Western Folklife Center's director to discuss community building

Nevada Neighbors, the Capital City Arts Initiative's ongoing series of illustrated public talks, will host Charlie Seemann, executive director the Western Folklife Center in Elko, 7 p.m. Thursday at the Carson City Library, 900 N. Roop St.

There will be an informal reception for Seemann at 6:15 p.m. preceding his talk. The presentation and reception are free, and the public is invited.

With pictures and music, Seemann will describe how the Western Folklife Center works to expand the understanding of people's neighbors and selves by celebrating the everyday traditions of people who live and work in the American West.

From Nevada's location on the western edge of the Intermountain West and in the center of the Great Basin, Seemann and the Western Folklife Center have led the field in local and national community building through the arts. Western Folklife Center's internationally renowned Cowboy Poetry Gathering just celebrated its 25th anniversary and has built a community of people who may attend the once-a-year gathering, but with the arts as a catalyst, they stay in touch all year long.

Seemann has been executive director of the center in Elko since 1998. He holds a masters degree in folklife studies from the University of California at Los Angeles. He is the co-editor of the book, "Folklife and Museums: Selected Readings," and has produced and/or annotated more than 30 documentary albums of folk, country, and cowboy music.

The Capital City Arts Initiative is an artist-centered organization committed to the encouragement and support of artists and the arts and culture of Carson City and the surrounding region. The Initiative is committed to community building for the area's diverse adult and youth populations through art projects and exhibitions, live events, arts education programs, artist residencies and its online presence.

For more information, visit CCAI's website at www.arts-initiative.org or call the library at 887-2244.