Texas Folklife is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and promoting the diverse cultural heritage of Texas. Texas Folklife strives to showcase the traditions, arts, and stories of communities across the state through various programs and events. Texas Folklife aims to ensure that these traditions continue to thrive for generations by fostering a sense of belonging and appreciation for cultural heritage.

Texas Folklife Mission Statement:

Texas Folklife is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and presenting the diverse cultures and living heritage of the Lone Star State.

Purpose of Texas Folklife (From 1999 Bylaws):

The purpose and intent of the corporation is to cultivate, promote, encourage, and sponsor the preservation, understanding, appreciation, and public presentation of the folk arts, folklore, and folk life of Texas and its associated regions where appropriate; to initiate research and public programming projects which identify, document, present, and preserve the folk arts, folklore, and folk life of Texas.

WHO WE ARE

Texas Folklife is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and presenting the diverse cultures and living heritage of the Lone Star State.

Founded in 1984, we cultivate and document the state’s rich cultural legacy through a vibrant mix of performances, exhibitions, education programs, multimedia projects, fiscal sponsorships, capacity building, archival holdings, and more.

With a 40 year history conducting folk and traditional arts programming and outreach, we benefit from a strong reputation among regional and national peers and colleagues in the arts.

We have been invited by the American Folklife Center in Washington D.C. on numerous occasions to present Texas artists at the Library of Congress and Kennedy Center in their “Home Grown: The Music of the Americas” series, and Texas Folklife programs have been consistently funded by the NEA, including Stories from Deep in the Heart (since 2008) and Foodways: A Place at the Table.

An annual, flagship offering, our Apprenticeships in the Folk and Traditional Arts Program, is key to ensuring a far-reaching and inclusive folk arts infrastructure statewide, with a long-lasting impact.

This is well complimented by Texas Folklife’s spearheading of the Folklife Network of Texas, a statewide group of folk & traditional art stakeholders
established in 2019.

Mentor Dan Shores

Mentor Aboubacar Sylla from Austin, TX
West African Folk Percussion

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