Kiran Singh Sirah is a folklorist, poet and president of the International Storytelling Center. He heads the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee—the oldest festival of its kind in the world and a driving force behind the renaissance in storytelling. Kiran talks
public folklore advocacy
In 2020, folklorist Tim Tangherlini and his collaborators published an article on how narrative frameworks could help people distinguish between conspiracy theories and real conspiracies. Within months, his research was being written about and talked about by the BBC, Ars Technica, Axios,
Here is an example of creating additional funding for underserved audiences by the Committee on Responsive Philanthropy. Their campaign, Philanthropy’s Promise, has persuaded over 100 funders to designate at least half of their grant dollars for underserved communities. http://www.ncrp.org/philanthropys-promise This effort developed
Robert Baron, who teaches in the Masters Program in Cultural Sustainability at Goucher College describes how folklorists banded together over the years to save the New York Folk Arts Coordinator position, the American Folklife Center, and the NEA Heritage Awards. NYC Folk
Christina Barr has served as executive director for the Nevada Humanities Council since 2009. She has advocated on behalf of folklore and the humanities at the local, state, and federal level. In this case study, she describes responding to a drastic reduction