Program Encourages Students to Explore Their Heritage

The Provincial Government is once again providing $15,000 to support the Heritage Fair Program, which includes participation from about 100 schools across Newfoundland and Labrador each year.

“The Heritage Fair Program complements and enhances the education curriculum by allowing students to connect to our provincial and national heritage in very creative, yet tangible ways,” said the Honourable Clyde Jackman, Minister of Education. “The projects produced by the more than 8,000 participants in this province each year give students the opportunity to work with many museum and heritage organizations and to learn valuable research and presentation skills.”

The Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Fair Program started in 1997 as part of a national initiative to bring history to life for students in Grades 4 to 9. Directly linked to school curriculum, Heritage Fairs allow students to showcase projects they have created, using a variety of mediums. The projects are related to culture, heritage or family history, and are presented at school-based fairs. Outstanding projects are selected to attend a regional or provincial fair, which are held in every Canadian province and territory each May.

In Newfoundland and Labrador the program has been adopted as an outreach project of the Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. This year, nine regional fairs will take place across Newfoundland and Labrador with the theme By Land, Sea and Air.

“The Historic Sites Association is proud to support our students as they explore and exhibit our province’s culture through creative storytelling and academic excellence,” said Andrea MacDonald, the association’s Executive Director and Chair of the Newfoundland and Labrador Regional Fairs Steering Committee. “The provincial fairs program is growing steadily and expanding ways of connecting our youth to the past. We thank the Department of Education and the many teachers from this province for their ongoing support of this important project.”

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador invests $2.1 million annually in its Cultural Connections strategy which aims to enhance arts programs and cultural content in schools across the province.

For more information about the Heritage Fair Program, visit the Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador website: www.historicsites.ca/projects/heritage-fairs/ . 

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2011 11 21             10:10 a.m.