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A group of women dancing outside a Buddhist temple

AFC’s Community Collections Grants: Documenting Lao New Year in Iberia Parish, Louisiana

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

Below is an excerpt of a guest post on the Library’s Of the People blog comprised of notes, observations, and an interview by Sami Haggood (Project Assistant Director) with Phanat Xanamane (Project Director) on their project, the Louisiana Lao New Year Archive, as part of a blog series featuring the 2022 awardees of the AFC’s Community …

A collage of portraits of each of the six artists and groups featured in the Singing in Solidarity video compilation

Singing in Solidarity: Women’s Voices Celebrate Labor Day

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

In celebration of Labor Day, we wanted to honor the contributions of women to all forms of labor, of both the past and present, and what better way to do that than through song. So we started looking back at our Homegrown Concert videos, of which many are available online, as well as our Archive Challenge series and other documented performances, to create a special concert video. The result is this compilation of performances by Thea Hopkins, the women's ensemble Ialoni, Martha González, Rachel Sumner and Traveling Light, Piper Hayes, and the group Windborne. They all feature the voices of women, with the support of their male colleagues. Watch and read about the Singing in Solidarity video in this post!

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Announcing the AFC’s 2022 Homegrown Foodways in Central New Jersey Film Series

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

The following is a guest post by folklorist Sally Van de Water, Folklife Programs Manager, Division of Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Arts Institute of Middlesex County, New Jersey. The post introduces AFC’s Homegrown Foodways in Central New Jersey film series, a collaboration with Van de Water and colleagues at the Division of Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Arts Institute of Middlesex County.

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

“God put the good stuff where lazy people can’t have any”: Exploring West Virginia Foodways in a New AFC Film Series

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

The following is a guest post by West Virginia State Folklorist Emily Hilliard, who directs the West Virginia Folklife Program, based at the West Virginia Humanities Council. AFC staff have been working with Emily, as well as Mike Costello and Amy Dawson of Lost Creek Farm, to co-produce the Homegrown Foodways in West Virginia program, …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Folklife at the International Level: the Roots of Intangible Cultural Heritage Part II, with Valdimar Tr. Hafstein

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

In the last post, the Folklife at the International Level series took a turn into the world of “intangible cultural heritage” (ICH), a category of heritage on the global stage that developed decades ago, thanks to the joint efforts of WIPO and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). As noted, since the …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Reel Folk: Interview with Filmmaker Amy Nicholson

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

As the upcoming AFC film and discussion event, Reel Folk: Cultural Explorations on Film, nears, I interviewed filmmaker Amy Nicholson to whet the appetites of fellow ethnographic film enthusiasts out there! Amy’s 2005 film, Muskrat Lovely, will screen on September 30 2017, the second day of the Reel Folk event. View the full schedule here. What …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Reel Folk: The Making of Let’s Get the Rhythm

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

The following is a guest post by Irene Chagall, the co-producer of the film Let’s Get the Rhythm, which will be screening on September 30 as part of the AFC’s “Reel Folk: Cultural Explorations on Film” event (September 29-30) in the Library’s Pickford Theater. Co-producers Irene Chagall and Steve Zeitlin, the director of City Lore, …