Thanks to our partners at Folk Alliance International, we invite you to participate virtually in the 2022 Folklorist Summit: “Tradition as Profession,” a discussion about equitable professional practice, on May 20, 2022, 9:30-1:00 CDT. The Summit is taking place during this year’s Folk Alliance International Conference, May 18–22, in Kansas City, MO.

Presented by FAI and co-hosted by AFS and the American Folklife Center, this day-long summit will bring together folklorists, artists, and industry professionals to consider pathways and barriers to practicing tradition as a profession and to being recognized as an expert in artistic and academic spaces. 

Within the academic discipline of folklore, there has been a tendency to define a “folk artist” as specifically not a professional. Furthermore, institutions that adjudicate the traditional arts frequently employ a credentialing model that fails to recognize artists as experts in their traditions and to involve them in decision-making. Questions about authenticity, equity, value, and payment continue to be points for discussion in the field of folk and traditional arts. We are in an important moment to think about these questions both within the discipline of folklore and within the FAI and AFS communities.

If you’d like to join us via zoom on May 20, please register here to receive the link for this meeting.  

Then, please register as a virtual attendee to Folk Alliance International at the low rate of $50 for non-members. That way, our friends at FAI will be able to track virtual attendance in their overall numbers and receive a small registration fee to offset tech costs for opening this session up to virtual attendees.

Summit Panelists:

• Karen (Queen Nur) Abdul-Malik, Clemmons Family Farm; Past-President of the National Association of Black Storytellers
• Junious Brickhouse, Urban Artistry 
• Ellie Dassler, SouthArts 
• Lamont Jack Pearley, Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Foundation 
• Teresa Hollingsworth, SouthArts   

Facilitators:

• Jessica A. Turner, American Folklore Society 
• Stephen Winick, American Folklife Center  

We are grateful for the opportunity to listen, reflect, and respond to the layered challenges we all face. We hope you’ll join us for this important discussion!