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Missouri Folk Arts Program

University of Missouri

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Community Scholars Network

Q: What are community scholars?
A: Community scholars are experts in their regional culture and vital partners to Missouri Folk Arts staff. Smithsonian Folklife defined “community scholar” as an individual who has shown a significant contribution to the collection, preservation, and presentation of traditional culture in a community or region, without formal [academic] training in folklore or an allied field.

In our experience, community scholars come from many walks of life, represent a wide range of ages, and hail from all regions. The defining factor among this diverse group is their deep knowledge about local culture and traditions, plus their strong desire to sustain and share that knowledge in the present for the future.

Between 2010 and 2018, MFAP bolstered its advisory network through the Community Scholars Workshop Series in West Plains, St. Louis, Springfield, Ava, Hannibal, Mt. Vernon, Ste. Genevieve, Ironton, Columbia, Jefferson City, Fredericktown, and Doniphan. In those workshops, participants gained hands-on experience with digital recording equipment and fieldwork practices during field trips and interviews. In classroom sessions, visiting folklorists and local cultural experts taught a range of topics: interview techniques, archival storage, digital editing, project development, storytelling, and public presentation. Additionally, in 2020, Missouri Folk Arts and the American Folklore Society offered an online Remote Fieldworking webinar series. Those Missouri workshop alumni function today as presenters, blog writers, documentarians, and project partners.

Missouri Folk Arts happily entered into partnership in fall of 2023 with Arkansas Folk & Traditional Arts (AFTA) to offer a no-charge, online training opportunity for Arkansans and Missourians who are interested in finding, documenting, and presenting community culture, folklife, and traditional arts.

The six session program launched on September 12, 2023 and ended on November 21, 2023. During the program, participants developed projects (large or small) to practice the skills learned.

Missouri Folk Arts aims to prepare Community Scholars to feel confident in developing projects such as: oral history collections, exhibits large and small, web and digital content, cultural surveys/inventories on community traditions, and more.

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Show Me Folk

MISSOURI FOLK ARTS ANNOUNCES 2025 LIVING TRADITIONS FELLOWS!

Missouri Folk Arts Program Announces 2025 Living Traditions Fellows May 12, 2025 COLUMBIA, MO – The Missouri Folk Arts Program is excited to announce recipients of the 2025 Missouri Living Traditions Fellowship, an award to…

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May 12, 2025 Read More

Missouri Folk Arts Program Awarded a Missouri Humanities Grant for Speakers Series

Missouri Humanities has awarded a $12,550 grant to the Missouri Folk Arts Program to support an event series that shares the meaning and matter of its Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP), one of the oldest…

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Apr 11, 2025 Read More

Missouri Folk Arts, Focus Exhibit 2024-2025

Thanks for visiting to learn more about Missouri Folk Arts and the Focus Exhibit! Missouri Folk Arts is excited to curate a designated display case in our home at the University of Missouri’s Museum of…

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Apr 02, 2025 Read More
Missouri Folk Arts Program

Contact Us

573-882-6296 mofolkarts@missouri.edu

Missouri Folk Arts
Museum of Art and Archaeology
520 South 9th Street
Room 1, Ellis Library
Columbia, MO 65211


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