May 27-30
Northwest Folklife’s 2022 Cultural Focus, Metamorphosis: In with the Old, In with the New, celebrates people’s natural propensity for change. This pandemic has proven to be one of those unique moments in our time; and it is incumbent upon us to recognize this turning point for what it is, reground ourselves, point our compass true north, dream a new future, and meet the challenges ahead.
A once-in-a-lifetime challenge offers us the opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime solution. It is in moments like these when emerging ideas, movements, and practices can become new conventions; when new thoughts branch from older ones, connecting us to our past, and propelling us to our future; where changing perspectives can be fostered, not feared, or ignored. In with the old, and in with the new!
Like an actual metamorphosis, there’s nuance and tension before transformation. People’s art forms have been practiced, tested, reshaped, worn out, and advanced over a millenia, and while some changes take time, some happen in an instant. Sometimes these changes in our music, dance, or craft, are by accident, while others are intentional and influenced by outside forces. Metamorphosis is an expression of that change. It is how we absorb it or reflect it that determines the butterfly that we become.
What are the old things becoming new things, and new things becoming old things? Where can Folklife support emerging ideas in community, arts education, and our creative industries? How can Folklife preserve our stories and our songs? Whose voices has Folklife neglected to amplify, and where can we improve, build, and listen more deeply?
This year sets the stage for a 5-part cultural focus series, where Metamorphosis starts us on a journey In this journey we've set out to explore 3 major themes where we see the Next 50 Years of Folklife being of particular importance.
Workforce Development & Creative Economy: Bolstering people, organizations, and initiatives that contribute to a strengthened creative industry.
Hybridization: Digital Storytelling: Archived footage and recordings; development and production of new recordings and visual content; and continued outreach, relationship building, and analysis of stories and cultural content.
Folklife in our Communities: Engage harder to reach communities and prioritize relationships, new partnerships, and programming with neighborhoods and communities whose voices are not often heard.
READ THE ONLINE PROGRAM GUIDE HERE!
Poster Artists
Liz Tran
Channeling subjects such as dream imagery, mycology, the psyche and outer space, Tran explores the shapes of nature, with the infusion of fantastical, pulsing synthetic hues. Through a variety of media and cross disciplinary practices and collaborations, she creates atmospheres that aim to activate.
@liztranstudios
Terence Smith
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California during the turbulent 60’s and 70’s civil rights movement, Terence L. Smith, is a self taught artist who has been drawing and painting since he was a young child. This creative escape later turned into a means of relieving stress as he built a successful career in aviation as an electrical engineer, culminating as an executive with The Boeing Co. Until recently only his immediate family knew what a prolific portfolio of drawings and paintings he had accumulated over the years. He paints mainly in watercolor, pen & ink, but also works with acrylics on canvas.
@TerenceSmith58
Terence@AriseBusinessSolutions.com
Megan McDermott
I hope to show how much colors speak to me and to express their vibrancy and to push the emotions they can tell. I paint, draw, sew. I first began with watercolors, then to acrylics. I hope to continue live painting and seek mural opportunities and collaborations for those who need help expressing a story. I will always seek learning and exploring.
@gobsofcolor
Rae Akino
Rae Akino uses bold colors and expressive form to explore identity, sexuality, Afroncentrism, spirituality, mental health & awareness, consciousness, and self. Centering the viewer into an emotional, mental and spiritual connection with themselves opens the door to endless possibilities. Awakening desensitized emotions lead to the questions that spark conversations.
Living in a society where boxes and labels are a way of life forces one to hide and resent the parts of themselves that are not accepted. Never being strictly one thing or another fostered the realization that “I am all things” and “we are all things”.
@rae_akino
5-Part Cultural Focus Series Strategy
Creative Ecosystems, Cultural Economy & Workforce Development
Building upon the work accomplished, particularly over the past few years, Northwest Folklife is in the process of developing a strategic vision and plan to launch into “the Next 50.” We honor the legacy of our culture bearers by ensuring that cultural and creative work is truly sustainable; not simply a product, but rather a foundational asset of healthy and vibrant communities. Northwest Folklife will continue to use our positionality as a cultural “institution” pushing both ourselves and our civic leadership to reimagine policies and resources to uphold a robust support system for artists, community-led organizations, and small creative businesses. In our larger quest to reclaim “folk” as both global and local expressions of shared values, ever evolving traditions, collective transformation, and people-centered progress, we ask that you reflect with us on how living our best folklife can propel us to a more inclusive and thriving society.
Digital Storytelling, Innovative Archiving & Hybridization
As we re-emerge from the confines of stay-at-home mandates, turbulent public health conditions, and life in little on-screen boxes, it is important to recognize the power and positives of digital engagement that has been steadily growing from long before 2020. The platforms may change, but the online space will continue to be an important medium for accessible communication, community storytelling, cultural preservation, and artistic innovation. Northwest Folklife is working to digitize a 50+ year history of community-powered festivals while simultaneously capturing and broadcasting our present “folk.” We dream of creating a readily usable archive of thousands of culture bearers in the Pacific Northwest that can help us stay connected and grounded by nurturing our roots as well as our curiosity about the many cultural traditions and practices we live amongst. In preparing the hybrid offerings for the 2022 festival, we have started to build out a production space within our offices so that we can continue to amplify the incredible work and knowledge of our local creators. As we continue to expand the locations of our programming, we are also developing a mobile AV kit so that we can capture folk “in the field” - everywhere people exist, folklife lives!
Folklife In Community
Finding your folk is a journey that can begin at or be reinvigorated by a four-day festival, yet if we have learned anything living through a pandemic it is that we need to lean into the strength, agency, and creative expression that our folklife can give, 365 days of the year. While our organization is most recognizable for the Annual Northwest Folklife Festival at Seattle Center, our work has extended beyond the bounds of Memorial Day weekend for many years - whether through partnerships with artists and community organizations, supporting events throughout Seattle and further, or by providing culturally relevant artistic programming for youth. We know we still can improve how we engage in greater outreach and as we envision the next 50 and beyond, we are deepening our commitment to connect – particularly to harder-to-reach and underrepresented communities – by listening and learning, by building and rebuilding relationships, and through the continued co-creation of inclusive and enduring opportunities to live our best folklife.