What's Happening at the American Folklife Center

Performances Lectures Symposia Announcements AFCnews Listserv

Throughout the year, the Center sponsors workshops, lectures, exhibits, concerts, and conferences (on its own and in cooperation with other Library of Congress offices and outside agencies) in order to educate the American people about the importance of their own cultural traditions and the traditions of others. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Upcoming Performances

Homegrown Concerts 2008
Coolidge Auditorium, Thomas Jefferson Building

• April 24, 12:00 noon
  The Beehive Band—String Band Music from Utah
• May 28, 12:00 noon
  Opalanga Pugh—African American storytelling from Colorado with Askia Touré on voice and drum
• June 19, 12:00 noon
  Merita Halili and the Raif Hyseni Orchestra—Albanian Music from New York, celebrating 40 years of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance
• July 24, 12:00 noon
  The Zionaires—Gospel Music from Maryland and Delaware
• August 20, 12:00 noon
  Gary Haleamau—Traditional Hawaiian Music from Las Vegas (The Ninth Island)
• September 17, 12:00 noon
  The Bajich Brothers—Tamburitza Music from Kansas
• October 2, 12:00 noon
  Bar J Wranglers—Cowboy Music from Wyoming
• November 19, 12:00 noon
  Surati, inc.—Traditional Tamil Music and Dance from New Jersey

Homegrown Concerts Online Archive (2005-2007) - View event flyers, essays, and webcasts (as available) from previous seasons

Benjamin A. Botkin Folklife Lecture Series

• Botkin Lecture Series 2008 - View Schedule
  Next event: May 21, 2008, 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm (Pickford Theater, 3rd Floor, James Madison Building)
  Empires, Multiculturalisms, and Borrowed Heartsongs: What Does It Mean to Sing Russian/Mennonite Songs? presented by Jonathan Dueck, Ethnomusicologist, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Maryland School of Music
  
• Botkin Lecture Series Online Archive (2004-2006) - View event flyers, essays, and webcasts (as available) from previous lectures

Symposia

• March 13 -14, 2008 -- Art, Culture, and Government: The New Deal at 75
  Read about the recently concluded symposium and related events focusing on the cultural legacy of the New Deal. The New Deal, a groundbreaking set of social, cultural, and fiscal recovery programs, was launched by the Roosevelt administration in 1933 to reform and reinvigorate national life in the wake of the Great Depression. Symposium presentations featured scholarship and discoveries inspired by the Library's collections of documentary materials from that era. They highlighted the lasting impact this federal initiative has had on national and local programs that document, preserve, and represent America's cultural heritage. Program details, including participant bios and the schedule can be found here.
• Consult the New Deal Web Guide for an overview of special collections and links to digitized materials and selected resources relating to New Deal programs in various Library of Congress divisions.

Announcements

Research Awards
Please see the Research Awards page for application procedures and other information on AFC's awards programs, including the Parsons Fund for Ethnography, Henry Reed and Blanton Owen awards.

AFCnews Electronic Mailing List

The American Folklife Center is providing a new announcement listserv, AFCnews, for people who would like to receive email notification of concerts, lectures, publications, and other news items about the Center. Announcements usually number from one to three notices per month.

To subscribe, compose an email to listserv@loc.gov leaving the subject line blank and with the following text entered into the body of the email document:

subscribe afcnews firstname lastname

(enter your first and last names where noted). After you send the email you will receive a welcome notice letting you know that you have successfully subscribed and containing instructions for managing your subscription.