Mohawk Hudson Folklife Festival

The Capital District (Albany and Rensselaer Counties) Upstate Regional Initiative is ending with a BANG this Fall. On October 3rd from Noon to 5 pm join us in Albany’s Washington Park at the Lake House Amphitheater for the Mohawk Hudson Folklife Festival. The festival will feature the artists, tradition bearers and musicians identified by our Community Fieldworkers Ladan Nikravan, and Edgar Betelu.  

Artists will display and demonstrate their work throughout the day for visitors to engage and participate. Demonstrations will include; African Hair Braiding, Iconography, Wood Carving and more!  Adults and children will have the chance to try their hand at crafts inspired by these traditions in workshops and activities. 

Photo of Carved Birds by Majaliwa D Maulidi. Photo by Ladan Nikravan.

Chinese Papercut by Anping Liu. Photo by Anne Rappaport

Musical performances by the Wa Lika Band and Mundeo Nuevo will bring the day to a close starting at 3pm! See the full performance schedule below.  

11:30 am Washington Park Drummers  

12 pm – 1pm  Karen (Myanmar) Harp by Pinya Aung   

1 pm –2pm Mixed Roots  

2 pm – 3pm Pakastani Music by Shaman Awan and Aurelius John  

3pm – 4pm Wa Lika Band  

4 pm – 5pm Mundo Nuevo 

The full festival program is available here: Mohawk Hudson Folklife Festival Program

Photo of Mbaya Patrick Kasongo of Wa Lika Band. Photo Courtesy of the Artist. 

The Upstate Regional Initiative is a program initiated by the Folk Arts Program of the New York State Council on the Arts. The project was developed to conduct field documentation and programming in counties underserved by the Folk Arts program of NYSCA, with the goal to serve as a catalyst for community-based projects and to identify artists and cultural traditions within these regions. The initiative continues in 2021 in the Mohawk Valley