Anne Rappaport

New York Folklore’s 80th Birthday Bash

New York Folklore’s 80th Birthday Bash

This past weekend (Saturday, September 21,2024) , New York Folklore celebrated its 80th birthday! The celebration, held at the Jay Square in Schenectady, NY,  was a fitting backdrop. Jay Street has been home to The New York Folklore Shop and Gallery since 1999. The...

Lalita Ramnauth

Lalita Ramnauth

Lalita Ramnauth was born and raised in Guyana where, at a young age, she and her family discovered her natural talent for singing. Having moved to the United States from Guyana in 1992, she eventually relocated to Schenectady.  Lalita possesses a large repertoire of...

The 40th Annual Folk Arts Roundtable

The 40th Annual Folk Arts Roundtable

For the 40th annual New York Folk Arts Roundtable, New York Folklore brought the Roundtable to our neighborhood in Schenectady, NY.  For this big milestone we were joined by one of our largest cohorts ever! Things kicked off on Sunday, April 28th at the Arts Education...

The 38th Annual Folk Arts Roundtable

The 38th Annual Folk Arts Roundtable

At New York Folklore's 38th annual New York Folklore Arts Roundtable, we were joined, for the first time ever, by our neighbors from New Jersey! Our expanded group convened in the Bear Mountain State Park, Tompkins Cove, NY. The only thing more impressive than the...

Arab American Heritage Month

Arab American Heritage Month

This blog post is courtesy of New York Folklore Board Member and Arab Artist, Nada Odeh. Learn more about Nada and her work on her website https://www.nadaodeh.com.  Arabic Heritage Month One of the things that I like to celebrate as an Arab is Arabic calligraphy,...

An Interview with Luthier Stephen Iachetta

An Interview with Luthier Stephen Iachetta

Last month Staff Folklorist Anne Rappaport Berliner Interviewed  Luthier Stephen Iachetta of Shaker Violin Repair. Check out an excerpt of their interview! ARB: How did you get into playing and making?  SI: In third grade I started playing, at the age of 7. A...

Artist Spotlight: Tashi Sharzur

Artist Spotlight: Tashi Sharzur

Tashi Sharzur AKA Techung Techung began his study of Tibetan performing arts at the age of nine at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in India. After moving to the US, he co-founded the San Francisco-based Chaksampa Tibetan Dance & Opera Company in 1989,...

Meet TAUNY’s newest folklorist

Meet TAUNY’s newest folklorist

This blog post is courtesy of Mathilde (Tilly) Frances Lind. Director of Programs and Research at Traditional Arts of Upstate New York. Tilly is a PhD candidate in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University Bloomington and a fiber artist who...

New York Folklore helps secure $225,000 for folk arts

New York Folklore helps secure $225,000 for folk arts

Artists and organizations in New York State will receive a combined total of $225,000 in grants thanks to assistance from New York Folklore. These funds come from 21 successful applications submitted to the New York State Council on the Arts - more than triple the...

From the Field: Blues In Brooklyn

From the Field: Blues In Brooklyn

This From the Field Feature is courtesy of Beareather Reddy, Founder/Ex. Director of the Brooklyn Blues Society. Find more info about them at https://brooklynbluessociety.org The Blues is Alive and living in Brooklyn!  Being a Black woman raised in the south, I was...

From the Field: Blues in Brooklyn

From the Field: Blues in Brooklyn

This From the Field Feature is courtesy of Beareather Reddy, Founder/Ex. Director of the Brooklyn Blues Society. Find more info about them at https://brooklynbluessociety.org The Blues is Alive and living in Brooklyn!  Being a Black woman raised in the south, I was...

From the Field: Foraged Fruit

From the Field: Foraged Fruit

This From the Field Feature is courtesy of Dr. Maria Kennedy,  a folklorist and faculty member at Rutgers University. She is a member of the New York Folklore board. You can follow her Foraged Fruit project at https://foragedfruitproject.com or on Instagram...

From the Field Capital Region

From the Field Capital Region

This From the Field Feature is courtesy of New York Folklore Community Field Worker  – Edgar Betelu. Since late 2021 he has been working with immigrant and refugee communities in the Capital Region. New York's Capital Region and upstate are home to an increasing...