T.C. Supports The ARTS Council!

Community Documentation Workshop, Documentary Screening, The Park Church, Elmira, NY. 
Photo by Victoria Scott.

As the Folk Arts Director at The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes, since 2021, I have led our Community Documentation Workshop (CDW), a deeply collaborative workshop series that documents living community traditions and cultural heritage. CDW crosses many lines of difference to preserve and share stories about the dignity and resilience of our many communities in their own voices and from their own perspectives. This work has brought together faith leaders, blue collar laborers, immigrants, Black land stewards, Haudenosaunee potters, LGBTQ+ folks, and more. Together we have told stories of under-represented histories, intergenerational cultural revitalization, the power of ancestral knowledge, human and environmental sustainability, the meaning of good work, and the collective power to nurture vibrant communities. 

These workshops have shown me again and again that our many communities have more in common than we think. Our ability to create collectively is what is going to help us imagine futures we want to be a part of. We are living in dark times, to say the least. When I gather with members of my communities, we tell stories that seem beyond the horizon of what is conceivable in these times. Yet our stories are true -- and even truer when told and preserved.

Join me in supporting the work of The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes, and our continued efforts to use art and culture as powerful tools for ensuring a pluralistic society where all people live with well being and dignity. 

Featured Photo (Top): T.C. Owens and CDW participants during a camera training at Steele Memorial Library, Elmira, NY. Photo by Victoria Scott.