Rooted in Tradition
This giving season, Oregon Folklife Network invites you to support Oregon’s traditional artists – culture bearers who dedicate their time and skill towards the transmission of local traditions. Oregon Folklife Network is committed to a future where our communities can freely express culturally vibrant arts that ground us in shared human values. We need your… Continue reading This Giving Season, Support Cultural Arts
As part of a new programming initiative, Oregon Folklife Network has begun hosting casual meet & greet gatherings. The goal of these small, in-person meetups is to deepen relationship and connections between culture bearers who live in a similar geographic area. The idea to bring culture bearers together on a more regular basis came from… Continue reading Culture Bearers Connect for Conversation and Coffee
by Emily Hartlerode After many conversations with our supporters about the relative health of your communities and traditional practices, and learning your needs for cultural arts advocacy, I want to clarify some key elements that confuse many of us today. Regarding the government shutdown, while relatively rare, they are not new. As Americans for the… Continue reading From the Director: Our Current Moment
by OFN director, Emily Hartlerode I recently gave an update on our multi-state research for which I serve as Principal Investigator. This NEA-funded Research Lab seeks to answer the question “Do Traditional Arts Apprenticeships sustain cultural practice in ways that are meaningful to communities?” I delivered this presentation via webinar to peer folk arts managers… Continue reading Do Traditional Arts Apprenticeships sustain cultural practice in ways that are meaningful to communities?
Please enjoy this summary of OFN’s current research and leave us a comment to share your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions! OFN’s Research Lab, like the Apprenticeship programs it studies, originates with National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funds, awarded to folk arts managers, with the intention to benefit traditional arts. NEA (and state arts agency)… Continue reading Cultural Sustainability Impact of Apprenticeships
Oregon Culture Nights is BACK! After a hiatus in 2024, we are happy to announce that Thursday evenings in July, you and your family are welcome to visit the Museum of Natural and Cultural History to see live demonstrations of Oregon’s cultural traditions. Culture bearers from a wide variety of backgrounds will provide insider knowledge… Continue reading Oregon Culture Nights is BACK!
On May 21, 2025—The Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) announced the second year of the Taproot Fellowship, a project of ACTA’s Taproot Artists & Community Trust created to uplift culture bearers whose work is more vital than ever in confronting the social fractures of our time. One of Oregon’s culture keepers, Inna Kovtun,… Continue reading OFN’s Culture Keeper, Inna Kovtun Wins Prestigious Taproot Fellowship Award
The Oregon Folklife Network regularly hosts Graduate Student Employees who are a part of the Masters in Folklore program at the University of Oregon. Linnea Hill, who was a 2023-24 graduate student employee with the Oregon Folklife Network, is graduating this Spring term and has been offered a prestigious internship opportunity with the American Folklife… Continue reading Folklorist Feature: Linnea Hill
Oregon Folklife Network is deep into our second year of a research grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to study the impacts of traditional art apprenticeship programs on past awardees and their communities. In partnership with Texas Folklife, and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (New York City), folklorists are providing… Continue reading Update on NEA Research Project
On April 25-27, 2025, Oregon Folklife Network hosted a “Culture Keeper Gathering” at Bend’s High Desert Museum. Twenty-one traditional artists with profiles on OFN’s Oregon Culture Keepers Roster gathered to share traditions, discuss values, brainstorm needed resources, and build community. Notedly, this group’s greatest strength is found in their diversity: together, attending artists represented… Continue reading Oregon’s Culture Keepers Attend Annual Community Gathering