Karen Lanier is digital project manager for the International Museum of the Horse and its education initiative the Chronicle of African Americans in the Horse Industry, a position she credits in part to her participation in the Kentucky Arts Council’s Community Scholars program.
Lanier was one of 13 trainees of the Community Scholars program in Lexington. The Community Scholars program trains members of a community in documentation, interpretation and dissemination of their unique local cultural resources and traditional art forms.
Training consists of several sessions and occurs each year in a different community across the state to ensure that the training is accessible to all Kentuckians. Certification as a Community Scholar opens up many opportunities for future research projects.
“This was great timing. I saw the position right after I finished Community Scholars. I don’t think I would have considered applying had I not been through the program,” Lanier said. “I’m grateful I was able to do Community Scholars to tighten my resume and make what I have to present more professional.”
The goal of the Chronicle of African Americans in the Horse Industry is to create an online, interactive archive to house and display photos, documents, artifacts and oral histories of African Americans who have worked, and continue to work, in equine industries. That mission aligns with the skills participants learn in Community Scholars.
“Community Scholars training was a reminder of something I had forgotten,” Lanier said. “It’s important to slow down and listen, to place value on other people’s stories and where they are coming from. I think that’s something our society today is lacking, so it was a great reminder of that.”
The new Community Scholar trainees include:
• Allen Blair, Mt. Sterling
• Jeri Katherine Howell, Frankfort
• Carole Johnston, Lexington
• Anna Kline, Mt. Sterling
• Karen Lanier, Lexington
• Cynthia Maharrey, Lexington
• Tanzi Merritt, Lexington
• O.H. Jackson Napier, Berea
• Tracy Pearce, Mt. Sterling
• Delphine Ridgeway, Lexington
• Sarah Stopenhagen Broomfield, Berea
• Alexander Udis, Louisville
• Melissa Wallace, Lexington
For more information about the arts council’s Community Scholars Program, contact Mark Brown, arts council folk and traditional arts director, at 502-892-3115 or mark.brown@ky.gov.
(provided by Kentucky Arts Council)
