Jessi Rae Morton

News Editor

The North Carolina Folk Festival returns to downtown Greensboro this weekend, Sept. 8-10. Admission to the festival is free, and no tickets are required. Events begin at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8, and the festival runs rain or shine. A festival map and schedule are available online.

Perhaps most exciting for the UNC Greensboro community is the fact that this year’s festival will include several jam sessions and workshops led by faculty, staff, and alums of UNC Greensboro, including: 

• Fri., Sept. 8, at 5 p.m. — African Drum Workshop led by Atiba Rorie, dance music coordinator, School of Dance
• Sat., Sept. 9, at 1 p.m. — Irish Seisún led by Gavin Douglas, professor of music and ethnomusicology, School of Music
• Sat., Sept. 9, at 4 p.m. — Ukulele Americana Music Jam led by Terry Brandsma, information technology librarian, with the Triad Ukulele Club
• Sat., Sept. 9, at 7 p.m. — Honky Tonk Jam led by Mark Dillon, songwriting instructor, School of Music
• Sun., Sept. 10, at 12 p.m. — Old-Time and Folk Song Jam led by Christen Blanton, professor of music and ethnomusicology, School of Music
• Sun., Sept. 10, at 3 p.m. — Bluegrass Jam led by alum Evan Campfield ’20

A recent news article from UNC Greensboro explains that the university “is a sponsor of the NC Folk Festival, and several Spartans will be leading those musical sessions during Center City Jams. People can bring their own instruments to Center City Park and schedule a jam session with a local artist.” Additionally, “alumni will grace the Festival stages throughout the weekend, such as Kate Musselwhite Tobey with Queen Bees” (Sept. 10 at 12 p.m.).

The event website states, “The NC Folk Fest […] features more than 300 artists on multiple stages with continuous performances. The Festival attracts huge crowds of people to downtown Greensboro for a three-day celebration of cultural heritage through music, dance, handmade crafts, food, and family fun!” The North Carolina Folk Festival, which is associated with the Greensboro Cultural Center, planned the event. The Greensboro-based nonprofit’s mission states that the organization “honors, celebrates and shares the meaningful ways communities express their creativity and cultural traditions through music, dance, food, crafts and other folk arts to enhance appreciation of diverse traditions and contribute to community vibrancy and inclusivity.” 

The current festival, established in 2018, “succeeded the National Folk Festival that was in residency for three years in Greensboro, N.C. from 2015 – 2017.” Their “Who We Are” section explains that the “organization is rooted in the ethos of inclusivity that created the National Folk Festival in 1934 as one of our nation’s first multicultural celebrations to present the arts of many nations, races, and languages on the same stage on an equal footing.”

While people may have different definitions of “folk,” the festival website clarifies their definition, helping attendees know what to expect at the event. They write, “In the context of our work, the folk arts are the creative expressions of communities of people, and the ways in which their traditions are communicated and shared within (or about) their community. In the folk arts field, a community is a grouping of people who are connected by a common ethnic heritage, cultural mores, language, religion, occupation, or geographic region.”

To further assist festival attendees, the organization assigns genres to their program’s vast array of offerings while realizing that it’s only one way to “begin to define and categorize them” and that “folk traditions and the public presentation of ‘folklore’ are constantly changing and evolving.” 

With its free admission and downtown Greensboro location, the NC Folk Fest is an excellent opportunity for members of the UNC Greensboro community to engage with music and folk arts from many communities, including ours.