PROGRAMS & SERVICES
Conferences & Symposia
Annual Conference
Since its beginnings, NYFS has sponsored at least one conference a year. We provide educational offerings that appeal to folklorists and folklore students, professionals and students in related fields, educators, tradition bearers and traditional artists, and people interested in folklore from all over the state. The talk sessions—lectures and discussions—are balanced by such activities as boat tours, concerts or dance parties, visits to interesting cultural sites, and good food.
From the left: Josh White Jr., Sonny Ochs, Oscar Brand and moderator Paul Mercer
at NYFS Fall Conference 2008, “The Folk Music Revival: Politics and Community”
For many years, these annual meetings of the New York Folklore Society focused on experiencing the folklore of specific regions of the state: Long Island, Chautauqua, Harlem, Watkins Glen, Saratoga Springs, and many more. Meetings in the past fifteen years have incorporated an Erie Canal boat ride (Seneca Falls, 1997), a guided walk through a Hudson Valley orchard (Clinton Corners, 1996), and an opportunity to drive at a NASCAR-sanctioned racetrack (Watkins Glen, 2004).
See Past Conferences to learn more about these events.
“Occupational Folklore” was the theme of the 2013 New York Folklore Society ’s annual conference, hosted by ArtsWestchester and produced in collaboration with ArtsWestchester and Long Island Traditions, March 2, 2013.
SEE PHOTOS and READ about the recent 2013 NYFS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
In 2010–2011, the Society embarked on a new conference format—a graduate student conference which showcased student work. These conferences have held at New York University (2010) and Binghamton University (2011).
READ the Conference Report for our 2011 conference, “Legends and Tales” in Voices 37:3–4, 2011.
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| The New York Folklore Society’s programs are made possible in part with public funds from the Folk Arts Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. |  |
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Symposia and Forums
The New York Folklore Society, Building Cultural Bridges, The American Folklore Society, and the New York State Council on the Arts present
The Art of Community: BUILDING AN ARTS & CULTURE SUPPORT NETWORK FOR NEWCOMER ARTISTS IN CENTRAL NEW YORK STATE
Friday, May 17, 2013, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Utica Public Library, 303 Genesee St., Utica, NY 13501
Upstate New York has become home to an ever-expanding community of refugees and immigrants from all over the world. Layering upon an already rich infrastructure of arts organizations, there is a great potential for an increasingly varied cultural landscape. Yet many of the artists from these communities struggle to maintain their expressive and cultural heritage traditions in the face of overwhelming and immediate needs as they adapt to their new environment.
You are invited to a workshop that will explore merging the arts with social services to better serve these newcomer communities and to enliven our community at large.
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Read more and register today.
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Each year the New York Folklore Society holds informal forums and events on topics of interest to the folklore field, professionals in related fields, and NYFS members. The New York Folklore Society
reaches out to communities across the state, forging new collaborative partnerships.
At the Low Bridge, Everybody Down! An Erie Canal Music Celebration NYFS presented two days of music, history, and family fun on November 2–3, 2012, at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse. Workshops, concerts, presentations, discussions, and displays exploration of the rich musical heritage of the Erie Canal.
With Stitching Tradition: An Invitation to a Public Sewing Circle, NYFS, with funding from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, provided for an embroiderer’s exchange at the History Center of Tompkins County in November 2011. It included an exhibit of the work of Eniko Farkas of Ithaca and Very Nakonechny of Philadelphia, PA. Also included were four weavers from the Karen community of Utica who brought a Southeast Asian perspective to the gathering.
READ about more of the Society’s past Symposia and Forums.
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