The West Virginia Folklife Program, a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council, works to document, sustain, present, and support West Virginia’s vibrant cultural heritage and living traditions. West Virginia Folklife is supported by a partnership with the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture & History, Mid Atlantic Arts’ Central Appalachia Living Traditions, and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Folk & Traditional Arts Program.

The West Virginia Humanities Council employed West Virginia’s first state folklorist Emily Hilliard who established the West Virginia Folklife Program and directed the program from 2015 to 2021. In 2022, ethnomusicologist and folklorist Jennie Williams joined the council staff and serves as the current state folklorist.

Often defined as the “art of everyday life,” folklife refers to art and culture that is based in and reflective of traditional knowledge and connection to community.

West Virginia Folklife projects include:

• Documentation of traditional artists, tradition bearers, and cultural communities for the West Virginia Folklife Program Collection, housed at WVU Libraries
• The West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, offering a stipend to West Virginia master traditional artists/practitioners working with newer practitioners to facilitate the transmission of their respective forms and traditions
• The Legends & Lore Roadside Marker Program, a partnership with The William G. Pomeroy Foundation, commemorating folklore and cultural heritage across the Mountain State
• Public interest meetings, classes, concerts, and oral history workshops in communities across the state
• Publication and media about our work, including a regular column in Goldenseal magazine

Visit our home page or contact state folklorist Jennie Williams at 304.346.8500 or williams@wvhumanities.org for further information.

 

To support the West Virginia Folklife Program, please make a donation to the West Virginia Humanities Council at this link!