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About
This Project
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This project has been made possible, in part, by a grant from
the Fund
for Folk Culture's Partnerships in Local Culture Program,
underwritten by the Ford
Foundation. It is a collaboration between Vendors Program
at the Palace of the Governors, New Mexico CultureNet, a nonprofit
arts organization dedicated to expanding access to cultural
information about New Mexico, and North Central New Mexico
Economic Development District.
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The overarching aim of the project is economic development,
specifically, the expansion of the market for the traditional
Native American artwork made by members of the Portal Program.
The project partners have chosen to accomplish this goal in
the following ways:
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- A
directory of artists who are members of the Palace of the Governors
Portal Program. This directory has contact information for participating
artists as well as a showcase of the artists' work.
- Published
information about the Portal Program: its history, rules and regulations
and the types of artwork made by the members. This information,
meant to educate the public who is interested in Native American
Arts, is published on this the project Web site. There also is
a buying guide meant to inform the public about the differences
between authentic Indian art versus fakes and manufactured knock-offs.
- Training
program for artists in uses of the Internet. The educational aspect
of this project is critical because it gives the Artist-Vendors
familiarity with computers that their children have, but which
they themselves lack. One of the goals of the trainings is to
have each artist get an email account so that s/he can correspond
with people around the world who are interested in her or his
work.
The following people have been instrumental in this project's success:
Project
Director: Alex Traube ([email protected]),
Executive Director of New Mexico CultureNet http://www.nmculturenet.org
Web
Site Design: Transmit
Media :: Paul Vachier ([email protected])
Lead
Trainer: Betsy Walker ([email protected])
Portal
Program Coordinator: Deborah Davis ([email protected])
Vendors
Committee Chair: Mavis Garcia ([email protected]).
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