Vermilionville Offers Free Folklife Workshops For Educators

Vermilionville is offering a free Folklife Workshop for educators, part of a $25,000 NEA grant awarded to Vermilionville.

The Vermilionville Living History Museum Foundation is offering a free folklife workshop for all educators on Monday, July 29 and Tuesday, July 30 from 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at Vermilionville. Educators will experience an engaging and hands-on professional development workshop that will cover folklife interviewing, documentation as well as designing folklife-integrated lessons and residencies. In addition to the training educators will receive professional development credit and access to extensive educational resources including new field-tested lesson plans.

Educators who participate in the folklife workshop will also:

• Train in folklife and arts integration with folklorists, folk artists, teaching artists, and museum educators.

• Practice in interviewing, note taking, mapping, sketching, and photography -- skills transferable to classroom instruction

• Apply skills through interviews of folk artists and fieldwork documentation in the Vermilionville village

• Investigate the presence and meaning of the arts, history and culture in your own life, family, and community, including the school community

• Participate in lessons merging the Common Core State Standards with folklife, fieldwork, and construction of arts-based products and performances

• Receive a professional development credit and a USB port filled with educational resources

Educators who are interested in participating in this free folklife workshop can register through the Lafayette Parish School System’s coursewhere management system. For more information about the workshop or questions about registering contact Jolie Johnson at (337) 233-4077.

The folklife workshop is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts Folk and Traditional Arts Program and is part of an ongoing folklife education initiative supported by the Vermilionville Living History Museum Foundation to deepen Vermilionville's ties to local educators and students.

Faculty include:

Directors: Paddy Bowman, Local Learning and Jolie Johnson, Vermilionville

Ray Brasseur, UL Anthropology, Center for Louisiana Studies Fellow

Lauren Hensgens and Leah Graef, Acadiana Center for the Arts Teaching Artists

Sandy LaBry and Adrianne Smith, Education Consultants

Renee Roberts, Arts Integration Consultant

Bree Sargent, Acadiana Center for the Arts Education Director

Brian Tarrant, L.J. Alleman Middle School, Social Studies Teacher

Vermilionville Folk Artists