TASTE BUD MEMORIES, a film by Özlem Ayse Özgür | 2018 The social act of eating is part of how we become human. If learning to eat is learning to become a human being, perhaps learning to eat together is learning to become a community. “Taste Bud Memories” is a documentary film focusing on local … Read more
Confianza en la Frontera: A Cultural Glimpse at the Nogales Produce Industry, Nicholas Hartmann (January 2019) The study looks at the produce industry in Nogales, Arizona, where generations of families have passed on knowledge and practices about transporting, storing, and marketing Mexican-grown vegetables in the United States. An occupational folklore, the study uses interviews with … Read more
By embellishing the ordinary, “How We Belong” offers audio bite-sizes stories (only 3-4 minutes!) of folklife through its various genres (work, play, food, ritual, conversation, adornment, and more) to highlight culture and heritage from the US-Mexico borderlands. How We Belong is a collaboration with KXCI.
This pilot fellowship program (spring 2021) supported five documentarians and artist-researchers in documenting folklife, culture, and heritage in the Greater Southwest and Northwest Mexico. The program takes its name from folklorist Mary Hufford’s notion that the study of folklife reveals beauty “hidden in plain view” and aims to elevate and illuminate a slice of folklife, … Read more
(2022-2023) In Spring 2022 the City of Tucson’s Mayor and City Council adopted the Thrive in the ’05 Transformation Plan, the culmination of a three-year effort to engage a 2.3-square mile subregion of the 85705 zip code in a place-based, community centered collaboration of businesses, community organizations, and residents. SFA was one of many partners … Read more
(2020-2023)A three-year effort initiated by the Ford Foundation in partnership with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, Borealis Philanthropy, and the Center for Cultural Power, this Initiative is supporting storytelling efforts along the US-Mexico border into to penetrate attentions and expand perceptions about the border region and migration, … Read more
SFA worked with Yaqui and Yoeme communities in Sonora and Arizona to explore connections between the cultivation and preparation of wheat and the tribe’s resiliency and cultural preservation. We assisted communities in developing a strategic plan for its economic recovery using oral histories, test planting sites, and artisanal cooking workshops.
La Doce Barrio Foodways Project was yearlong project along the food corridor of Tucson’s South 12th Ave—known as “La Doce.” It revealed the importance of local knowledge and food heritage to community cohesion and health and the potential for future community-based economic development and local governance.
ClimateLore was a series of programs and focused investigations on the intersections of climate and culture in the US-Mexico borderlands. It unfolded over four years with three distinct projects and engaged documentary artists, tradition bearers, oral historians, agricultural workers and others in conversations and documentations of climate histories, climate threats to folklife and cultural heritage practices, and adaptive strategies for survival and well-being.
A cohort of documentarians working to gather cultural & heritage stories in our region meets bi-monthly for exchanges, skill sharing, and conversation. The gatherings aim to strengthen a network of regional narrators to build narrative power and amplify stories about cultural expressions, rituals, occupational culture, and community-building initiatives in the greater Southwest and US-Mexico border region.