Folk music archivist named 2015 Carr Distinguished Lecturer

Jocelyn Arem, 2004 Skidmore graduate and award-winning documentarian, returns to campus this spring as the Carr Distinguished Interdisciplinary Lecturer to lead a series of workshops and give a lecture on her work.

Arem’s passion for sharing music collections and telling their stories grew out of her undergraduate capstone project at Skidmore, a living archive for Caffè Lena, the legendary coffeehouse in Saratoga Springs. Established in 1960 by the late Lena Spencer, the cafe is the country’s oldest continuously operating folk-music coffeehouse—a city landmark and well-known showcase for emerging and established talent. Caffè Lena’s roster of performers includes Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Odetta, Don McLean, Emmylou Harris, and Arem herself, who performed there as a student. She told Skidmore’s Scope magazine in 2013, “The first time I walked up the stairs with my guitar over my shoulder, I knew I was in a place with a history worth knowing.

In the years since her graduation, Arem curated a collection of 6,000 photos, 700 hours of recordings, 45 boxes of memorabilia, and 100 interviews to illuminate and preserve the café’s legacy. The exhaustive Caffè Lena History Project, of which she was producer, music archivist, and project manager, was funded by grants from the Grammy Foundation and others, and led to the publication of a book titled Caffè Lena:  Inside America’s Legendary Folk Music Coffeehouse, featuring her interviews with renowned artists and their family members, and never-before-seen images by photographer Joe Alper. She found a home for the complete archive at the Library of Congress and last fall, ASCAP presented Arem with its Deems Taylor Award for Multimedia for the project.

The project has received extensive media coverage through such outlets as The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and NPR, among others.  It also led her to her current position at the Magic Shop Recording Studio, working alongside owner Steve Rosenthal and sound engineers to preserve, remaster and produce musicians’ archival recordings. 

Arem’s Carr residency on campus, co-sponsored by Skidmore’s Office of the Dean of Special Programs and John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative (MDOCS), will include three campus visits and an evening presentation, in which she will present her multimedia documentary work and offer master classes and consult with Skidmore faculty and staff engaged in their own memory projects.

Jordana Dym, interim director of MDOCS, said, "As MDOCS starts its second semester, we are delighted that Jocelyn Arem will work with Skidmore and Saratoga community partners to plan, produce and promote community-based memory and documentary projects. Her guidance, born from projects at Caffè Lena and the Magic Shop, will help us develop understanding and practical experience in the collaborative work and rewards of undertaking such projects for all concerned, and begin to shed light on those whose stories often don’t make it into official histories or grand narratives." 

Arem’s schedule includes the following workshops, all scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. Fridays, in Tisch Learning Center, room 302.

•     January 30: Preparation—Getting Started

•     February 27:  Production—Working with Sources

•     March 27: Presentation—Storytelling

Workshops are open to Skidmore College faculty, staff, and students and community partners.  RSVP to mdocs [@] skidmore.edu appreciated but not required. Those who respond will receive some questions/ideas before each meeting to help get the creative juices flowing.

The Carr Distinguished Interdisciplinary presentation, titled “Reviving, Restoring, and Reimaging the Music Archive,” is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday, March 26, in Skidmore’s Filene Recital Hall. Arem '04 and her GRAMMY Award-winning Magic Shop Studio colleagues will showcase the process of reviving, restoring, and reimagining the music in an artist's archive. This presentation will share the archive and listening experience in stages: from the original audiotapes, to remastered recordings, culminating in a live performance with student musical guests.

All of Arem’s Carr residency events are free and open to the public.