Sights & SoundsSusan Gaeta and Gina Sobel
When the Sephardic Jews were forced into exile from Spain and Portugal in the late fifteenth century, many settled in other Mediterranean countries but preserved their native language, Ladino, and …
Sights & SoundsJulia Garcia and Gloria Encinas
In Northern Virginia, a large Bolivian community from the Valle Alto (High Valley) of Cochabamba is maintaining the spirit and customs of their native Quechua culture and language. Through the …
Sights & SoundsGene Williams and Lee Bagley
The early 1900s saw a surge of independent candy makers in Virginia, with dozens of confectioners operating statewide, from Bristol to Norfolk. In 1917, a young candy enthusiast named Shafter …
Sights & SoundsEvelyn Lahman and Dr. T. Michael Gilley
Sadly, Evelyn Lahman passed away on June 13, 2017, shortly after receiving her apprenticeship. A craft originally born of necessity, the fiber arts continue to thrive throughout southern Appalachia. In …
Sights & SoundsGreg Galbreath and Peter Keller
Just as old-time mountain music has risen in popularity across America and the world, so has the art of banjo making. Unlike the three-finger-picking style for bluegrass banjo popularized by …
Sights & SoundsEllen and Eugene Ratcliffe and Hannah Johnson
The square dance is the “official dance” of Virginia, as it is in a majority of states throughout the country. First introduced by European settlers, the square dance developed over …
Sights & SoundsScott Freeman, Linda Lay and Kitty Amaral
Watch The early song-collecting journeys of folklorists informed the rest of America about the remarkable breadth of fiddle tunes in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, many of which closely resembled …
Sights & SoundsKay Justice and Helen White
There is perhaps nowhere in America with a deeper or more widely recognized ballad tradition than Southern Appalachia. The region has been a draw for ballad scholars (sometimes referred to …
Sights & SoundsDavid and Mason Via
While many songs in folk music are credited as “traditional” or “public domain,” there is simply no song without a songwriter. Virginia has had more than its share of prolific …
Sights & SoundsJoey Mirabile Sr. and Logan Caine
Joey’s Hot Dogs, in Richmond’s West End, is for many the pinnacle of what is one of America’s iconic foods. Joey Mirabile has hot dogs in his blood. His father, …
Sights & SoundsMary “Mama-Girl” Onley and David Rogers
Pastor Mary Onley, known as Mama-Girl, is a self-taught artist who was born and raised in Painter, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where she still lives. Her lyrical sculptures are similar …
Sights & SoundsRichard Pippin and Melissa Jones and Zoe Bearinger
By one estimate, humans took more than 900 billion photographs in 2015 and shared more than 200,000 images per minute on Facebook. This flood of digital images is unprecedented, but …
