New Jersey Folk Festival Program Book 2013 Apr. 2013 | Page 16

Awards and Honorees

Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Reverend George Ramon Castillo

The New Jersey Folk Festival Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to one individual each year who
demonstrates exceptional commitment and service to humanity. The Reverend George Ramon Castillo will be
presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the New Jersey Folk Festival on Saturday, April 27, 2013.
Born in the British Honduras, now Belize, George immigrated to the United States at an early age. Later, he
attended the Bangor Theological Seminary located in Bangor, Maine. It is an ecumenical seminary, founded in
the Congregational tradition of the United Church of Christ. After graduation, he served churches in Maine,
Michigan, and Ohio. Eventually, he accepted a position as a Prison Chaplain with the Federal Bureau of
Prisons.
In his prison work, Chaplain Castillo had to deal with some prisoners whose legitimate personal problems
were all but insurmountable. He is perhaps best known for his autobiography, My Life between the Cross the
Bars, a book of major significance regarding life in Federal prisons. For over 20 years Chaplain Castillo’s life
was involved with those considered “the least of these my brethren” -- the incarcerated, their families, and the
staff responsible for the care and keeping of federal prisoners. This book provides excellent insights for prison
employees. The general reader also gains a greater understanding of what it is like for the second victims of
crime - the families. No other federal prison Chaplain has written about the day-to-day experiences of the
religious community in prison. This topic is timely with our burgeoning prison population and as the federal
government now has 91 prisons with more than 20 on the drawing board. In recognition of his service, the
New Jersey Folk Festival is proud to present Chaplain Castillo with its Lifetime Achievement Award for 2013.

Honorary Chair

Eleanor Bullock
Eleanor Cecilia Castillo Bullock has been named Honorary Chair of the 2013
Edition of the New Jersey Folk Festival. Born in the small coastal village
of Dangriga in Belize, Central America, Eleanor later immigrated to the
United States and settled in New Jersey. She became a leading figure in a
growing renaissance of young Garifuna intellectuals, artists, and scholars who
were writing poetry and plays in her native Garifuna language. She saw an
opportunity to create and design performing arts programs based on Garifuna
language and culture.
Eleanor was instrumental in the founding of the organization GAMAE (Garifuna
Arts, Medicine, Agriculture, and Education). She currently serves as Director of GAMAE Arts and Culture.
In that capacity she strives to create and design a full scope of Garifuna multi-generational language
immersions programs with an ensemble of some of the best Garifuna music, songs, and poetry for children.
Eleanor founded the Garifuna Performing Arts Program in 2005, with a focus on traditional Garifuna music,
song, dance, poetry, and drama. The program quickly became acclaimed at the best Garifuna language
immersion projects in the United States. With her extensive knowledge of traditional Garifuna culture, she
has served as principal artistic adviser to the New Jersey Folk Festival staff in identifying and recruiting
Garifuna tradition-bearers to present at the Festival.