Sights & SoundsBetty Vornbrock & Sharon Andreucci
Betty Vornbrock of Hillsville has spent the last year teaching Sharon Andreucci of Galax old-time fiddle tunes—particularly repertoire played by Appalachian women.
Sights & SoundsBernadette “B.J.” Lark and Alanjha Harris
As a mentor artist in our Apprenticeship Program, B.J. Lark of Roanoke, Virginia, has spent the last year teaching 18-year-old Alanjha Harris the soul-stirring power of Gullah Geechee-style gospel singing.
Sights & SoundsKazem Davoudian & Alexander Sabet
Kazem Davoudian of Sterling, VA, is an experienced Ostad (master artist, in Farsi) of Iranian classical music. He is teaching Alexander Sabet of Washington, DC, how to play the tar, a traditional long-necked string instrument.
Sights & SoundsJoshua Purnell & Tom Norris
For dancer Joshua Purnell and his apprentice Tom Norris, blues dancing is a means to build and maintain community in their hometown of Norfolk.
Sights & SoundsElizabeth LaPrelle & Elsa Howell
Elsa Howell first met Elizabeth LaPrelle, an accomplished ballad singer, banjo player, and crankie maker, as an eight-year-old.
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 & 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 & 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 …
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 & 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.
Sights & SoundsWalter “Skip” Herman and K.T. Vandyke
Walter “Skip” Herman learned to build guitars from “Uncle” Dave Sturgill around the same time Wayne Henderson did, but Herman became known for his repair skills.
Sights & SoundsChris Testerman, Karlie Keepfer and Sophia Burnett
Instrument Making Chris Testerman has been around instrument makers since he attended Mount Rogers Combined School in Grayson County and played in the Albert Hash Memorial Band, led by Whitetop …
