Showcase
BAC FOLK ARTS: WHAT WE DO
See a merengue típico dance at a Dominican party in Bushwick; the elaborate costumes on Eastern Parkway at the annual West Indies Labor Day Celebration; moko jumbies dancing on stilts in Ft. Greene Park; a five-story tall giglio tower in Williamsburg to honor St. Paulinus and Our Mother Mt. Carmel. This is your Brooklyn.
Hear the percussive beat of an African djembe drum; a Russian-Jewish immigrant hammering copper memory portraits of rabbis from the past; an oud emanating from a Lebanese café in Bay Ridge. This is your borough.
These are the sounds and sights of Brooklyn folk arts: traditions that make the borough one of the most diverse places in the United States.
BAC is proud to help nurture Brooklyn’s traditional artists and preserve our borough’s diverse heritage though our Folk Arts programs.
We work with Brooklyn-based folk and traditional artists and their communities to preserve and present arts that express the borough’s diverse living heritage. Music, dance, visual and material arts, occupational and religious traditions all find wider audiences through our public presentations, from the annual Folk Feet traditional dance showcase to Circle ‘Round Brooklyn social dance workshops to the Brooklyn Maqam Arab Music Festival.
About Folk Arts
FIELDWORK
Bringing traditional arts and artists to the public is the chief priority of BAC's folk arts programming. In order to do so, we must first identify and document folklore through fieldwork.
Fieldwork is the heart of what we do. We visit Brooklyn neighborhoods to learn about and meet local artists. We set up an interview and begin a process of documentation through photography and video and audio interviews and ask the artist to complete a written personal history. Artists are asked to sign a release which permits the information to be permanently housed in the BAC Folk Arts Archive, where it is accessible to the public. We also ask artists to join BAC's Artist Registry, an online database of Brooklyn artists.
Bringing traditional arts and artists to the public is the chief priority of BAC's folk arts programming. In order to do so, we must first identify and document folklore through fieldwork.
Fieldwork is the heart of what we do. We visit Brooklyn neighborhoods to learn about and meet local artists. We set up an interview and begin a process of documentation through photography and video and audio interviews and ask the artist to complete a written personal history. Artists are asked to sign a release which permits the information to be permanently housed in the BAC Folk Arts Archive, where it is accessible to the public. We also ask artists to join BAC's Artist Registry, an online database of Brooklyn artists.
ARCHIVE
BAC maintains an archive of recordings, videotapes and photographs that documents Brooklyn’s evolving folklife. The archive contains records dating back to the inception of BAC's Folk Arts program in 1988. A special collection of materials related to the centennial of the Williamsburg Bridge has been fully cataloged. Other materials include interviews and a photographic record of artists presented by BAC from 1988 through 2004. We also maintain video and audio archives of our programming, including Praise in the Park: Brooklyn Religious Traditions in Music and Here Was New York: The Twin Towers in Memorial Images. Select materials from the history of BAC's Folk Arts programs, among them the Williamsburg Bridge 100 and Folk Feet: Celebrating Traditional Dance in Brooklyn, are available online. Additional materials will become available in 2009.
BAC maintains an archive of recordings, videotapes and photographs that documents Brooklyn’s evolving folklife. The archive contains records dating back to the inception of BAC's Folk Arts program in 1988. A special collection of materials related to the centennial of the Williamsburg Bridge has been fully cataloged. Other materials include interviews and a photographic record of artists presented by BAC from 1988 through 2004. We also maintain video and audio archives of our programming, including Praise in the Park: Brooklyn Religious Traditions in Music and Here Was New York: The Twin Towers in Memorial Images. Select materials from the history of BAC's Folk Arts programs, among them the Williamsburg Bridge 100 and Folk Feet: Celebrating Traditional Dance in Brooklyn, are available online. Additional materials will become available in 2009.
FOLK ARTS IN EDUCATION
Folk arts are a vital part of BAC's Arts in Education Program. Artists perform, teach and conduct workshops in public schools throughout the five boroughs for students, families and their school communities. In addition to their artistic skills, these artists bring their diverse cultural backgrounds to the classroom.
Among the traditional artists participating in BAC's Arts in Education programming are teachers of Puerto Rican bomba, Irish step dancing, and Yemeni music traditions.
Folk arts are a vital part of BAC's Arts in Education Program. Artists perform, teach and conduct workshops in public schools throughout the five boroughs for students, families and their school communities. In addition to their artistic skills, these artists bring their diverse cultural backgrounds to the classroom.
Among the traditional artists participating in BAC's Arts in Education programming are teachers of Puerto Rican bomba, Irish step dancing, and Yemeni music traditions.
For over 100 years the annual July Feast of St. Paulinus and Our Mother of Mt. Carmel in Williamsburg has centered on “dancing the giglio,” a 5 story tall tower and 10 piece brass band carried by 125 men of the parish. Photo: Kay Turner
COLLABORATIONS AND OUTREACH
We forge mutually supportive relationships with local organizations that support folk artists through their programming, including City Lore, Mano a Mano and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance. We cultivate these connections on the state and national level, too, with institutions advocating folk arts preservation and presentation like the New York Folklore Society, the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage and Preservation Division, the American Folklore Society, the Smithsonian Institution Folklife Festival, the Fund for Folk Culture and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Visit these organizations on the Web to learn more about folk and traditional arts in New York City, New York State, the U.S. and other parts of the world. A list of important organizations and links to their websites is found on Folk Arts Resource page.
We forge mutually supportive relationships with local organizations that support folk artists through their programming, including City Lore, Mano a Mano and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance. We cultivate these connections on the state and national level, too, with institutions advocating folk arts preservation and presentation like the New York Folklore Society, the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage and Preservation Division, the American Folklore Society, the Smithsonian Institution Folklife Festival, the Fund for Folk Culture and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Visit these organizations on the Web to learn more about folk and traditional arts in New York City, New York State, the U.S. and other parts of the world. A list of important organizations and links to their websites is found on Folk Arts Resource page.
PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE
We meet with Brooklyn-based traditional artists seeking one-on-one advisement regarding professional development. We are happy to speak about funding sources, grant writing, programming, interpretation, festival and event contacts and other related topics.
To make an appointment, please email folkarts@brooklynartscouncil.org or call Kay Turner at 718-625-0080 x 229.
We meet with Brooklyn-based traditional artists seeking one-on-one advisement regarding professional development. We are happy to speak about funding sources, grant writing, programming, interpretation, festival and event contacts and other related topics.
To make an appointment, please email folkarts@brooklynartscouncil.org or call Kay Turner at 718-625-0080 x 229.
BAC Folk Arts is made possible, in part, with public funds and private funds from Con Edison; The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation; and National Endowment for the Arts.
BAC programs are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Brooklyn Delegations of the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and New York City Council and its Brooklyn Delegation.