For Immediate Release: October 28, 2010
Contact: Jeff Morgan
Public Relations
515.281.3858
Jeff.Morgan@iowa.gov
IAC receives prestigious American Folklore Society Prize
2010 Dorothy Howard Folklore and Education Prize awarded to IAC and Library of Congress
(DES MOINES, Iowa) — The Iowa Arts Council has been awarded the American Folklore Society’s 2010 Dorothy Howard Folklore and Education Prize, becoming one of only two recipients to receive the recognition this year.
IAC received the award for Iowa Folklife Curriculum, Vol. 2, an online resource that includes content pages, photos, audio samples, suggested readings, lesson plans and a variety of resources for students (K-12) and educators. This year’s other recipient is the Library of Congress for Folklife Resources for Educators.
The IAC curriculum is a companion to Iowa Folklife: Our People, Communities, and Traditions, which was awarded the 2006 Dorothy Howard Prize. The two IAC resources represent years of creative collaboration with traditional artists and their communities, museum and library educators, and multicultural curriculum specialists.
“We are deeply honored to receive this award,” Iowa Arts Council Administrator Mary Sundet Jones said. “I would like to thank the American Folklore Society and extend my congratulations to the Library of Congress for also receiving the award this year.”
Each year, the American Folklore Society gives the prize for work that encourages K-12 educators or students to use or study folklore and folkloristic approaches in all school environments. The American Folklore Society, founded in 1888, is an association of people who study and communicate knowledge about folklore throughout the world.
In awarding the prize, the Society said the IAC and Library of Congress programs illustrate the breadth and depth of folklore in education.
“Iowa Folklife, Volume 2 is a state-specific site with a colorful and varied approach that provides engaging, diverse, and readily-usable materials for a wide range of Iowa teachers and their students,” the Society said. “Folklife Resources for Educators is a national database with comprehensive listings that provides a finger on the pulse of folk arts and folklife projects around the United States and, in fact, the world.”
For more information about Iowa Folklife resources, contact IAC Folklorist Riki Saltzman at riki.saltzman@iowa.gov or 515-242-6195.
# # #
The Iowa Arts Council is a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and works to enrich the quality of life for Iowans through support of the arts. Funding for the Iowa Arts Council and its programs is provided by the state of Iowa and the National Endowment for the Arts. More information at www.iowaartscouncil.org.