Folklife

What is a folklife festival?

A folklife festival is a carefully planned and managed presentation of an area’s folk culture. Through various modes of interpretation, the folklife festival’s goal is to allow visitors to encounter members of folk groups. This gives them a chance to interact with members of other cultures, while further understanding their own.

The Kentucky Folklife Festival is a model for all aspects of presenting local traditional culture. Based upon the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the Kentucky Folklife Festival uses innovative methods of presenting folklife. Scholarships allow individuals to participate in the Very Important Presenters (VIP) program, where they get a behind the scenes view of the event.

Folk Groups

The most important element of a folklife festival is the folk artist, who represents a folk group. A folk group is any small group of people (family, ethnicity, region, occupational and recreational groups) who share culture, identity, and artistic expression. For example, folk groups could be farmers, Latinos, local churches, and even kids who gather to skateboard in the park. All of these, and more, represent the unique folk culture of a community.

Genres

Members of folk groups share cultural expressions and traditions through different forms, or genres, of folklore, such as folk art, storytelling, foodways, costume, language, gestures, rites of passage, celebrations, music, dance, etc. These genres of folklore provide a variety of programming opportunities, or modes of presentation.

Fieldwork

Fieldwork is a practice carried out by folklorists or community scholars. It involves finding out about communities, documenting members of the communities with recorded interviews and photographs, and organizing this information for an archive. This information may be accessed and used for articles, research, and of course, planning festivals. Fieldwork is essential to understanding a community, choosing themes, and selecting participants. Many resources are available to provide fieldwork instruction and experience. The Kentucky Folklife Program’s Community Scholars Program is available statewide to anyone interested in documenting and presenting their community.

Choosing Festival Themes

After festival planners have an understanding of area folk groups based upon fieldwork, themes may begin to emerge. For instance, some folk groups may celebrate an event similarly or differently than another. Some similar art forms may carry special significance among different groups. These observations help to establish themes for a festival.

Selecting Folk Artists

As opposed to a craft festival, where artists are selected by a jury, or a historical festival, where actors are hired to recreate the past, folklife festival participants are invited based on their connection to a tradition. This connection is found through fieldwork, the researching, interviewing and documenting of a community. Participants at a folklife festival are paid a stipend to share their culture. This is different from the common practice of leasing booth space for artists to sell their work.

Planning

Folklife festival planning should always involve members of the folk groups. The group might decide who would best represent them at a festival, or whether they wish to be represented at all. Planners should keep in close contact with these groups through meetings and visits, and seek their input on how they should be presented at the event.

Modes of Presentation

At the festival, artists who represent folk groups may encounter visitors through demonstrations, narrative stages, foodways stages, or performances [these 4 items will be expanded upon later] of music or dance. Each of these demonstrations requires interpretation through signage and presenters, both of which frame the demonstration for the audience.

Contracting Artists

Demonstrating artists and tradition-bearers should always be paid a stipend for their participation in a festival. Festival organizers should make every attempt to meet the needs of the demonstrators, and to treat them with courtesy and respect. Likely, their appearance at the festival will affect their lives long after the event is over.

Volunteers

Like any festival, a folklife festival requires lots of behind-the-scenes work before, during, and after the event. Volunteers are necessary to assist with setup, hospitality, cleanup, and more. They deserve recognition and appreciation for their hard work.

Resource: KFP volunteer handbook (8 page MS Word document)

Children’s Activities

Field trips to a folklife festival are rewarding experiences for school groups, especially when there are organized activities suited to them. Prepare teachers to introduce what their class will see before the festival. If possible, provide hands-on activities related to what is presented at the festival.

Resource: KFP Teacher’s Guide (web site)

Issues to be aware of when planning a folklife festival:

Folk artists are different from other types of artists. Because they practice their art form in everyday life, many require a presenter or interpreter. This facilitates interaction with the audience, and prepares the audience to learn from the encounter, and ask questions about the artist.

The Kentucky Folklife Program offers training and resources for finding folk artists. The KFP’s Community Scholars program teaches the entire process, from folklife fieldwork (documentation, interviews, etc.) to hosting a folklife festival. With its mission to document folklife all over the commonwealth, the KFP is open to partnerships that contribute to this documentation. Please contact the KFP for more information.

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