Graduate Assistant
August 2021–present
Violet Baron is a dual MA candidate at Indiana University’s Folklore Department and the Media School. Her background is in journalism, multimedia production, and nonprofit programs. In addition to her studies, she produces the Media School podcast Through the Gates, a weekly interview show featuring innovative projects and research by students and professionals at Indiana University. She also assists with documentary production at WTIU Public Television.
Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Violet previously worked as a freelance and full-time reporter, writing everything from breaking news in finance to travel destination reviews to alumni profiles for Harvard Magazine. Prior to joining her degree program, she worked at the Association for Cultural Equity—Alan Lomax Archive as a senior researcher and program associate. While there, she coordinated a program to bring traditional music into public schools, presented the archive’s new digital resources at the American Folklore Society annual meeting, and traveled to the West Indies to help facilitate a repatriation program for Lomax recordings.
Violet has done a number of production projects for Indiana University, including reporting, producing and hosting the podcast series Growing in Place for the Center for Rural Engagement. The series features interviews with farmers and food workers in the Indiana Uplands, describing the creative ways they adapted to the challenges of the pandemic. This past summer with Traditional Arts Indiana she led a video production team documenting the CRE’s community engagement project in Beck’s Mill, Indiana.
As the AFS Graduate Assistant, Violet keeps the Society’s calendar, news, and career centers current, and assists senior staff on a variety of projects.