to train local academic and community scholars and to direct local research for the Folklife Festival and other public programs;
Production of local public programs in collaboration with local organizations to present research carried out in the region (sponsored by Texas Folklife Resources and the Texas Council for the Humanities);
Smithsonian Folklife Festival programs for 1998 and 2000;
Production of a traveling exhibition, educational materials, and a film documentary.
This collaborative training and research approach built upon several years of work with binational institutions, researchers, and community members, some of whom had participated in earlier Smithsonian projects in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands region. The particular challenge was to research, plan, and produce a program on how local cultures contribute to a sustainable river-basin environment. The Smithsonian's approach was to engage scholars, educators, and individuals - whether formally or nonformally trained - who are involved in community cultural work. We sought to understand relationships between culture and environment and to see how contemporary traditions can be relevant to balancing human prosperity with environmental sustainability. Three questions guided the project: 1) What kinds of communities live in the region today? 2) What is their traditional knowledge for managing the environment? 3) Can local culture provide a foundation for sustainable development projects?
These questions led to in-depth explorations of the many meanings of the Río Grande/Río Bravo. The 1998 Festival offered initial answers through a small Festival program that previewed cultural regions, expressive traditions, and issues that were featured in subtantially greater depth at the 2000 Festival program, El Río.
Olivia Cadaval and Cynthia L. Vidaurri were Curators, and Heidi McKinnon was Program Coordinator; Patricia Fernandez de Castro was Research Advisor.
This project was cosponsored by El Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes with support from the U.S.-Mexico Fund for Culture (The Rockefeller Foundation, Fundación Cultural Bancomer, the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes), SBC Foundation, Texas Folklife Resources, and the Texas Council for the Humanities. Folklife Fieldwork Research Schools were supported by Colorado College, Tierra Wools, the University of New Mexico, University of Texas-Pan American, and a grant from Smithsonian Outreach Funds.
Researchers:
Research Coordinators
Juanita Elizondo Garza, Rodolfo Garza Gutiérrez, Enrique Lamadrid, Héctor Romero Lecanda, Mario Montaño, Cirila Quintero, Socorro Tabuenca
Researchers
Armando Acosta, Estevan Arellano, Alejandro Arrecillas, Angelica Bautista, Mike Blakeman, Norma Cantú, Imelda Castro Santillán, David Champion, Jerry Chapman, Karen Chapman, Cynthia L. Chávez, Cynthia Cortez, Peter J. García, Gregorio Garza, Bárbara Gonzales, Steve Harris, Victor Manuel Hernández, Alma Jiménez, Ramón de León, Heidi H. McKinnon, Genevieve Mooser, Marisa Oliva, Francis Ortega, Beverly Ann Ortiz, Gustavo Palacio Flores, Marcos Rodríguez, Rose Rodríguez-Rabin, Erin Ross, Ken Rubin, Joanna Stewart, John Stockley, Bob Tenequer, Elaine Thatcher, Molly Timko, Curtis Tunnell, Ethel Warrior, William Warrior
Presenters:
David Champion, Juanita Elizondo Garza, Enrique Lamadrid, Ramón de León, Mario Montaño, Genevieve Mooser, Daniel Sheehy
Participants:
Charles Aguilar, musician, farmer, fiesta organizer, Bernalillo, New Mexico
Estevan Arellano, centenary rancher, historian, sculptor, writer, Embudo, New Mexico
Michael Blakeman, San Juan, Rio Grande National Forest, Del Norte, Colorado
José Guadalupe Alejandro Bautista, Ramámuri woodcarver, bilingual teacher, runner, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
David Champion, -- conjunto -- musician, Mercedes, Texas
José Cisneros, Big Bend National Park, Big Bend, Texas
Marta Cruz Moreno, Ramámuri basket weaver, seamstress, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Silvestre Amadeo Flores, -- conjunto -- musician, accordion tuner, Alice, Texas
Jesús Godínez, -- conjunto -- musician, Alice, Texas
Arnold Herrera, drum maker, drummer, educator, Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico
José Maldonado, -- conjunto -- musician, McAllen, Texas
Rita Morales Alvarez, -- maquiladora -- worker, brick maker, foodways, Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico
José Isabel Quiroz García, -- ixtle -- weaver, Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico
Moíses Quiroz Cortéz, Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico
Luis Román, retablo painter, muralist, sign painter, Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico
María Elena Russom, Tierra Wools weaver, Los Ojos, New Mexico
Juan Antonio Tapia, -- conjunto -- musician, Brownsville, Texas
Dolores Venegas, paper crafts, Río Bravo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Clemente Zamarripa, vaquero, horsehair braider, Santa Elena, Texas
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1998 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
