The Cultural Sustainability Institute

The Cultural Sustainability Institute of the Vermont Folklife Center offers training opportunities for community members, undergraduate, and graduate students, and other professionals interested in developing skills in ethnography, oral history and cultural documentation. Through this training we provide theoretical background and technical skills for participants to ethically and respectfully explore the cultural fabrics of their home communities and the broader communities of which we are a part.

The Cultural Sustainability Institute seeks to support and cultivate collaborative work with communities to document, interpret and present cultural practices so that these practices can inform larger discussions on culture and identity, civil society, planning, and economic development. The goal of the Cultural Sustainability Institute is to inspire and develop local practitioners, community scholars, and new professionals who will engage with their own dynamic cultural practices and the cultural practices of the communities around them.

Cultural Sustainability Institute workshops explore the concepts and methods of cultural sustainability, ethnography and oral history, and teach cultural documentation and media production skills from an ethnographic perspective.