Student Conference
Translation/Transformation
View Flyer [DOC]May 16-17, 2008
The Ohio State University Campus
Denney Hall, Room 311
Keynote Address Abstract
"From Fieldwork to Interactive Media: A Personal Journey"
Alan Govenar provides an overview of how his folklore training and early fieldwork while he was a student at Ohio State University in the 1970s established the basis of his work as an author, photographer, filmmaker and public folklorist. In his keynote, Govenar highlights the process of working in the public sector and addresses issues related to non-profit management and the development of documentary films, audio recordings, radio programming, touring exhibitions, and interactive media.
About Dr. Govenar
Alan Govenar is a writer, folklorist, photographer, and filmmaker, and is president of Documentary Arts, a non-profit organization he founded in 1985 to present new perspectives on different cultures. Govenar has a B.A. with distinction in American Folklore from Ohio State University, an M.A. in Folklore and Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Arts and Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is the author of 17 books, including Stompin' at the Savoy, Extraordinary Ordinary People, Untold Glory, Stoney Knows How, Deep Ellum and Central Track, Portraits of Community, and The Early Years of Rhythm and Blues. His book Osceola: Memories of a Sharecropper's Daughter won First Place in the New York Book Festival (Children's Non-Fiction), a Boston Globe-Hornbook Honor; and an Orbis Pictus Honor from the National Council of Teachers of English.
"Blind Lemon Blues," a new musical Govenar created with Akin Babatunde, was presented in 2004 in its world premiere at the Festival de L'Imaginaire in Paris, France, and at the Forum Meyrin in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2007, "Blind Lemon Blues" was featured as part of the Works & Process series at the Guggenheim Museum, followed by its off-Broadway premiere and a nine-city World Music Theatre Festival tour to The Netherlands and Belgium.
Govenar has produced and directed numerous documentary films for broadcast and educational distribution in the United States and abroad, including The Devil's Swing, Texas Style, Everything But the Squeak, The Human Volcano, The Hard Ride, Dreams of Conquest, and Little Willie Eason and His Talking Gospel Guitar. His film Voyage of Doom was co-produced with La Sept/ARTE for broadcast in 20 French and German countries and with NOVA for primetime broadcast in North America.
Over the last two decades, Govenar has developed and produced Masters of Traditional Arts, an ongoing, multifaceted project on the National Heritage program of the National Endowment for the Arts, 1982-2007, including a two-volume biographical dictionary, an education guide, two 52-part radio series, interactive DVD video kiosks, two DVD-Roms, and a pilot for an HD television series.
