Prime Time Steppers
by Leda Hartman Stepping is a performance and movement style popularized a century ago by African American fraternities and sororities. Stepping has a strong link to the past, with roots that go all the way back to Africa. But it also has a vibrant future. These days, younger kids of all races are doing it. […]
Blue Ridge Parkway
Although it is a scenic byway with plenty of natural attractions, the Blue Ridge Parkway also has a mission to interpret the culture of the region. Signage, exhibits, and restored historic structures help educate visitors about the history and culture of Appalachia. Of the Parkway’s 469 miles, more than half are located in North Carolina. […]
Center for Appalachian Studies
The Center for Appalachian Studies, a department of the College of Arts and Sciences at Appalachian State University, was established in 1978 to coordinate and promote curriculum offerings, public programs, and research activities in the Appalachian region. Built on the work of generations of Appalachian scholars, including folklorists Amos Abrams and Cratis Williams, the Center […]
Center For Documentary Studies
The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) is an interdisciplinary educational organization affiliated with Duke University. It is dedicated to advancing documentary work that combines experience and creativity with education and community life. Founded in 1989, CDS connects the arts and humanities to fieldwork, drawing on photography, filmmaking, oral history, folklore, and writing as catalysts for […]
Core Sound Waterfowl Museum
Created in 1992, the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum is dedicated to documenting, preserving, and presenting the coastal community traditions of the Core Sound area. It represents a diverse community of rural fishermen, hunters, carvers, boat builders and their families, including European American and African American groups that settled North Carolina’s Outer Banks and sound-side villages […]
Curriculum in Folklore at UNC
Established in 1940, the Curriculum in folklore at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill was the nation’s first academic graduate program in folklore. Offering a range of both graduate and undergraduate courses, the Curriculum has been instrumental in establishing a place for folklore studies in higher education across North Carolina, in training many […]
East Carolina University’s Folklore Archive
East Carolina University Folklore Archive (ECUFA) is a university-based regional folklife collection. Established in 1968 with the institution of a course in American folklore in the English Department, ECUFA now holds approximately 8,000 manuscript collections of field documentation in addition to approximately 75,000 separately recorded items of primarily verbal lore. Hundreds of video and audiotapes, […]
El Pueblo, Inc.
El Pueblo, Inc. is a North Carolina non-profit statewide advocacy and policy organization dedicated to strengthening the Latino community. This mission is accomplished through leadership development, education, and promotion of cross-cultural understanding in partnerships at the local state, and national levels. The organization began in 1994 when it organized the first Latin American cultural festival […]
Folk Heritage Committee
The Folk Heritage Committee is a special committee of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and is made up of dedicated individuals charged with the mission of preserving and presenting the music and dance heritage of the Southern Appalachians for entertainment and education. The Folk Heritage Committee’s purpose is to produce two events: Mountain Dance […]
Folklife Program, North Carolina Arts Council
The Folklife Program of the North Carolina Arts Council promotes public knowledge and appreciation of the state’s cultural traditions. Four strategies have evolved to achieve this goal: planning and presenting special projects; assisting the field through a grants program; conducting fieldwork; and maintaining n archive of documentary materials and resources. Beginning in 1977, when George […]
John C. Campbell Folk School
www.folkschool.com Founded in 1925 in the mountains of western North Carolina, the John C. Campbell folk School was the result of a collaboration between Olive Dame Campbell, Marguerite Butler, and the people of Brasstown. The Campbell Folk School has long played an active role in the continued vitality of traditional and contemporary crafts, music, dance […]
Mountain Heritage Center
From its beginning in 1889, Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, collected regional manuscripts and artifacts to celebrate its Appalachian history. In 1975, stimulated by a nationwide interest in heritage in general and a rediscovery of Appalachia in particular, Appalachian-born Chancellor H. F. Robinson announced plans for the creation of a formal museum and […]
Museum of the Cherokee Indian
The Museum of the Cherokee Indian was founded in 1948 to preserve and perpetuate Cherokee history, culture, and stories through permanent and changing exhibits, workshops, festivals, archives, and special educational programs. The Museum is a non-profit organization representing the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a federally recognized tribe, and has become one of the most […]
North Carolina Folklore Society
Founded in 1913, the North Carolina Folklore Society is one of the oldest state folklore societies. It is committed to promoting the appreciation, study and preservation of North Carolina’s rich folk cultural heritages. Through its publications, annual meeting, awards, and other programs, the NCFS encourages the continuation of diverse cultural traditions present in the state […]
North Carolina Museum of Art
When George Holt, former director of the North Carolina Arts Council’s Folklife Program, joined the staff of the North Carolina Museum of Art in the fall of 1996, he introduced folklife-related programming that has drawn new audiences to the museum. As director of performing arts and film programs, he manages the programming for the museums […]
North Carolina Museum of History
The North Carolina Museum of History promotes the understanding of the history and material culture of North Carolina for the educational benefit of North Carolinians. Through collections and historical interpretation, its museums encourage citizens and visitors to explore and understand the past; to reflect on their own lives and their place in history; and to […]
North Carolina Pottery Center
Located in a rural area of the North Carolina piedmont where pottery making has a 200-year history, the North Carolina Pottery Center opened in the town of Seagrove in 1998. The facility features a permanent exhibit that interprets the history of pottery making in North Carolina, temporary exhibits in adjacent galleries, an educational building, and […]
One Dozen Who Care
One Dozen Who Care is an African American-led community development organization in the far western part of North Carolina. Members have come together to strengthen their leadership abilities and create community bonds through their common cultural interests. The group’s main goals are to increase and strengthen community leadership, assure the well-being of children and youth, […]
North Carolina Maritime Museum
The North Carolina Maritime Museum, in Beaufort, North Carolina, documents, collects, preserves, and researches the maritime history—and its corollary natural history—of coastal North Carolina, for the purpose of interpreting this history through educational services and exhibits, and passing intact its material culture to future generations. All of the museum’s programs and exhibits, both general and […]
Pinecone
PineCone, the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music, was formed in 1984 to honor the traditional music heritage that makes North Carolina unique. PineCone is a private, non-profit, charitable membership organization governed by a volunteer Board of Directors who are Triangle citizens. PineCone is supported by the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County and […]
Southern Highland Craft Guild
The Southern Highland Craft Guild, which is headquartered in the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Folk Art Center in Asheville, is a non-profit educational organization with a membership of more than 700 crafts artists living and working in the mountain regions of nine southeastern states. Since its inception in 1930, the Guild has worked to instill and […]
Southern Folklife Collection
The Southern Folklife collection (SFC) ranks as one of the nation’s foremost archival resources for the study of American folk music and popular culture. Located in the Manuscripts Department of the Academic Affairs Library (Wilson Library) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the SFC holdings extensively document all forms of southern musical […]
Southwide Textile Heritage Initiative
The Southwide Textile Heritage Initiative’s missions are to preserve the history and heritage of the Southern cotton mill people, and to tell their story to future generations. Based at the Cooleemee Textile Heritage Center in Davie County, and affiliated with the Cooleemee Historical Association, the Textile Heritage Initiative publishes the magazine Bobbin and Shuttle, and […]
Student Action With Farmworkers
Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring students and farmworkers together to learn about each other’s lives, share resources and skills, improve conditions for farmworkers, and build diverse coalitions working for social change. SAF accomplishes its mission by coordinating summer internships, providing year-round opportunities for direct service, and […]