For the first time, the Virginia Folklife Area is produced as a partnership between the Virginia Folklife Program of Virginia Humanities and the newly formed Center for Cultural Vibrancy. Along with this newly formed partnership, this year provides many reasons to celebrate. 2022 marks the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, which supports the continuation of living traditions by giving direct support and a public platform to artists. In addition to an interactive exhibit to celebrate this milestone, there will be an Instrument Makers Workshop spotlighting several current and previous apprenticeship artists.
The festival has become one of Virginia’s largest, drawing fans each year to downtown Richmond’s riverfront to celebrate the roots, richness, and variety of American culture through music, dance, traditional crafts, storytelling, and food. Featuring six stages and showcasing music and dance from more than 30 artists from around the nation and the world, the Richmond Folk Festival promises, as always, to return with a culturally diverse and impressive program.
Sacred Steel @ 2011 Memphis Folk Alliance International
Stax Music Academy
NPR radio show
NPR radio show
Sacred Steel is an African-American gospel tradition that features the steel guitar in religious services. It originated in Pentecostal churches in the 1930s
It developed in the Church of the Living God, particularly in the Keith and Jewell Dominions.
Sacred Steel gained wider recognition through performances by artists like Robert Randolph, Calvin Cooke, Aubrey Ghent and the Campbell Brothers, who brought the genre to international fame.