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Maida Owens Maida Owens, Program director of Folklife and Louisiana Crafts Marketing Programs, is a cultural anthropologist specializing in Louisiana traditional cultures. Owens has been with the Division of the Arts since 1986, during which time she has worked with organizations and researchers across the state to identify one of Louisiana's most important assets -- its traditional folk artists in order to determine the most innovative and effective ways to present Louisiana’s folk musicians, storytellers, and craftsmen to Louisiana citizens and the world. Owens has been involved with folklife surveys in Louisiana's Florida Parishes and the upper Delta in northeast Louisiana to systematically document the region's folk traditions and teach community members to document their own traditions. After working with the Louisiana Folklife Festival and other projects, she has worked with hundreds of folk artists from Louisiana's diverse cultures. Owens is the project director of New Populations, an initiative of the Louisiana Division of the Arts Folklife Program to reach out to our state's immigrant and refugee communities. Owens also is the project director of Louisiana Voices, an innovative and pioneering online education guide that provides rich teaching resources on Louisiana folk and traditional arts and culture. This groundbreaking program was the recipient of the 2000 Dorothy Howard Award from the American Folklore Society for the best folk arts in education project. Owens also curated the renovation of The Creole State: An Exhibition of Louisiana Folklife (1995) located in the State Capitol from 1985 until 2001, edited the publication Fait à la Main: A Sourcebook of Louisiana Crafts (1988), co-edited Keeping It Alive: Cultural Conservation Through Apprenticeship, A Review of the Louisiana Apprenticeship Program (1993), and co-edited the publication Swapping Stories: Folktales from Louisiana (1997) and served as co-producer/researcher of its companion video program (1997). Owens served as assistant producer and researcher for the video documentary Dance for a Chicken: The Cajun Mardi Gras, recipient of the 1993 American Anthropological Award of Excellence and the 1993 American Association for State and Local History Award of Merit. She produced the Fait à la Main and Folklife in Louisiana websites and coproduced the Swapping Stories website. Contact Maida: mowens@crt.state.la.us |
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