In 2022-2023, Marion Voices piloted a new Marion County Folklife + Cultural Arts Apprenticeship Program. A proven model for growing local arts economies & supporting inter-generational folklife transmission & cultural resiliency, folk arts apprenticeship programs pair master cultural artists with apprentices in their genre: often from within, & more rarely, from outside of, their home cultural community — ordinarily, the community in which the tradition has gained cultural significance.
Marion Voices‘ pilot residency focused on cultural foodways experiences in Marion County in two distinct cultural foodways traditions: African-American soul food, & Nicaraguan foodways. Our master // apprentice pairs met throughout 2023 to explore cultural foodways, & then prepared a public showcase event sharing their foodways traditions with the public, & comparing across traditions.
Our Pilot Marion Voices Marion County Folklife + Cultural Arts Apprenticeship Pairs include:
- Ms. Regina Tanner, with Khaelyn Mayes (African-American Soul Food Traditions)
- Ms. Danllaly Pavón M., with Marjorie Milroy (Nicaraguan Foodways, Festival, & Dress Traditions)
Marion Voices hopes to build off the model of our pilot apprenticeship season to continue to offer folklife & cultural arts apprenticeships in Marion County and/or North-Central Ohio once sustaining funding becomes available for the program.
This program was made possible, in part, by the Ohio Arts Council & National Endowment for the Arts.
