Guest speaker to present on ‘Curating Community’

Anna Fariello, associate professor at Western Carolina University will present “Curating Community” on Friday, April 10, at noon, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. Her presentation, which will highlight successful cultural projects that interpret community culture and involve diverse partnerships, is open to the public and will also be available for viewing online.

Anna Fariello-Colloquium SpeakerIn this presentation, Fariello (left) will discuss her experiences at Western Carolina University where she worked with regional repositories to create robust, online access to archival collections. Her talk will cover past and current projects documenting Cherokee culture, her prior experiences working with an African American school neighboring Virginia Tech where she was an associate professor and her work with Latino and indigenous folk cultures as part of a Fulbright experience. She will also share strategies to involve underserved communities in the interpretation of culture in an attempt to uncover community voice.

A former Smithsonian Fellow and former Fulbright Scholar, Fariello is author of numerous book chapters, articles and conference presentations, and curator of over 40 exhibitions. She is author of three books on Cherokee crafts, art editor for the “Encyclopedia of Appalachia,” author of the interpretive travel guide, “Blue Ridge Roadways: A Field Guide” and co-author of the textbook, “Objects & Meaning: New Perspectives on Art and Craft.”
Fariello’s community work includes serving as curator for a former African-American school, project director of an effort to document Appalachian traditions, curator of exhibitions for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and designer of multiple interpretive waysides for local government. She has directed many grant-funded projects, administering state and federal funds including those from the Institute for Museum and Library Services and Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). She has given many presentations on digital humanities to organizations such as the North Carolina Preservation Consortium, Southeastern Museums Association and North Carolina Humanities Council’s Road Scholar program.

This presentation is sponsored by the University Libraries Colloquium Committee. For more information, or if you have questions about accommodations or the physical access provided, contact Martha Ney, mdn1@psu.edu/814-863-5447.