What is the importance of music for regional heritage?
We often think about heritage as being about interpreting and preserving objects and places from the past for future generations, but music and sound are ephemeral and fleeting. Given that quality, it may be difficult to know what our region’s music heritage is let alone to figure out ways to preserve it. There are certainly places, photographs, documents, and recordings that can help, but perhaps the best way to preserve musical heritage is through continued performance.
The 20th Annual Calumet Heritage Conference seeks to explore the Calumet’s Musical heritage through presentations by experts about past and present regional music scenes as well as through performances by regional musicians. What is the Calumet’s musical heritage and what contributions has it made to our national musical culture? How can we best interpret our musical heritage? What are our contemporary music scenes and how do they constitute a living tradition helping to preserve the Calumet’s Musical Heritage?
We invite you to attend this year’s conference to explore these questions
with us and to hear some great music from the region!
Conference Schedule
8:15 Breakfast and Conversation
9:00 President’s Welcome
Michael Longan, President
9:05 Awards
Karen Brozynski, Calumet Heritage Partnership Vice President, IL
Keeper of the Calumet Award
Calumet Heritage Partnership Leadership Award
9:10 Music and Regional Heritage: Country Music and Dance in the Calumet
Michael Longan, Ph.D., Valparaiso University
9:30 The Gary Music Scene
Scott Cannon
9:50 Singing Men of Steel
Mary Kuzniar
10:10 Calumet Heritage Area Brand Celebration
Sarah Coulter, Calumet Collaborative
10:20 Break
10:40 Reggae and Ska
Angelo Cicco
11:00 Jazz
Art Burton
11:20 Keynote Presentation: The Calumet Region’s Contribution to Chicago’s Black Popular Music
Robert Pruter, Independent Scholar
12:15 Lunch
1:15 Croatian Stars
1:45 Mariachi Son de Fuego
The Calumet Heritage Partnership is a bi-state non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the unique heritage of the Calumet region. The Calumet Collaborative and the Field Museum are partners in the Calumet Heritage Partnership. Together, they further the development of the Calumet Heritage Area and lead the creation of a Calumet National Heritage Area.
