2023 Folklife Apprenticeship Teams
Meet the eleven artists in this year’s cohort who are practicing traditions that are meaningful to Virginia communities in 2023 and worth evolving for the future.

News and Events

Folklife Apprenticeship Celebration at the Library of Virginia
Join us on Friday, July 7 for a reception, film screening, and stage program honoring four teams from the broader Richmond area who completed a Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship in 2022-23.

Betty Vornbrock & Sharon Andreucci
Women & Old-Time Fiddling Betty Vornbrock says music fans around her Carroll County home are unique: They are not necessarily accustomed to being performed to. Instead, with the preponderance of …

Virginia Folklife Awards $35,000 to Five Apprenticeship Teams
The five apprenticeship teams represent artforms with centuries-old roots in Virginia—African American storytelling and music, as well as old time fiddling—as well as the dance and music of Bolivia and Puerto Rico.

Listen: Wytheville Community College Jamboree
Listen to two sets from Wytheville Community College’s Bluegrass and Old-Time Jamboree, and enjoy a tall tale by Thornton Spencer.

Whether sung or told, hand-crafted or performed, Virginia’s rich folklife refers to the “arts of everyday life” that reflect a sense of traditional knowledge and connection to community.
Virginia’s folkways are rich with traditions that have been rooted in the Commonwealth for centuries, as well as those that more recently have been carried here and nourished by Virginia’s diverse immigrant communities.