Request for Proposals

Phase 4
New Populations: Immigrant and Refugee Communities in Louisiana

The Louisiana Division of the Arts (LDOA) Folklife Program seeks proposals to document and report on the folk traditions of immigrant and refugee communities within Louisiana. Each New Populations fieldwork project documents ways in which a cultural group maintains their traditions here in Louisiana. The project goal is to assist these communities to create an inventory of cultural assets and, ultimately, a plan for cultural and/or economic development.

Successful proposals will focus on one cultural event or custom that is important to a community and its folk traditions (crafts, music, dance, foods, etc). Research should emphasize the group's customs and traditional art forms, identify who maintains the featured traditions, and explain what part they play in family or community life. For example, explain how holiday crafts and/or music or traditional occupations or skills are important to the cultural group and how they are maintained in Louisiana. Proposals may also focus on one tradition, such as a traditional occupation, craft, or music, and include interviewing people who maintain the tradition and describing how and when it is made or performed.

For more information on the New Populations Project, see www.louisianafolklife.org/newpopulations/.

Cultural Inventory/Documentation
We anticipate awarding 4-7 contracts of varying amounts totaling approximately $25,000. Specific contract terms will be negotiated for each proposal selected. Considering the limited funds available, proposals that attempt to be broad ethnographic studies will not be competitive. Contractors may draw upon prior research and/or propose fieldwork based on their own interests, contacts, and prior knowledge. Documentation of a specific cultural tradition shall consist of recorded interviews, a field report, an essay, and photographs. The essay and photographs will be presented to the public by means of an online essay. While the field report will not be posted online, it will be available upon request. All materials will be placed in an archive. For communities that have already been documented with a field report, contractors may not be required to submit another field report.

Proposals should focus on substantial communities that include foreign-born members. Proposals should not focus on communities that are primarily foreign students at universities, but rather long-term residents of Louisiana. Proposals will be considered from any immigrant or refugee community. The largest ones include communities from Vietnam, Honduras, Mexico, Cuba, India, China, Taiwan, Palestine and the Middle East, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Korea, El Salvador, Japan, Columbia, Pakistan, Laos, and Thailand. Trans-national cultural groups, such as the Garifuna or Middle Eastern Muslims, will also be considered.

See the website for information about communities already documented. We encourage community members to submit proposals.

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT CONTRACTED DELIVERABLES: All contracted deliverables must be submitted by Wednesday, September 9, 2009.

PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS:
* A proposal that addresses all issues in the Proposal Worksheet (available upon request).
* A resume indicating any prior fieldwork experience and how it relates to the cultural group to be documented. Prior fieldwork experience in not required, but desirable.

Anyone considering submitting a proposal must contact Maida Owens to discuss proposal options before the deadline and to obtain additional RFP details and the proposal worksheet.

PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Proposals should be submitted as an email attachment by Friday, September 5, 2008 to: Maida Owens, Louisiana Division of the Arts Folklife Program, PO Box 44247, Baton Rouge, LA 70804, 225/342-8178, <mailto:mowens@crt.state.la.us>.