Media Releases

MEDIA RELEASE - Friday 11 April 2003

National Library Director-General announces Folk Festival Fellowship

The National Library of Australia’s Director-General, Jan Fullerton, will announce the inaugural National Library of Australia Folk Festival Fellowship at the official opening of the Festival on Thursday 17 April at 7pm.

A strong working partnership between the Library and the Folk Festival has developed since the Festival made Canberra its permanent home 11 years ago.

Ms Fullerton said: “The Fellowship will enhance the Library’s support for the study, performance and dissemination of Australia’s music, dance and storytelling traditions.

“Recipients of the Fellowship will spend two weeks at the National Library researching original source materials in the Library’s folklore archives and develop performances which will lead to greater understanding of the Library’s archival materials.”

The residency, which guarantees recipients a performance at the Festival, will be undertaken three to six months before the Festival to allow time to develop performances.

The Library supports the Festival by organising lunchtime performances prior to the official opening of the Festival; makes available archival material for musicians researching music in the folk tradition; supports the production of sound materials featuring Festival performers; assists with travel costs for performers attending the Festival; and shares an information tent with ScreenSound Australia.

Phil Spring, Director, National Folk Festival said: "This new Fellowship signals the commitment of the National Library, not only to collecting but to utilising its vast resources for the good of the community - in this particular case, the exploration of Australia's musical roots."

The closing date for 2003-2004 Fellowship applications is 30 June 2003. An online application form can be found at http://www.nla.gov.au/library/awards/folkfestival.html

For further information contact the Curator of Music, Robyn Holmes or the Curator of Oral History and Folklore, Mark Cranfield.

Media contact:

Susan Grigson,
Media Liaison Officer
Telephone: (02) 6262 1160 or 0411 519 420
Email: sgrigson@nla.gov.au

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