Description

Applications are being accepted until Nov 1, 2026 for Accessing the Archives: New Works and Old Traditions at the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center.

The goal of this project is to make the archive at the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center (Folklife Center) at Fairmont State University more accessible to artists, scholars, and practitioners by commissioning new work informed, inspired, and invigorated by our archive. This archive-inspired new work will then be presented at the Folklife Center, connecting our folk and traditional archival content to our existing audience of students, faculty, staff, and community members. Applicants will propose a project that involves visiting our archive to use one or more of our main collections in order to create new work based on their visit. This work can be in the form of a performance, workshop, lecture, or small exhibition at the Folklife Center and/or digitally (e.g. a digital exhibition, vlogs, blogs, etc.). The applicant is free to choose the public work aspect of the project, but it must foreground making the archival content accessible to the general public. (While we encourage academic papers, books, and commercial artwork based on our archive, those will not suffice as the goal of this project.) After a review panel of local folk and traditional arts experts selects two applicants, those applicants will visit the archive; research, create, plan, and execute public work dates with the Folklife Center; and be paid a stipend of $3,000 each upon completion of the project. Applications will be assessed for feasibility, merit, creativity, and potential community interest and engagement.

This project is made possible by Mid Atlantic Arts’ Central Appalachian Living Traditions program. 

For details, please click here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/EE4VL8JEvZ

Requirements

Archival research, community engagement