Performances Lectures Rediscover Northern Ireland events Symposia Announcements AFCnews Listserv

What's Happening at the American Folklife Center

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.

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—Classical and Folk Indian Dance from New Jersey

Past Homegrown Concerts (2005-2007) - View event flyers, essays, and webcasts (as available)

Benjamin A. Botkin Folklife Lecture Series for 2008

• May 21, 2008, 12:00 noon (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
• June 3, 2008, 12:00 noon (Montpelier Room, 6th Floor, James Madison Building)
  Seeing Mary: Belief, Politics, and Practice at Marian Apparition Sites
  presented by Anne Pryor, Wisconsin Arts Board
• June 20, 2008, 12:00 noon (Whittall Pavilion, Ground Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building)
  Old Cultures/New Contexts: Presenting the Traditional Music and Dance of Urban Immigrant Communitiespresented by Ethel Raim, Center for Traditional Music and Dance
• August 5, 2008, 12:00 noon (Pickford Theater, 3rd Floor, James Madison Building)
  "Do All Indians Live in Tipis?" and Other Compelling Questions for Education
  presented by Edwin Shupman, National Museum of the American Indian
• September 4, 2008, 12:00 noon (Mary Pickford Theater, 3rd Floor, James Madison Building)
  Kunqu: China's First Great Multi-art Theatrical Tradition
  presented by Marjory Bong-Ray Liu,Arizona State University
• October 21, 2008, 12:00 noon (Whittall Pavilion, Ground Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building)
  A Bard of Nature’s Making: Robert Burns and Scottish Traditional Culture
  presented by Valentina Bold, University of Glasgow
  

2008 Botkin Lectures - View Complete Schedule
Past Botkin Lectures (2004 - 2007) - View event flyers, essays, and webcasts (as available)

Rediscover Northern Ireland Events 2008

In the fall of 2008 there will be a series of concerts and lectures sponsored by the Rediscover Northern Ireland Programme. Go to the 2008 Rediscover Northern Ireland Events page for a description of these events.

• October 9, 2008, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
  Concert: Tommy Sands with Moya and Fionán Sands, County Down, Northern Ireland
• November 6, 2008, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
  “It's Of My Rambles...” A Journey in the Song Tradition of Ulster Lecture presented by Len Graham.
• December 4, 2008, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
  " I Am a Wee Weaver": Weaving and Singing in Northern Ireland Lecture presented by Maurice Leyden

Symposia

• Past event: 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. 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

• Training Program for Indigenous Communities
  May 14, 2008: The American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress today announced a new pilot program that will train members of indigenous communities to document their own cultural traditions, archive this heritage for future generations and protect their intellectual-property interests in their recordings and the traditions they document. The project is a collaboration among AFC, the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University in North Carolina and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) based in Geneva, Switzerland. >> more
  
  
• Research Awards
  The Research Awards page contains 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 provides an 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.