Chainsaw collection, Kennebec-Chaudiere project, photo by A.Levin

Tuscarora beadwork, photo courtesy of Castellani Musuem

Wabanaki fancy basket, photo courtesy of Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance

KENNEBEC CHAUDIÈRE AUDIO TOUR
For the past year, Cultural Resources staff has been working with the Kennebec-Chaudière International Heritage Corridor and audio specialist Rob Rosenthal on the production of a 60-minute tour of the Kennebec-Chaudière Corridor. In Maine, the Corridor includes over 50 towns in Somerset, Kenenbec, Sagadahoc and Lincoln counties and is approximately 190 miles in length. Beginning in Jackman and ending at Popham Beach, the Kennebec River waterway unites this geographic expanse from the forested mountains in the north to the coastal lowland communities of the south.

Most recently Program Director Abbe Levin coordinated a series of community forums in Jackman, Bingham, Hinckley, Gardiner, Waterville and Bath in order to shape the tour and hear ideas about strengthening cultural development. Some of the themes that emerged from these meetings will be featured on the CD including. local knowledge about foraging, hunting and ice fishing, logging camps, boat building, organic farming, and Franco-American culture.

NEW YORK NATIVE ARTS MARKETING INITIATIVE
Cultural Resources, Inc. will be working this year with the New York Folklore Society, the Akwesasane basketmakers, the Tusacora beadworkers and folklorists Kate Koperski and Lynne Williamson on developing a craft marketing initiative to promote the work of traditional basketmakers and beadworkers. This initiative, partially funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Northern Forest Center and the New York State Council on the Arts, will develop individual portfolios for approximately 35 artists. In addition, two gatherings are planned to bring artists together to share ideas about how both groups want to market their work.

ETHNOGRPAHIC MARKETING WORKBOOK
Kathleen Mundell of Cultural Resources, Inc. is the recipient of a Craft Research Fund from the Center of Craft, Creativity and Design to research and produce a workbook on the methodology of ethnographic marketing –fieldwork documentation, community organizing, asset-based business planning and micro marketing – by researching and reporting on the marketing efforts of Wabanaki and Akwesasne Mohawk basketmakers and Tuscarora beadworkers. Cultural Resources, Inc. and The New York Folklore Society will distribute the workbook in spring, 2006.