THE Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies (IPNGS) has received a grant of US$20,000 (K54,000) from the Christensen Fund.
This money is to be used in the production of a major work on the musical instruments of Papua New Guinea. For many decades the IPNGS music department has been documenting the music traditions of this country. Thousands of slides and photographs showing the use of musical instruments have been taken and form part of the rich collection in the IPNGS music archive. Assistance from the Christensen Fund will enable the music department to purchase a professional slide scanner and accessories to ensure that these images are reproduced to the highest possible standards. Desktop-publication software will also be upgraded and photos of instruments in various museum and personal collections obtained so that the resulting publication will be of interest and use too many individuals and institutions locally and internationally. It is particularly hoped that it will be used extensively in the education system here. The book will be in full colour and contain over 1,000 photos. Assistance from the Christensen Fund will also enable the purchase of professional still cameras and travel to a number of regional festivals. IPNGS hopes that the resulting publication will give some indication of the outstanding diversity of traditional and contemporary instruments found in this country. The book will also serve as a guide to identifying different kinds of instruments, how they produce sound, their cultural significance, distribution, and regional distinctiveness. Founded in 1957, the Christensen Fund is a private foundation based in San Francisco, USA. It is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation presently focused on promoting and sustaining biocultural diversity. From 1981 to 1996, the fund supported research in biodiversity here through the Christensen Research Institute. Papua New Guinea is one of the countries in the Christensen Fund’s area of activity in Melanesia. The fund’s programme officer for Melanesia, Catherine Sparks, recently visited the institute to meet with staff involved with this project. Other regions in which the Fund is active include Mexico, Australia, Central Asia and Turkey, the southwest US, the San Francisco Bay area, and the African Rift Valley. Comments are closed.
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