NewsAsk A Punk for the Address
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 dropped me off …
NewsMargarita “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 …
NewsThe Visitor’s Center
In the summer of 1982, a group of six paraplegic men set out to climb the highest natural peak in Dallas, Texas. Sometimes carrying their wheelchairs up the Guadalupe Peak, they made it. Perri Meldon is working on a disability handbook that tells these stories and more.
NewsD. 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.
NewsAppalachian Foodways Practitioner Fellowship Applications Open
Fellows may include, but are not limited to home cooks and bakers, seed savers, farmers, community elders, keepers of recipes and traditional foodways knowledge, hunters, and foragers, who have made …
NewsVirginia 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 …
NewsSushmita Mazumdar of Studio PAUSE
Making space for community-focused art practice When Sushmita opened the door, inviting me into Studio PAUSE for the first time, the overwhelming first impression was: Color! Sunshine streamed in through …
NewsWe 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 …
NewsRichmond 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 …
NewsVirginia Folklife Program is Seeking Cultural Storytellers
The Virginia Folklife Program wants to hear from you and your communities. Email us your pitch to Sights and Sounds!
NewsFinding 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 …
NewsFood is Family
The Philippines takes Christmas to another level. From September to December, the island-country celebrates the longest Christmas season in the world. Ken Garcia Olaes (Angie’s Bakery) and his parents bake …
