
We Are Part of a CommonWEALTH of Cultures
At the Richmond Folk Festival this October, we invited visitors to tell us what sorts of performances and cultural expressions they would enjoy next year and beyond. We commissioned Sushmita …

Richmond Folk Festival 2022 Recap
The Virginia Folklife Area at this year’s Richmond Folk Festival was a resounding success! Across the three days of the festival, October 7–9, a record-breaking 230,000 people visited the festival …

Finding the “Nuevo South” Sound with Larry Bellorín and Joe Troop – Folklife Fieldnotes 10
Joe Troop and Larry Bellorín met in the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina and hit it off immediately. Joe was dealing with a shift in his musical career and Larry …

Film Premiere! Roots of American Culture, a Celebration of 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellows
Join us on Thursday, November 17 at 8 p.m. for the premier of Roots of American Culture: A Cross-Country Visit with Living Treasures of the Folk and Traditional Arts. This …

2022 Apprenticeship Films Now on YouTube
In Good Keeping in 2022, the documentary film exploring the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Class of 2021-2022 is now live and available on-demand via our Youtube page. The stories follow the …

Bomba Dance Workshop
Join Virginia Folklife mentor artist Tata Cepeda and her team from the Escuela de Bomba y Plena Doña Caridad Brenes de Cepeda for this unique opportunity to learn the fundamentals …

“In Good Keeping in 2022” Carysbrook Screening
The Virginia Folklife Program invites you to the Carysbrook Performing Arts Center in Fork Union (Carysbrook) for its third screening of In Good Keeping in 2022. This original, feature-length documentary film …

“In Good Keeping in 2022” Virginia Beach Screening
Update: We have a limited number of tickets still available! Event attendance will close when we reach 150 or on Tuesday, July 26, at 4pm. The Virginia Folklife Program invites …

Art & Alchemy
The latest issue of Southern Cultures, a journal published by UNC Press, features a story by Julia Gartrell and Katy Clune (director of the Virginia Folklife Program) about the current state of …

Partnering to Invest in Appalachian Folk Arts Communities
In 2021, the Virginia Folklife Program began a three-year partnership with the Mid Atlantic Arts project Central Appalachia Living Traditions, or CALT. CALT promotes the understanding and recognition of folk arts …

Richmond Folk Festival
The Virginia Folklife Program returns to the Richmond Folk Festival! On Saturday, October 8 and Sunday, October 9, visit the Folklife Area to see demonstrations by apprentices from the 2019-2020 …