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Record Group Number: 000158
Series/Collection Number: .S 1639
Creator: Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs. Florida Folklife Archive
Title, Dates: Florida Folklife Apprenticeship Program unawarded applications, 1988-1995.
Amount: 1.00 cubic ft.
Medium Included: audiotapes
photo slides
photographs
Organization/Arrangement: Chronological by year, then alphabetical by name.
Restrictions: ***RESTRICTED***: Social Security Numbers present in these records are exempt from public disclosure per F. S. 119.071(5).
Terms Governing Use: Archives staff will review records prior to providing them to researchers and will provide researchers with redacted copies of any records containing Social Security Numbers or other confidential/exempt information.
Biographical/Historical:     Legislation in 1979 (79-322, SB 1208) transferred the Florida Folk Arts component of the Stephen Foster Memorial to the Florida Department of State. Operating as the Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs from ca. 1985 until 1995, the Bureau coordinated the annual Florida Folk Festival and directed such programs as Folk Arts Apprenticeships, Folk Arts in Education, Folk Heritage awards, annual research surveys and numerous other projects and programs. From 1995 through June 30, 2021, the renamed and reorganized Florida Folklife Program continued the majority of these operations from within the Division of Historical Resources, Bureau of Historic Preservation in Tallahassee. During the 1995 reorganization, the State Archives of Florida acquired the Florida Folklife Collection from the Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs’ previously maintained Florida Folklife Archives. Legislation in 2021 (2021-71, L. O. F., HB 909) transferred the Florida Folklife Program and its operations from the Division of Historical Resources to the newly renamed Division of Arts and Culture, previously the Division of Cultural Resources, effective July 1, 2021. The program is charged to "identify, research, interpret, and present Florida folk arts, artists, performers, folklore, traditions, customs, and cultural heritage and make folk cultural resources and folklife projects available throughout the state."

    The Florida Folklife Program, originally the Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program, began in 1983 and was designed to recognize and encourage the folk arts in Florida. It provided individuals who had demonstrated an aptitude for and a commitment to a particular folk art with an opportunity to study intensively over an extended period with expert practitioners of the art. To apply, interested masters and apprentices filed a joint application after discussing the potential apprenticeship. The decision to award an apprenticeship was based on available funding, the apprentice's involvement in the community that supported the tradition, authenticity of the master's work and relevance of the tradition to Florida's folklife.

    The apprenticeships covered numerous fields. Examples include basketweaving, woodcarving, storytelling, sponge fishing, boatbuilding, rifle making, African dancing, African drumming, fiddle playing, blues guitar playing, guitar making, bouzouki playing and other miscellaneous instrument playing.

Summary:     This series contains unawarded applications for the Florida Folk Arts / Folklife Apprenticeship Program for the years 1988 through 1995. The applications contain the names of the master or teacher of the folk art or craft and the apprentices. Also contained in the applications are the addresses, phone numbers, personal histories of masters and teachers in relation to subject, occupation and ethnicity. Some of the rejected application files contain slides, photographs and audio recordings showing the folk artist in action or examples of their craft.

Finding Aids: Folder listing available.
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
Associated Materials: For unawarded apprenticeship applications after 1995, see S1644, Florida Folklife Apprenticeship Program administrative files, 1983-1995.
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History:
Publication Note:
General Note:
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Apprentices Florida
Basket making Florida
Boatbuilding.
Folk dancing Florida
Ethnic folklore Florida
Storytelling
Sponge fisheries
Blues (Music) Florida
Folk art Florida
Folk artists Florida
Folklore Study and teaching Florida
Folklife.
Machine-readable artifacts. aat
Added Entries