Sights & SoundsAsha Vattikuti and Janhavi Kirtane
Kathak dance is an ancient story-telling dance form, originally performed by bards to narrate the stories of gods and goddesses in the temples of Northern India. Asha Vattikuti has spent …
Sights & SoundsLarry Counts and Dee Puckett and Thomas Vail
Broom making has enjoyed a long history in Appalachia and throughout Virginia. Initially, brooms were made primarily as a home craft, and then later became a vibrant cottage industry. Broom …
Sights & SoundsMildred Moore and Bonnie Sears
The Pamunkey Indian potters have been creating their distinctive blackware pottery since before the first contact with Europeans in 1607. Born and raised on the Pamunkey Indian Reservation, Mildred Moore …
Sights & SoundsGanell Marshall and Sarah Mullins
A version of corn shuck doll making was likely first introduced to settlers in Southwest Virginia by Native Americans, though it was also a staple craft of early Mission Schools …
Sights & SoundsJoe Ayers and Patrick Hester
Joe Ayers and Patrick Hester. Photo by Morgan Miller/Virginia Folklife Program. Joe Ayers has literally written the history books regarding the development of the banjo in America. Joe, who lives …
Sights & SoundsPenny Stilwell and D. Gail Lawrence
Born out of necessity long before refrigeration, “canning”—the process of preserving traditional jams, jellies, relishes, and pickles by hand—has been elevated by master canners such as Penny Stilwell into an …
Sights & SoundsGrayson Chesser and Robie Marsh, Jr.
The Eastern Shore of Virginia, a narrow peninsula stretching roughly seventy-five miles between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay, has long been a veritable hotbed of decoy-carving masters. The …
Sights & SoundsAudrey Hash Ham and Carl Powers
There is perhaps no sound more associated with the Blue Ridge Mountains than that of a bow gliding across the strings of a fiddle. While much attention has been focused …
Sights & SoundsFlory Jagoda and Susan Gaeta
When the Sephardic Jews were forced into exile from Spain and Portugal in the fifteenth century, many settled in other Mediterranean countries but preserved their native language, called Ladino. Flory …
Sights & SoundsC. Marshall Cofer and Rebecca Austin
C. Marshall Cofer and Rebecca Austin work with draft horses. Photo by Morgan Miller/Virginia Folklife Program. Long before the majority of agricultural life became mechanized, farmers relied on draft horses …
Sights & SoundsThe Paschall Brothers
Hampton Roads, the growing metropolitan area at the convergence of the James River, Atlantic Ocean, and the Chesapeake Bay, produced more than two hundred a cappella gospel quartets in the …
Sights & SoundsJohn Rinehart and Don Fitzgerald
Ever since the automobile has been mass produced by the assembly lines of Detroit, it has been revised, altered, elaborated, and reconstructed in small garages and car shops throughout America. …
Sights & SoundsKinney Rorrer and Jeremy Stephens
Kinney Rorrer is considered the premiere scholar and performer of the three-finger banjo style first popularized by the great “North Carolina Rambler,” Charlie Poole. “Three-finger” banjo playing consists of deftly …
Sights & SoundsWilliam Rogers and Amin Ghaderi
William Rogers uses a coal-fired forge, an anvil, and some time-tested hand tools to perpetuate the centuries-old skill of blacksmithing. Exposed to the craft at an early age, William recalls …
Apply for an Apprenticeship
Virginia Folklife Apprenticeships will begin on May 1, 2020 and run through May 1, 2021. The application deadline for this cycle is January 31, 2020.
