Alabama Arts - Folklife


Home Page SEARCH FOLKLIFE MAIN PAGE About the Center About the Staff Folklife Program Folklife News Heritage Awards Folkways Articles Waterways In the Garden Newsletters Folkways Radio Musics CD vol.1 Musics CD vol.2 Musics CD vol.3 Musics CD vol.4 Musics CD vol.5 Alabama Arts Radio Spirit of Steel Workshop Pottery Symposium FOLKLIFE ASSOCIATION AFA Products		The Alabama Folklife Program strives to preserve and present Alabama folk culture and to further an understanding of this cultural heritage. To achieve this goal, the Program also identifies and documents Alabama’s folklife and helps others to do so. Folklife Program News Learn more about the program Alabama Folk Heritage Awards Other Folklife Resources The Alabama Folklife Program We have a rich heritage of folk traditions that is often overlooked, taken for granted and misunderstood. The unique folk expressions of Alabama identify and symbolize the many communities and cultures that have originated and nurtured them. They define what it is to be an Alabamian. Given the diversity and wealth of Alabama's folklife, we should strive to broaden understanding of our diverse community-based traditions so that all Alabamians can be proud of this shared inheritance. Alabama folklife consists of those aspects of our state's culture which are traditional, and are learned within communities from generation to generation. As a result, these cultural traditions reflect community values and aesthetics. Folklife includes folk arts such as traditional crafts, music and dance, as well as, regional foodways, folk architecture, beliefs, storytelling, myths, and medicinal practices, etc. Folklife is regional, reflecting the process of adaptation by various ethnic groups to an geographical area. Because it is a product of an historical and geographical process, Alabama folklife, in its many facets, uniquely reflects the personality of our state and its communities. The Alabama Folklife Program provides funding assistance in three general area: Folklife Projects and Technical Assistance - provides grants for organizations. Folk Art Apprenticeships - provide teaching grants for folk artists and their students Partnerships and Initiatives - The Alabama State Council on the Arts has and will continue to work with other organizations who share the goal of interpreting and documenting Alabama folk culture. These efforts include media documentation, festivals and publications. Presentations - provides grants to assist in the presentation of folk artists. Click here to view our complete funding guidelines Click here for the Folklife Apprenticeship Application The Alabama Folklife Recording Series produced on the Alabama Traditions label includes documentary recordings that have been produced with public support from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. The series began with Birmingham Boys: Black Jubilee Gospel Singing from Jefferson County, Alabama (101, produced with the Archive of American Minority Cultures, University of Alabama) and Wiregrass Notes: Black Sacred Harp Singing from Southeast Alabama (102, produced with the Archive of American Minority Cultures, University of Alabama). More recently the Alabama Folklife Program has funded Possum Up A Gum Stump: Home, Field & Commercial Recordings of Alabama Fiddlers (103, produced by Brierfield and Tannehill State Parks) Cornbread Crumbled in Gravy: Historical Field Recordings from the Byron Arnold Collection of Traditional Tunes (104, produced by the Alabama Folklife Association) and John Alexander’s Sterling Jubilee Singers of Bessemer, Alabama (105, produced by the Alabama Folklife Association). All of these recordings were funded by or produced with ASCA and are available from the Alabama Folklife Association. The program is under the direction of Joey Brackner. Click to email joey@arts.state.al.us Click to view complete staff listing TOP

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