Maryland Traditions wins Preservation Award

The Maryland Traditions program of the Maryland State Arts Council will receive a 2011 Maryland Preservation Award from the board of trustees of the Maryland Historical Trust.

Maryland Traditions was selected in recognition of the Arts Council's ongoing activity in documenting, perpetuating and sharing Maryland's musical, cultural and artistic traditions.

The award will be presented Friday, May 20 at 4 p.m. in the Miller Senate Office Building in Annapolis. This honor pays tribute to the work of Art Council staff, especially Clifford Murphy, Elaine Eff and former staff member Rory Turner. 

From MHT's website: 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Maryland Traditions program at the Maryland State Arts Council. Maryland Traditions has developed a statewide infrastructure for the documentation, preservation, and presentation of the cultural traditions and folklore of Maryland’s diverse communities.

Maryland Traditions has raised the profile of traditional arts and culture by spearheading cultural preservation initiatives from the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore City to Appalachia. These initiatives have been recognized by federal and state institutions, intellectual societies, and countless Maryland communities for their relevance and their high standards of scholarship. Maryland Traditions has protected and reinvigorated threatened traditions, and has created lasting resources for communities to sustain living traditions. Maryland Traditions’ successful track record since 2001 has made Maryland a destination for the study of cultural preservation, heritage studies, folklore, oral history, and regionally-based anthropology and ethnomusicology.