What Does Woody Guthrie Have To Do With The Eighth Floor?

Yesterday afternoon Linda, Katy, Scott, and I were invited to visit the Woody Guthrie Center downtown.  WOW!  What a treat.  I am sorry I didn’t  to do this before.  I have attended many events at Guthrie Green – a good friend puts on a Sunday afternoon music series, Horton Records presents the Tulsa Sound.  Perhaps you have heard of it. Just sayin’.   Anyway, so it’s not like I am never downtown. Moreover, it’s not like I haven’t been right across the street many, many times. I honestly didn't even realize it was right there.  Did you?  Have you been?

Deana McCloud is the Executive Director of the center.  Some of you may remember that Deana use to teach at The Eighth Floor.  She gave us a tour of the facility and in the process shared her passion for the center and Woody Guthrie’s legacy.  This facility is something else, too.  Funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, this museum is the latest and greatest in presentation, preservation, technology, and resources.  Additionally, the museum was built with education in mind.  Deana and the Education Manager are both former teachers. They have created lesson plans aligned to the common core and are building a variety of workshop series.

One such workshop series is in partnership with Horton Records. Check out this Saturday’s workshop on Ownership, Licensing, and Publishing.  The next one is on Sept 29^th with Paul Benjaman and Wink Burcham, Songwriting Tips and Tricks. You don’t want to miss this one – two amazingly talented sons of Oklahoma.

Additionally, you will find short performances mixed with discussions, a partnership with Tulsa County Library, “One Book One Tulsa,” another partnership with the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers at OSU Tulsa, and just so much more. 

The Eighth Floor will also be partnering with the museum as part of our workshop series, “Now What? . . .  Mastering Technology Skills for Teaching and Learning.   We are still in the creative stages, but plan to do a blended workshop where the F2F time takes place at the Woody Guthrie Center.  Projects will revolve around the center – imagine the possibilities – writing, music, history, art, pretty much anything, really!  Our workshop last summer, Project Classroom, was a great success and so much fun. This is going to be even better.

As a special treat to our Advisory committee, Deana has offered to host our January Advisory Committee meeting at the museum.  How cool is that!

So, yeah.  You need to check this out.  Read a little about Woody, and see why this is such a shining jewel right here in the middle of T-Town.

Just Sharin’
Lee Anne