New York Field Trip

The New York Folklore Society’s programs are made possible in part with public funds from the Folk Arts Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

New York Folklore Society
P.O. Box 764
Schenectady, NY 12301
518/346-7008
Fax 518/346-6617
nyfs@nyfolklore.org

NEW YORK FIELD TRIPS

The New York Folklore Society held this year’s 2007 Field Trip, a conference on sacred arts and religious tradition, at the Cunneen Hackett Arts Center, 9 Vassar Street, Poughkeepsie, from November 2-November 4, 2007. The conference brought together internationally recognized scholars, artists, and performers to participate in an interfaith dialogue on the intersection of spirituality, folklore, and the sacred arts, as well as the role of belief in social action. “With its wealth of religious traditions represented in the region, and its history of religious tolerance, the Mid-Hudson Valley is an ideal setting for such a conference which draws attention to the many artistic traditions which come out of and are inspired by religious belief and practice,” says New York Folklore Society Executive Director, Ellen McHale. Drawing upon the New York Folklore Society’s long-standing practice of drawing upon community scholars as well as trained academicians to inform a dialogue, this conference included many platforms for experiencing, participating, and entering into a cultural dialogue on the topic of sacred arts and tradition.

Thanks to our conference committee (Hanna Griff, Lynne Williamson, Elena Martinez, Eileen Condon, Jean Crandall, Tom Van Buren, Greer Smith).

Since its beginnings, NYFS has sponsored at last one conference a year. Increasingly, in the past sixty years, this conference has explored the folklore and folk culture of the host region. Building on that successful concept, we retitled this program “New York Field Trips” as a part of our effort to bring the conferences’ educational offerings to a wider audience. These field trips are for people interested in folklore from all over the state and region, professionals in the folklore and related fields, educators, and people from the area where the meeting is taking place. The talk sessions—lectures and discussions—are balanced by such activities as boat tours, concerts or dance parties, visits to interesting cultural sites, and good food.

PAST ANNUAL CONFERENCES
You can follow the links of our most recent conferences for more information about their topics and photographs from the conferences.

2006	Memory, Reminiscence and Narrative: A Symposium on Creativity and the Mastery of Elders
2005	Writing Folklore
2004	Watkins Glen: Where NASCAR Meets Nature
2003	Common Places, Uncommon Stories: Cultural Landmarking and Cultural Conservation in Upstate New York Communities held in Sackets Harbor, NY
2002	Image, Object, and Processes of Documentation (American Folklore Society’s 114th annual meeting with collaboration on all presentation and planning by NYFS) in Rochester, New York
2001	Culture, Innovation, and Folklore on New York’s Niagara Frontier in Fredonia, Chautauqua County, New York
2000	The Dynamics of African-American Folk Culture in New York City at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
1999	The Summer Worlds of Saratoga Springs at Saratoga Springs, New York
1998	Living, Working, and Playing on the Waters of Long Island at Hallockville Museum Farm and Folklife Center, on the North Fork of Long Island
1997	Whose Lore, Whose History? in Seneca Falls, in the northern Finger Lakes Region
1996	Cultivating Variety: Culture and Agriculture in the Hudson Valley at Breezy Hill Orchard and Cider Mill in Dutchess County, cosponsored by City Lore
1995	Colliding Truths in the Interpretation of Culture with the Cooperstown Graduate Association, in Cooperstown
1994	Folklore and the People: NYFS 50th Anniversary Conference at the Sage Colleges in Troy and the Albany Institute of History and Art
1993	Folk Arts in Education: Foxfire Plus at SUNY Brockport
1992	Adirondack Park and the Cultural Fabric of Life at the Sagamore Institute
1991	Tourism and the Ethnic Resort Experience at Fern Cliff House in East Durham
1990	The Folk Arts and Lore of Glass at the Corning Museum of Glass