Northwest Folklife is Community!

For the 2010 Northwest Folklife Festival, the cultural focus will be on our communities! You've noticed them on the program each year—the standing-room-only shows that feature amazing performers that everyone already seems to know? The shows where you have to stand in line to get a seat in the theatre, or you have to work your way around the audience edges at an outdoor stage? The shows you've always wanted to see?

This year we're working with those groups to tell you a little bit more about them. Northwest Folklife's mission is to provide opportunities for communities to present themselves. Those communities can be ethnic groups, regional groups, occupational groups, or communities of affinity—people who choose to participate in a particular group such as dancers or singers. Some of those groups we work with have been involved with Folklife since its inception, and some are new. For 2010 a variety of communities want to show off who they are and what defines them as communities.

Leading up to the Festival you'll find on our website descriptions of involved, engaged communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. They are providing descriptions of themselves, their histories, their photos, links to video, their holidays, their recipes—lots of information so that you can learn more about them.

Then at the 2010 Festival, they'll strut more of their stuff in their performances. Look for the special Folklife is Community! icon on the program. They'll be performing, they'll be talking about their communities on the Narrative Stage, they'll be organizing family activities on the Folklife Commons, they'll demonstrate some of their traditional crafts, and they'll organize exhibits.

We're so pleased to be able to work closely with some of our staunchest supporters. Folklife is Community! Come and learn more!