Project Planners   /    Major Collaborators    /   Project Participants    /   Funders    /   Thanks

Project Planners:

Carl Lindahl, Martha Gano Houstoun Research Professor in English at the University of Houston, has studied and published widely in the fields of oral narrative and Gulf Coast traditions. He is a Fellow of the American Folklore Society, a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar, and author or editor of 15 books, including American Folktales from the Collections of the Library of Congress (2004).

Pat Jasper, Independent Folklorist, Austin, has worked as a public folklorist for nearly 30 years. She served as Folk Arts Coordinator for the Texas Commission on the Arts (1980-1984). In 1985, she founded an award-wining statewide cultural organization, Texas Folklife Resources (TFR). Since 2002, she has worked as an independent curator, consultant, researcher and producer for both arts and humanities projects.

Peggy Bulger, Director, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, earned a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been documenting folklife and developing and managing folklife programs for more than thirty years. She served as president of the American Folklore Society (2000-2002).

Major Collaborators:

Texas Commission on the Arts—is acting as fiscal agent, administering all funds without charge to the project, thus ensuring that hurricane survivors receive the great majority of funds raised. TCA is also publicizing and presenting project outcomes and supporting its growth.

The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress—helped develop the training curriculum and participated in launching the first field schools and will house a copy of the collection, making much of it available online.

The University of Houston—is providing faculty and student help, classroom space, technological resources, and archival aid in classifying and storing the materials gathered by the project. The University of Houston the Department of English, the Vietnamese Studies project, the Women’s Studies Program, and the Honors College are all active participants. Trauma specialist Professor Mary Armsworth of the Educational Psychology Department and ITV Manager Phil Booth of Technical Support Services have made invaluable contributions to the project.

Participating Houston Cultural Organizations:

FotoFest Houston—supports visual documentation through public programming, and contributes to the teaching of survivors by offering instruction via its Literacy Through Photography program.

The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art Foundation—supports public programs growing out of the project.

Project Row Houses -- supports public programs growing out of the project.

Houston Institute for Culture -- supports public programs growing out of the project.

Art League Houston -- produced and collaborated on the exhibit "Who We Are".

Project Participants:

The survivor interviewers who make the project work:
Tia Alexander, Cedric Brown, Antonio Buval, Lisa Buval, Keith Calhoun, Susie Cambre, Lisa Cann, Ulylessia Craig, Nicole Eugene, Sharolyn Greene, Glenda Harris, Chandra McCormick, Lillian McKee, Dione Morgan, Thu Nguyen, Richard Pedroza, Loren Philips, Darlene Poole, Ray Poret, Donice Reiss, Johna Reiss, Adela Santoy, Shari L. Smothers, Rachelle Starr, Reyna Suazo, Denise Taylor, Angela Trahan, Vincent Trotter, Thomas Wells, and Kimothy Woods, Phylicia Bradley, Darrel Holnes, Larry Kraus, Alice McNamara,
Natasha Phyllis Smith, Robert Louis Stevenson, LaToya Allen, Maurice Brown, Chantell M Jones, Jocelyn E Kerr, Linda Nellum, Patricia O'Neal, Moiya Press Jackson, James Washington, Joyce Williams

And the Vietnamese Studies Students who interviewed Vietnamese survivors:

Mai Bui, Phuong Ha, Van Hua, Yen Lai, Hai Le, Dawson Nguyen, Sun Nguyen, and Linh Trang Tran

Funders:

The Houston Endowment

National Endowment for the Arts

Cultural Arts Council of Houston

Miller Theatre Advisory Council

Texas Commission on the Arts

Gerald Davis Fund, American Folklore Society

Douglas County School District, Douglas County, Colorado

University of Houston

United Way of Texas Gulf Coast, Houston Arts Alliance

And with thanks to the friends of SKRH, who have contributed their efforts and advice to our conception and growth:

Barry Jean Ancelet, Professor of Modern Languages, University of Louisiana, Lafayette

Helen Anthony, Public Program Presenter

Mary Armsworth, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and trauma specialist

Fred Baldwin, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, FotoFest Houston

Ross Barnard, University of Houston Intern

Carol B. Barr, Business Administrator, Department of English, University of Houston

Paul Beutel, Artistic Director, Miller Outdoor Theatre

Barry Bergey, Director, Folk and Traditional Arts Program, National Endowment for the Arts

Phil Booth, Manager, ITV, TSS, University of Houston

Miguel Bustillo, Reporter, Los Angeles Times

Cardinal Chui, Shrine of the Black Madonna

Tony Chauveaux, Deputy Chair for Grants and Awards, National Endowment for the Arts

A.C. Conrad, Computer Specialist

Jane Creighton, Associate Professor of English, University of Houston

Kathy Cronkite, Writer

Teresa Demcak, Attorney at Law

Neenah Ellis, Independent Radio Producer

Kai Erikson, Chair, Hurricane Katrina Task Force, Social Science Research Council

Patty Fadhouli, Graduate Student, Department of English, University of Houston

Larry R. Faulkner, President, Houston Endowment

Laura Flynn, Graduate Student, Department of English, University of Houston

Ginny Fugarino, Graduate Student in Folklore, University of Houston and Memorial University of Newfoundland

Jay Gogue, Chancellor, University of Houston System, and President, University of Houston

Wade Goodwyn, National Public Radio

Andy Gordon, Professor of Anthropology, University of Houston

Angela Grace, Literacy Through Photography Program, FotoFest Houston

Shawn Green, project transcriber

Elizabeth Gregory, Director, Women’s Studies Program, University of Houston

Suzette Harrel, Legal Research Fellow, Center for Children, Law, & Policy, University of Houston

Darrel Holnes, Student, University of Houston

Wyman Herendeen, Chair, Department of English, University of Houston

Ricardo Hernandez, Director, Texas Commission on the Arts

Olive Hershey, Writer

Jill Jewett, Mayor’s Assistant for Cultural Affairs, City of Houston

Ireene Keeton, Graduate Student and Research Assistant, University of Houston

Mark Lacy, Executive Director, Houston Institute for Culture

Barbara Rose Lange, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of Houston

Long Le, Adjunct Professor of Vietnamese Studies, University of Houston

Lumar Leblanc, Soul Rebels Brass Band

Tim Lloyd, Executive Director, American Folklore Society

Pamela Magee, Public Program Presenter

Ellen Marrus, George Butler Research Professor of Law, University of Houston

Malikah Marrus, Social Worker, Southwest Juvenile Defender Center

Jim Bob McMillan, Deputy Director, Texas Commission on the Arts

Alice G. McNamara, Photographer

John McNamara, Professor of English, University of Houston and co-host of KPFT’s “Thresholds” program

Stephen A. Mitchell, Professor of Scandinavian and Folklore, Harvard University

Yu Miyagawa, Creative Writing Program, University of Houston

Bill Monroe, Associate Dean, Honor’s College, University of Houston

Rose Morgan, Program Specialist, Folk and Traditional Arts, National Endowment for the Arts

Dorothy Noyes, Director, Center for Folklore Studies, Ohio State University

Laura Oren, Professor of Law, University of Houston

Maida Owens, Director, Louisiana Folklife Program

Natasha Morgan Parker, Public Program Presenter

Paul Pendergraft, News Director, KUHF

Deborah Richardson, FilemakerPro database specialist, University of Houston

Susan Roach, Regional Folklorist for Northeast and North Central Louisiana, Department of English, Louisiana Tech University

John Roberts, Dean, College of Humanities, The Ohio State University

Charles H. Rowell, Professor of English, Texas A & M University, and Editor, Callaloo

Rubén G. Rumbaut, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Irvine

Ann Schmalz, Graduate Student, Department of English, University of Houston

Guha Shankar, Folklife Specialist, American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress

Imanni Sheppard, Graduate Student, Department of Anthropology, University of Houston

Deborah Sorensen, Director of Education and Training, Mental Health Association of Greater Houston

Michael Taft, Head, Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress

David Taylor, Folklife Specialist, American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress

David Theis, University of Houston, Writer

Susanne Theis, Director, Orange Show Center for Visionary Art Foundation

Emily L. Todd, Grant Officer, Houston Endowment

Pat Turner, Professor of African American and African Studies and Professor of American Studies, University of California, Davis

Wendy Wattriss, Artistic Director and Co-Founder, FotoFest Houston

Diane Weidenkopf, DFusion Films

Ellen Weiss, Executive Producer, All Things Considered, NPR Radio

Blake Whitaker, News Editor, University of Houston Daily Cougar

Bill White, Mayor, City of Houston

Astrid Willis, Graduate Student, Department of Anthropology, University of Houston

Joseph R. Wilson, Interim Executive Director, Cultural Arts Council of Houston

Lee Winniford, Writer and Folklorist

Roger Wood, Professor of English, Houston Community College

Nicole Zaza, Creative Writing Program, Department of English, University of Houston

Marc Zimmerman, Chair, Department of Modern and Classical Languages, University of Houston