Northwest Folklife

Northwest Folklife is a washington-based 501(c)(3) arts and heritage organization that preserves, cultivates, and uplifts the intricate tapestry of dynamic cultures and traditions in our region. In 2022, the organization celebrated its 51st anniversary and was able to return to running a majority of in-person events and programs. At its core, Northwest Folklife is about fostering connections to heritage, identity and community. From the annual Northwest Folklife festival to our youth empowerment through arts & heritage (y.e.a.h.) Programs, Northwest Folklife embraces cultural mentorship and creative practice as a vehicle to promote exploration of heritage, bridge communication and understanding, and forge opportunities. This work expands across generations as well as racial and ethnic backgrounds, is inclusive of diverse expressions of identity, and supports the evolution and transformation of communities. From daily creativity and imagination to family and community customs, Folklife is a part of each of our lives - past, present and future. Northwest Folklife's mission is to create opportunities for all to celebrate, share and participate in the evolving cultural traditions of the pacific Northwest and remains community powered thanks to financial contributors, sponsors, volunteers, partnering organizations, artists and cultural leaders from across the region.since 1972, the annual Northwest Folklife festival has been held during memorial day weekend at the seattle center, historic site of the 1962 world's fair. The four-day festival has featured thousands of performers and culture bearers across 20+ stages and has been attended by up to a quarter of a million people, annually. A core value for the organization is for communities to have voice and agency in the representation of their cultural expressions. This is reflected in the co-curation of the festival showcases by community coordinators - prominent artists, educators, and leaders in many organizations throughout the region - many who partner with us on programs year-round. In 2020, we moved this event to a virtual format in response to the covid-19 pandemic. Even with only a month to transform, the online 49th annual Northwest Folklife festival hosted six channels of both live streaming and on-demand programs which reached over 39,000 people across 86 countries. For our 50th anniversary in 2021, there were 161 sessions or participatory zoom sessions that ran during the weekend as compared to the 61 from the previous year. With the success and reach of the online programming, Northwest Folklife continues to engage in "hybrid" activities as it resumed live activities in 2021. The 51st annual nw Folklife festival was able to return to in-person programming at seattle center with a smaller scope of production and holding a number of health and safety practices in place, while also retaining online and live streamed programming to continue to outreach to audiences across the globe.the annual cultural focus began a five-year outlook with the theme of metamorphosis: in with the old, in with the new embracing the collective change and transformation provoked by the pandemic while honoring time-tested wisdom and grounding cultural practices. The journey of themes for the upcoming years will continue to interrogate and uplift the potential of artists, artisans, culture bearers and cultural workers to bolster the economy, engage in activism and rebuild thriving social ecosystems.throughout 2022 our year-round, community based programming continued to expand. Our big neighborhood has been reimagined to hold programs and partnerships for all ages throughout the region. Notably, bringing groups of musicians from diverse genres and cultural foundations together to present live improvisation, education and performances, including a mini festival at the wa state history museum in tacoma. Youth empowerment through arts and heritage (yeah) programming prxima generacin provides a space for latinx-identifying youth to collaborate, share ideas, interact with local teaching artists, and work with cultural mentors to explore and develop their artistic voice and expressions. Unbroken circle empowers students to transmit their personal, local, and cultural history through their art. Students study with a range of blues, jazz and roots musicians, artists, and activists to develop a program of music and art that reflects the diversity and history of seattle, particularly southend and central communities like rainier valley and the jackson street corridor.since 2020, Northwest Folklife has partnered with the city of seattle's office of arts & culture and the office of economic development to run the cultural & creative workforce development program. Engaging in career connected learning opportunities at sites throughout the city, young people participate in paid internships representing diverse facets of work within the creative industries ecosystem. Program partners offer interns mentorship grounded in community-building and lived experiences. To date the program has supported over 75 young creatives who contributed thousands of hours of work, ideas and energy towards the recovery of our sector. This program deepens Northwest Folklife's mission by essentializing arts and culture in community-centered social and economic revitalization.