Sights & SoundsElizabeth LaPrelle & Elsa Howell
Appalachian Ballad Singing On a farm outside of Rural Retreat, tucked into a bend of small, winding White Rock Creek and down the hill from the home she grew up …
Sights & SoundsDaniel Smith & Richard Maxham
Daniel Smith of Lynchburg is apprenticing Richard Maxham of Alexandria, a fifth-generation violinist, in violin making and repair.
Sights & SoundsA Legacy of Violin Making — Folklife Fieldnotes Episode 12
Richard Maxham is apprenticing under Lynchburg violin maker Daniel Smith, though the Maxham name has been intimately involved with violin making and performance for five generations.
Sights & SoundsDIY Punk Houses and Virginia’s Punk and Metal Communities – Folklife Fieldnotes 11
Pat Jarrett and Chris Boros discuss Virginia’s robust DIY Punk communities on this installment of Folklife Fieldnotes.
Sights & SoundsAsk A Punk for the Address
by Pat Jarrett When the pandemic shut down the opportunity to experience live music, I was hit hard. I started going to shows when I was fifteen. (Once, my mom …
Sights & SoundsMargarita “Tata” Sanchez Cepeda & Isha M Renta Lopez
Bomba Dance Bomba is, as Margarita “Tata” Sanchez Cepeda puts it, “all about love. I was taught under love, bomba is a form of love, and we continue to carry …
Sights & SoundsD. Brad Hatch, David Onks IV and Reagan Andersen
Four years ago, Dr. D. Brad Hatch was one of just two members of the Patawomeck Indian tribe who knew how to weave an eel pot. Now Brad is teaching fellow tribal members David Onks IV and Reagan Andersen how to make eel pots as part of the Virginia Folklife Program’s 2022-23 Apprenticeship Program cohort.
Sights & SoundsVirginia Folklife Futures
By Katy Clune For thirty-three years, the Virginia Folklife Program at Virginia Humanities has worked to document, sustain, present, and support cultural traditions across the Commonwealth. I began work as …
Sights & SoundsSushmita Mazumdar of Studio PAUSE
Making space for community-focused art practice by Katy Clune with Sushmita Mazumdar When Sushmita opened the door, inviting me into Studio PAUSE for the first time, the overwhelming first impression …
Sights & SoundsWe 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 …
Sights & SoundsRichmond 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 …
Sights & SoundsFinding 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 …
Sights & SoundsTidewater Gospel Traditions with Rev. Tarrence Paschall and the Chosen Few on Folklife Fieldnotes 9
Rev. Tarrence Paschall has been singing with The Paschall Brothers for years, and now he’s signing with another Hampton Roads-based group keeping the Gospel Quartet tradition alive, the Chosen Few.
Sights & SoundsKaty Clune Shares Stories and Fieldwork on Folklife Fieldnotes 8
Director of the Virginia Folklife Program Katy Clune joins Pat Jarrett and Chris Boros on this episode of Folklife Fieldnotes.
Apply for an Apprenticeship
Virginia Folklife Apprenticeships will begin June 1, 2023 and run through May 31, 2024. The application deadline for this cycle is April 9, 2023.
