Legends & Lore Marker Grant Program Seeking Applications Application Deadline: April 29, 2024Next window to apply: August 26, 2024 – October 14, 2024 The William G. Pomeroy Foundation is accepting applications for its Legends & Lore Marker Grant Program. The program highlights local folklife and promotes cultural tourism in the participating states in the United…
A Summer at the Augusta Heritage Center
A version of this article is published in the Winter 2023 issue of Goldenseal magazine. It is written by West Virginia State Folklorist Jennie Williams and edited by Laiken Blankenship. The Augusta Heritage Center celebrated its 50th anniversary of providing enriching educational programming in the folk and traditional arts in 2023. In the summer, the Center hosts three…
Fasnacht 2024
On Saturday, February 10, 2024, residents of Helvetia, West Virginia celebrated their 57th Annual Fasnacht. Embracing creativity and revelry, Fasnacht is a pre-Lenten tradition that dates back to 1520 in Switzerland and celebrates the changing of the seasons. The event welcomes locals, other West Virginians, and guests from far away to bring their homemade masks…
Celebrating a new Wheeling Community Cookbook
Congratulations to Grow Ohio Valley on their newly self-published Wheeling community cookbook titled “A Little of This, a Little of That.” Compiled by Emma Goldenthal and Corbin T Lanker, the cookbook is a wonderful collection of recipes, photography, and food stories from twenty-six local recipe and story contributors! On December 14, 2023, Grow Ohio Valley…
Remembering Dr. Travis Stimeling
Dr. Travis Stimeling, a remarkable scholar, writer, teacher, professor, musician, friend, and supporter of the West Virginia Humanities Council and West Virginia Folklife Program. We will deeply miss them for their kind encouragement and enthusiasm for promoting traditional music and creative practices in West Virginia. The following obituary was written by Mary Linscheid and Melanie…
“Still Inventing:” A Fiber Arts Apprenticeship between Life-Long Friends
This article is published in the Fall 2023 issue of Goldenseal Magazine. It is written by West Virginia State Folklorist Jennie Williams and edited by Laiken Blankenship. The article is based on an interview recorded by the State Folklorist with the Folklife Apprenticeship pair on March 22, 2023. Featured image: Barbara Weaner (left) and Enrica…
Save the Dates for the WV Folklife Apprenticeship Showcases
We are celebrating our participants with three West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program showcases! Free and open to the public.
We Can Build Mountains: Aristotle Jones and Soul Music in Appalachia
“Appalachian Soul Man” Aristotle Jones is a professional musician and radio personality who is carrying on his music tradition in Osage where his grandfather and extended family have lived.
Scotts Run Resonance – Passing it Forward
West Virginia-based Scotts Run Settlement House, The Shack Neighborhood House, and the Scotts Run Museum & Trail have announced Scotts Run Resonance—Passing It Forward with support from Mid Atlantic Arts’ Central Appalachia Living Traditions (CALT) program. This initiative includes a year of events and classes to exchange wisdom and pass on traditions of foodways, history…
West Virginia Day 2023
Join us at the historic MacFarland-Hubbard House as we mark West Virginia’s 160th birthday. This year’s featured speaker is Emily Hilliard, our former state folklorist, who will discuss her recent book–Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia.
Announcing the 2022-2023 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Participants
We are pleased to announce our 2022-2023 cohort of apprenticeship participants in the third round of the West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program. Seven apprenticeship pairs from across the Mountain State will study and practice traditions including soul food cooking, fiddle repair, and mushroom foraging. The Folklife Apprenticeship Program offers $3,000 to recognize and honor West…
West Virginia Folklife Collection at West Virginia University Libraries Receives American Folklore Society’s Brenda McCallum Prize
The West Virginia Folklife Program, a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council, is honored to announce that the West Virginia Folklife Collection housed at the West Virginia University Libraries has received the Brenda McCallum Prize, an award sponsored by the Archives and Libraries Section of the American Folklore Society. The West Virginia Folklife Collection…
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