Artists and organizations in New York State will receive a combined total of over $600,000 in grants, thanks to their partnerships with New York Folklore. These funds from the the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) support artists, specific cultural...
On Friday, November 7, 2025, the Schenectady/West African Youth Orchestra (a youth ensemble created by celebrated Ghanaian musician, Zorkie Nelson) will debut a new piece by banjo musician and music educator, Scott Hopkins. The collaboration is the...
Like so many ancient crafts, handspinning is far from dead and gone, and there’s a vibrant international community of spinners with their own literature, events, and makers of new tools. Still, the old wheels are constantly at risk, as collectors pass away, institutions shut down and disperse their collections, and time and circumstances take their toll through water damage, fires, woodworms, pet damage, and lost parts. Collectors and users of old spinning wheels are a fraction of the larger handspinning community, so there are only so many homes for these grand old tools,
and each spinner can only take in so many spinning wheels.
My name is Apoorva Sonavani. I was born in central India. I am a watercolor artist, a percussion enthusiast, and a Kathak dancer. Kathak is a classical dance form from India. In my childhood, my parents enrolled me in a dance and music class for creating a treasure to...
I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. At a young age, my parents were my inspiration. My father is an artist and a musician. He loves to sing, play the piano, and paint things that remind him of Puerto Rico. My mother is also a talented musician who likes to sing music...
Born in Armenia, I spent my childhood in the historical Armenian highlands of Artsakh where my grandparents indulged me in various traditional arts and crafts. A master of needlework, my grandma fashioned ornate and beautiful linens embroidered with traditional...
Jianling (Ling) Yue teaches Chinese language and culture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY. Her teaching and academic pursuits have earned her numerous awards and commendations. Jianling is also an expert in Chinese paper-cutting (or paper-cut)...
Tonia Loran-Galban (Mohawk, Bear Clan) resides in Farmington, New York and is a Haudenosaunee Culture Bearer. She is a native traditional basket maker who has worked at Ganondagan State Historic Site (site of a 17thcentury Seneca Town) in Victor, NY as a Senior...
Hayden Haynes is an antler carving artist working deeply in cultural arts revitalization and teaching. Born in Claremore, OK, Hayden grew up on the Seneca-Cattaraugus Territory in Western New York. It is from here where he draws inspiration related to land, history,...
Pamela Badila is a folkteller artist and co-founder, along with her late husband Elombe Badila, of the Diata Diata International Folkloric Theatre. Pamela Badila is a visual and performing artist with a background in education. As part of of Diata Diata...
Maxwell Kofi Donkor is an internationally recognized artist and master cultural educator who is most known for his performances and teaching of African Drumming and Dance, through the Sankofa African Drum and Dance Ensemble. For many decades, he has focused on...
FELIX NELSON was born in 1988 and grew up in the Jamestown area of Accra. He followed in the footsteps of his talented parents to become a highly skilled musician, singer, dancer and dance educator. Felix came to the US in 2006 to join his father Zorkie in upstate NY...
Today, I exited off the Michigan Avenue Exit ramp of Schenectady's I-890, and smiled. Looming in front of me was the mural that was created at the end of June 2024 by Raè Frasier of Art Money, three students enrolled in the Schenectady Job Training Agency's after...
Karen Sell is a modern practitioner of
the age-old craft of wig making. A native
of Singapore, Karen studied hairstyling in
England, where she also took a course in wig
making. She worked as a stylist for the Vidal
Sassoon salons in London, then later in New
York when she immigrated to this country in
the late 1980s. In New York, she also worked
as a stylist at a salon that made wigs. There,
she styled and maintained wigs for clients,
then established her own wig-making business
about fifteen years ago.
We all know that time flies when we’re having
fun. As for me, I can scarcely believe that
thirty years have passed since the summer
of 1979, when Valerie Ingram and I, both
recent Cooperstown “folkies,” organized a
conference we called Getting the “Lore” Back
to the “Folk” for anyone interested in folklore,
particularly applied folklore, as it was called
in those days. It was the ’70s, and this was
a new field.