Archive for April, 2009

23
Apr
09

LUNAFEST film festival at UK this weekend

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Categories: Humanities
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If you’re interested in learning about female filmmakers and environmental education, then LUNAFEST is where you should be this weekend.

The Kentucky Environmental Foundation, with the help of several sponsors including the Kentucky Humanities Council, is hosting the event at 7 p.m. Friday, April 24 at the Center Theater on the University of Kentucky campus. According to its Web site (click here), LUNAFEST was established in 2000 by LUNA, the makers of the Whole Nutrition Bar for Women, to simultaneously promote women filmmakers, raise awareness for women’s issues and support women’s nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and Canada.

Proceeds raised from ticket sales — $15, and $5 for students — will help the Kentucky Environmental Foundation further its mission of educating youth and adults about the environment. Fifteen percent of funds raised go to the Breast Cancer Fund.

A similar event was hosted April 18 at Berea College. Read The Richmond Register’s feature of the event here.

23
Apr
09

A picket for your thoughts on history?

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Categories: Humanities and Museum on Main Street
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As exhibit organizers at the Oldham County History Center began planning the arrival of the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Between Fences in April, Kentucky Humanities Council Associate Director Kathleen Pool offered an idea: What if the center gave residents a picket to decorate that would express their thoughts on history?

That idea has evolved into a colorful picket fence constructed on Earth Day that lines the Oldham County History Center property. The center handed out more than 300 pickets for residents to decorate — and the results are amazing. Click here to see a photo gallery of the exhibit set-up.

Residents of Oldham County decorated these pickets to put on display with the Between Fences exhibit. (Photo by Kathleen Pool)

Residents of Oldham County decorated these pickets to put on display with the Between Fences exhibit. (Photo by Kathleen Pool)

From paintings of national and international leaders to messages of the role that religion has played in history, the pickets represent a multitude of viewpoints from Oldham Countians. The fence will remain on display through the history center’s 50th anniversary gala celebration in September.

The center also conducted a photo contest of Oldham County fences that will be on display.

The Between Fences exhibit is located in the Rob Morris Chapel on the history center grounds in La Grange, and opens to the public Saturday, April 25. Curated by Gregory K. Dreicer of Chicken and Egg Public Projects Inc., Between Fences focuses on every region of the United States. Its subjects include defining home, farm and factory; settling the United States; and making fences. It examines human relationships on an expanding scale – neighbor versus neighbor, gated communities and the Mexican and Canadian borders of the United States. The exhibit tells American stories through diverse fence types, including the worm fence, the picket fence and the chain-link fence.

The Kentucky Humanities Council chose the Oldham County History Center for Between Fences as part of the Museum on Main Street project, a partnership of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, the Federation of State Humanities Councils and state humanities councils nationwide.

For information about the Oldham County History Center, click here.

14
Apr
09

What are you reading?

By khcstory 1 Comment
Categories: Humanities
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By Julie Nelson Satterly

For me, it’s Something’s Rising: Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal, a recent release for Kentucky author Silas House. Teaming up with Jason Howard, the two provide incredibly interesting oral histories of 12 Appalachians who have devoted their efforts to the anti-mountaintop removal cause.

The book is especially interesting to me, an eastern Kentucky-born girl whose grandfather was an accountant for South East Coal in Irvine before his death, and whose father worked there as a safety director while he finished his journalism degree.

If you’re itching to read a book about Kentucky, check out the latest lineup from the University Press of Kentucky. Their fall catalog will be out in a matter of weeks, and their spring catalog, which features Something’s Rising, can be viewed on UPK’s Web site, www.kentuckypress.com. You can also sign up for UPK’s newsletter by clicking here.

I’d also urge you to check out the offerings of the Jesse Stuart Foundation, www.jsfbooks.com. JSF features a number of titles by Kentucky and Appalachian authors, plus controls all of the rights to Kentucky author and teacher Stuart’s published and unpublished literary works.

So what are you reading? Tell us — especially if it relates to Kentucky.

14
Apr
09

Between Fences Smithsonian exhibit travels to Oldham County

By khcstory 1 Comment
Categories: Kentucky Chautauqua, Museum on Main Street, Prime Time Family Reading Time and Speakers Bureau
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Our Between Fences Smithsonian Institute traveling exhibit will close Friday at Wrather West Kentucky Museum. Next stop on the tour: the Oldham County History Center.

Located in downtown La Grange, the Oldham County History Center also hosted Museum on Main Street Smithsonian exhibit Key Ingredients: America by Food in 2006.

For Between Fences, the history center has hosted a photo contest, challenging residents to submit photos of local fences. More than 250 individual pickets have also been given out for the Paint A Picket project. These pickets are to be painted individually by all ages to celebrate “What History Means to Me” as the theme, and will be on display on the history center grounds through September, when the Oldham County Historical Society celebrates its 50th anniversary.

RoundAbout La Grange, a monthly entertainment publication for the area, highlighted the exhibit in its April issue. Read the full article here.

The Kentucky Humanities Council will also feature programs in these locations in April: Continue reading ‘Between Fences Smithsonian exhibit travels to Oldham County’

09
Apr
09

An evening with the poet laureate

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Categories: Humanities, Our Lincoln and Speakers Bureau
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Kentucky Poet Laureate Jane Gentry will offer an evening of poetry at Northern Kentucky University’s Steely Library at 7 p.m. April 28. The event is sponsored by the NKU Friends of Steely Library and was recently featured on northern Kentucky’s news site, www.kypost.com. Read the full article here.

Kentucky Poet Laureate Jane Gentry reads her poem "Alexander Gardner’s Nov. 8, 1863, Photograph of Lincoln" during Our Lincoln Feb. 2. (Photo by Jonathan Palmer)

Kentucky Poet Laureate Jane Gentry reads her poem "Alexander Gardner’s Nov. 8, 1863, Photograph of Lincoln" during Our Lincoln Feb. 2. (Photo by Jonathan Palmer)

Gentry’s most recent collection of poems, “Portrait of the Artist as a White Pig,” was published by the Louisiana State University Press. She traveled with the Kentucky Humanities Council to Washington, D.C., in February to read her poem “Alexander Gardner’s Nov. 8, 1863, Photograph of Lincoln” during the presentation of Our Lincoln.

As poet laureate, Gentry is also a member of KHC’s Speakers Bureau. For information on how to book Gentry as a speaker through the humanities council, click here.

07
Apr
09

Where we are this week

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Categories: Humanities, Kentucky Chautauqua, Museum on Main Street and Speakers Bureau
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The Kentucky Humanities Council programs are in action across the state this week.

First, our Between Fences Smithsonian Institute exhibit continues at Wrather West Kentucky Museum on Murray State University’s campus until April 18. For more information about the museum, click here.

Prime Time Family Reading Time programs are underway in Boone, Adair and Mason counties. These programs reach out to reluctant readers ages 6 to 10 and their parents with the message to “read.” In each of six weekly sessions, a discussion leader and storyteller lead programs for families that demonstrate effective reading techniques. The books introduced to children and their parents explore timeless issues of humanity — fairness, greed, courage, coping and determination — while helping them understand the dynamics of making life choices.

Finally, our Chautauqua performances and Speakers Bureau engagements this week include: (All events in Kentucky unless otherwise noted.)

April 8: Mary Owens: Lincoln’s First Mary Chautauqua, 1 p.m., Willard Elementary, Busy.

April 9: African and African-American Musical Connections in Appalachia with presenter Kathy W. Bullock, 7 p.m., Emma B. Ward Elementary School Library, Lawrenceburg.

April 9: Prime Time Family Reading Time, 6 p.m., Boone County Public Library, Union.

April 10: Henry Clay: Kentucky’s Great Statesman Chautauqua, 10:15 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 2:20 p.m., East Oldham Middle School, Crestwood.

April 10: Mary Owens: Lincoln’s First Mary Chautauqua, 1 p.m., Inez Elementary, Inez.

For the complete Kentucky Humanities Council event calendar, click here.

06
Apr
09

kyhumanities.org wins Lexington ADDY award

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Categories: Humanities and Our Lincoln
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Meridian-Chiles Communications, creator of the Kentucky Humanities Council’s Web site, www.kyhumanities.org, recently won a silver Lexington ADDY award for interactive advertising for the arts and sciences.

The 2009 ADDY Awards were Feb. 21 with about 230 people attending. See more about the contest here.

Meridian Chiles’s Zach Looney was the lead designer on the humanities council project; Taylor Goddard, lead developer; Gabe Rankin, lead programmer; and Ryan Hardesty, account executive.

Meridian-Chiles was recently added to the Kentucky Humanities Council Scroll of Honor for its sponsorship and extraordinary dedication to Our Lincoln, the council’s musical, theatrical and historical celebration of the Abraham Lincoln bicentennial in Washington, D.C. The agency provided the event’s Web site, www.ourlincoln.org, which advertised the event and its performers, and linked ticket-buyers to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for purchasing. They also provided all of the advertising and direct-marketing materials for the event.

Check out Meridian-Chiles online at www.meridianchiles.com.

01
Apr
09

Do fences keep something in, or keep something out?

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Categories: Humanities and Museum on Main Street

That’s the important question Wrather West Museum Manager Kate Reeves says is posed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit Between Fences.

“It’s taking a look at fences and their impact on our lives,” Reeves said.

Reeves’ quote is featured in a story about Between Fences in the Murray State News, the student newspaper at Murray State University. The exhibit opened at the university museum in late February, and according to the story, has drawn 3,000 viewers.  www.thenews.org/features/smithsonian-institute-travels-to-wrather-museum-brings-fence-inspired-exhibit-1.1631913

The Murray Ledger and Times also featured a column about the exhibit in February. www.murrayledger.com/articles/2009/02/23/columns/main_street/col01.txt

A partnership between the Kentucky Humanities Council, Museum on Main Street and the Federation of State Humanities Councils, Between Fences will be on display in Murray through April 18. It will move to the Oldham County History Center in La Grange from April 25 to June 6, and will end its tour of the state at the Boyle County Public Library in Danville from June 13 to July 25.

Curated by Gregory K. Dreicer of Chicken and Egg Public Projects Inc., the exhibit focuses on every region of the United States. It examines the role of fences in American history, politics, industry and daily life.

“Exhibits are typically very costly and grants help small towns display items to provoke thought and educate the public on a certain subject.,” Reeves said. “A lot of people don’t get to travel to Washington, D.C. This is a way for the people to see these exhibits.”

Read more about the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibits project at www.museumonmainstreet.org.

01
Apr
09

Welcome to the Kentucky Humanities Council blog

By khcstory 1 Comment
Categories: Humanities

To say we know what we’re doing here is probably an exaggeration. But that’s OK — we love forging into new territory.

With the beginning of our blog, the Kentucky Humanities Council hopes to connect with a world full of new readers. We want to introduce you to our organization, our programs and, as our blog is named, tell you Kentucky’s story.

We’ve been telling this story through the pages of Kentucky Humanities magazine for more than a decade, and through our organization’s programs for more than 35 years. We’ll post stories from our magazine to the blog, plus stories other media organizations have written about the humanities in Kentucky. We’ll add video and photos of our events. We’ll introduce you to our Kentucky Chautauqua characters and our speakers. But what we’re most excited about is fostering education and discussion about the humanities, and about Kentucky history — subjects near and dear to our hearts.

Thank you for reading. If you have any suggestions for our new venture, please contact Julie Nelson Satterly at julie.satterly@uky.edu. We look forward to hearing from you!

01
Apr
09

A student and his teacher: How Lena Voiers influenced the life of Ky. author Jesse Stuart

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Categories: Kentucky Humanities magazine

By James M. Gifford and Erin R. Kazee, the Jesse Stuart Foundation

Vanceburg, circa mid-1940s. In middle, Kentucky author Jesse Stuart flanked by Lena Wells Lykins Voiers, left, and Stuart's wife Deane, right. The children are, from left, Helen Lykins and Mary Lykins, and the Stuarts' daughter Jane. (Photo courtesy of the Jesse Stuart Foundation)

Vanceburg, circa mid-1940s. In middle, Kentucky author Jesse Stuart flanked by Lena Wells Lykins Voiers, left, and Stuart's wife Deane, right. The children are, from left, Helen Lykins and Mary Lykins, and the Stuarts' daughter Jane. (Photo courtesy of the Jesse Stuart Foundation)

In the preface to the 1958 edition of The Thread That Runs So True, Kentucky author Jesse Stuart wrote:

And I am firm in my belief that a teacher lives on and on through his students. I will live if my teaching is inspirational, good, and stands firm for good values and character training. Tell me how can good teaching ever die? Good teaching is forever and the teacher is immortal.

In this oft-quoted passage, Stuart sought to encourage and inspire future generations of American teachers, but he was also paying tribute to the immortal teachers who had influenced his life. No teacher influenced him more than Lena Wells Lykins Voiers. Continue reading ‘A student and his teacher: How Lena Voiers influenced the life of Ky. author Jesse Stuart’

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