NewsPartnering 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 …
EventRichmond 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 …
EventThe Chosen Few: A Cappella Gospel from Virginia
We are collaborating with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to present a special online concert by the Chosen Few, a quintessential Tidewater gospel group, on Wednesday, June …
Event“In Good Keeping in 2022” Film Premiere
Join us at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for a film screening and discussion honoring the artists and tradition bearers from the 2021-2022 apprenticeship class! Since its inception in …
NewsAnnouncing the 2022-2023 Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Class
The Virginia Folklife Program at Virginia Humanities is proud to announce the 2022-2023 class of mentor artists and apprentices.
Sights & SoundsLemlem Gebray and Datta and Akeza Seyoum
Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and Ethiopian beans are arguably some of the best in the world. As legend has it, coffee was first discovered by …
Sights & SoundsYara Cordeiro and Ruthie Lezama
Capoeira Starting in the 1500s, Brazilian plantation owners trafficked in enslaved Africans for free labor. In this brutal system, enslaved people worked to death on plantations that benefited of the …
NewsYara Cordeiro – Folklife Fieldnotes Episode 4
For the latest episode of the Folklife Fieldnotes series, Pat Jarret went to a batizado, where Abada-Capoeira DC were honoring their students’ achievements and ranking in capoeira.
Sights & SoundsHorace Scruggs, Hannah Scruggs and Niya Bates
Horace Scruggs, his daughter Hannah Scruggs and historian Niya Bates are working together exploring family roots, and navigating the waterways themselves, on the rivers of central Virginia.
Sights & SoundsMarino’s Forever: Marino’s Lunch to Reopen
Famed Staunton jam spot and burger joint Marino’s Lunch has been closed since 2017. After extensive renovations the doors open this weekend.
NewsWalter Messick: The Legacy of a Luthier
By Pat Jarrett I was recently chatting with Chris Testerman about his friend and mentor Walter Messick. “That generation [of luthiers] is all but gone now, those who continued on …
Sights & SoundsMac Traynham and Ashlee Watkins
Mac Traynham said that there’s a family-like connection in the music communities of southwest Virginia, and it’s why he’s devoted his life to it.
