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 29th 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
Lee Anne
