Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections, 2015.196.11.3, Connecticut Historical S…

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2017 Albanian American Muslim Center Festival: Program Booklet

DistributorDistributed by Albanian American Muslim Community

DateMay 2017

MediumPaper

ClassificationsInformation Artifacts

Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections

DescriptionProgram booklet for the 2017 Albanian Festival held by the Albanian American Muslim Community in Waterbury, Connecticut.

This event included a required public presentation of the Year 19 Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program team in Albanian Folk Dance - Teaching artist Dimitraq Demiri with apprentices in the dance group of the Albanian American Muslim Center of Waterbury.

Object number2015.196.11.3

CopyrightIn Copyright

NotesSubject Note: The Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program is a CCHAP initiative since 1997 that fosters the sharing of community-based traditional (folk) artistic skills through the apprenticeship learning model of regular, intensive, one-on-one teaching by a skilled mentor artist to a student/apprentice. The program pairs master artists from RI, MA, or CT with apprentices from one of the other states, as a way to knit together members of the same community or group across state lines. Teaching and learning traditional arts help to sustain cultural expressions that are central to a community, while also strengthening festivals, arts activities and events when master/apprentice artists perform or demonstrate results of their cooperative learning to public audiences. The Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at the Connecticut Historical Society manages the program in collaboration with the Folk Arts Program at the Massachusetts Cultural Council and independent folklorist Winifred Lambrecht who has a deep knowledge of the folk arts landscape of Rhode Island. Primary funding for the program comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, with support also from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Institute for Community Research, and the Connecticut Historical Society. Subject Note: The Albanian American Muslim Community Center based at 38 Raymond St. in Waterbury serves as a gathering place and mosque for members of the Albanian community. AAMC holds an annual festival on the grounds, usually in early June, featuring Albanian music, traditional food for sale, and dance presentations by the local dance group and also by Valletona, the dance group from St. Mary’s Orthodox Albanian Church in Worcester, MA. Before the pandemic, the festival grew to a four-day event attracting around 10,000 visitors. Since 2022 the festival has been held for two days. (Source: https://www.aac-ct.org/index.html) CCHAP has supported six apprenticeships under the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program that have brought Albanian dance experts to teach traditional dance to members of the Waterbury community: Years 10 and 11 (2007-2009) with Bashkim Braho, Year 12 (2009-2010) with Enea Gjyli, and Years 19, 20 (2016-2018), and 22 (2019-2020) with Dhimitraq Demiri. Arising from the early apprenticeships, the community formed a traditional dance group of adults and children, and the group continues with children and young people as members. The group has performed at the Waterbury and Worcester Albanian festivals and at other events including the opening of the CCHAP exhibit commemorating 20 years of the Apprenticeship Program at CHS. The regional reach of the Apprenticeship Program is shown by the continuation of partnerships such as the one between the Waterbury CT-based Albanian dance group and the groups based in Boston under respected leader Bashkim Braho, and the Worcester MA dance group with instructor Dhimitraq Demiri. Their teaching and community connections have helped to create and sustain the Albanian dance group in Waterbury. The Waterbury community has supported the dance group and the apprenticeships strongly; Albana Lame and other community members including parents help with organizing the dancers and providing dance costumes. As Albana says: “Most of the children participating in this activity are familiar with traditional dances, as they are often part of our family celebrations. What makes the intensive apprenticeship experience different is that the kids perform in community and professional places/events and learn dance steps that are more intricate from the ones that have seen in family gatherings. First of all it made us work well together. It brought in new performers, new interests and ideas. It taught us more about our culture and dance traditions.” Subject Note: Years 19 and 20 (2016-2018) - The Albanian dance group in Waterbury CT, based at the Albanian American Muslim Community Center and mosque, worked with choreographer Dhimitraq Demiri from the Valletona Dance Group from Worcester MA to develop three new dances in Year 19 and four in Year 20. This is the second generation of dancers in Waterbury, where there is a large Albanian community, building on previous apprenticeships from 2007-2010. This new group of young dancers performs at the annual Albanian Festival in Waterbury, on both Friday and Saturday nights each year, to hundreds of people including their families and supporters. They also perform at the Worcester Albanian Festival and at several other area festivals and local venues. Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for this event and this community. Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.

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