North Carolina Folklife Institute

06/04/2026

What can pottery teach us about community, creativity, and everyday life?

In a new Carolina Life & Lore profile, writer Caroline Taylor introduces Durham potter Julie Hinson, whose work blends folk pottery traditions, feminist perspectives, and a deep commitment to community craft.

Through hands-on ethnographic research and conversation, Caroline explores how Julie’s pottery reflects both artistic practice and the values, relationships, and lived experiences that shape it.

Read the full story on our blog:
🔗 Link: https://www.ncfolk.org/julie-hinson-feminist-folk-pottery-and-community-craft-in-durham/

This article is part of a special collaboration between the North Carolina Folklife Institute and Dr. Ben Bridges’ “Writing Material Culture” folklore course at UNC Chapel Hill (UNC Department of American Studies). Throughout the semester, students documented the work and perspectives of North Carolina artists through community-centered research and storytelling.

06/02/2026

How is traditional knowledge passed from one generation to the next?

Often through direct mentorship, shared practice, storytelling, repetition, and time spent together in community.

The In These Mountains NC Folklife Apprenticeship Program supports exactly that kind of learning.

Traditional arts can include:
🎻 Music traditions
🪡 Quilting, sewing, and craft
💃 Dance traditions
🍲 Foodways
🧰 Occupational traditions
📖 Storytelling and oral traditions

Not sure if your tradition qualifies? Reach out - we’d be glad to talk.

Application deadline: July 17. Learn More and Apply at: https://ncfolk.org/nc-folklife-apprenticeships/

This project is supported in part by South Arts , a nonprofit regional arts organization, and in partnership with North Carolina Arts Council.

05/18/2026

Applications are now open for the FY 2026–27 In These Mountains NC Folklife Apprenticeship Program!

This program supports year-long mentorships between experienced tradition bearers and dedicated apprentices working in the traditional arts and cultural practices of North Carolina’s Appalachian communities.

Selected apprenticeship pairs receive:
✨ $7,000 for the mentor
✨ $3,000 for the apprentice

Eligible traditions may include music, craft, dance, storytelling, foodways, occupational traditions, and other forms of community-rooted folklife.

📍 Open to residents of eligible North Carolina Appalachian Regional Commission counties
📅 Application deadline: July 17, 2026

Review the grant guidelines and apply at https://ncfolk.org/nc-folklife-apprenticeships/

Questions? We’re happy to help.

This project is supported in part by South Arts, a nonprofit regional arts organization.

04/28/2026

We’re excited to share the second article in this series from Smithsonian Folklife and proud to continue our partnership in bringing these stories forward.

Last fall, the North Carolina Folklife Institute worked with the Smithsonian to develop five articles highlighting community-driven cultural tourism initiatives across North Carolina. Each story was created through collaboration between folklorists and local partners, grounded in lived experience and community voice.

This latest piece, written by folklorist Ian Hallagan, focuses on the ¡Viva la Vida! mural in Washington—a vibrant reflection of the city’s Latino community and a powerful example of how public art can grow from long-term trust-building and collaboration.

We’re grateful to Ian, to the community members in Washington who shaped this work, and to our partners at the Smithsonian for supporting storytelling that reflects the richness and diversity of communities across North Carolina.

Read the full article:
🔗 https://s.si.edu/4mwMm6m

Familia (family) 🌺 Arte (art) 🎨 Unidad (unity)

Drive into Washington, North Carolina—the first city named after George Washington—and you'll be stopped in your tracks by the 3,300-square-foot "¡Viva la Vida!" mural. This burst of color located in the heart of the Latino Business District is more than public art. It's the result of years of community trust-building, outreach, and collaboration between the city and its Latino neighbors.

From the flowers representing different Latin American countries to the words chosen by the community itself, every detail reflects a commitment to making sure each resident of Washington sees themselves in the city's culture and history.

Folklorist Ian Hallagan tells the full story of how Washington brought its community together through art in a recent Folklife Magazine article: https://s.si.edu/4mwMm6m

Photo courtesy of Erin Ruyle

02/25/2026

We’re excited to share the first article in a new series from Smithsonian Folklife — and proud that the North Carolina Folklife Institute helped bring it to life.

Last fall, NCFI partnered with the Smithsonian to develop five stories highlighting community-driven cultural tourism initiatives across North Carolina. We contracted folklorists to work collaboratively with local partners in each featured community, ensuring that these stories were grounded in relationships, research, and lived experience.

This first article, written by folklorist Josephine McRobbie, highlights the powerful mural project led by Karen Williamson of Caswell Council for the Arts in Caswell County. The mural, Before Us, honors four local changemakers and reflects deep collaboration among artist, descendants, historians, and community members.

We’re grateful to Josephine for her thoughtful work, to Karen and the Caswell County community for their partnership, and to the Smithsonian for investing in stories that strengthen local pride and cultural vitality across our state.

Read the full article in Folklife Magazine:
🔗 https://s.si.edu/4qVPgCe

02/21/2026

Nominate a tradition bearer for the 2027 North Carolina Heritage Awards! Since 1989, these awards have honored the state’s most outstanding traditional artists and culture-keepers—the highest recognition in folk and traditional arts. They celebrate North Carolina’s rich cultural traditions and their enduring role in our past, present, and future. Submit your nomination by May 4, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EST.Learn more at https://www.ncarts.org/grants-resources/grants-dashboard/north-carolina-heritage-award-nomination

Come Hear North Carolina NC Department of Natural & Cultural Resources

Photo: Decorative image with words 2027 North Carolina Heritage Awards nomination, image courtesy of N.C. Arts Council

01/21/2026

What does it mean to build community through gospel song?

Founded through a shared vision and decades-long friendship, Kingdom Voices United is a non-denominational community gospel choir based in Harnett County, North Carolina. The choir was among the performers featured at the Raleigh Wide Open Music Festival, where we partnered with PineCone - Piedmont Council of Traditional Music to present gospel programming grounded in community and tradition.

Read the full story on our Carolina Life & Lore blog to learn more about the choir’s history, leadership, and mission.

https://ncfolk.org/2025/artist-article-kingdom-voices-united/

01/17/2026

From small country churches in Sampson County to the Raleigh Wide Open Festival stage, Jalessa Gean Cade's journey is rooted in faith, intention, and authenticity.

Jalessa was one of the gospel performers featured in the 2025 Raleigh Wide Open Music Festival, presented by the North Carolina Folklife Institute in partnership with PineCone - Piedmont Council of Traditional Music . In this new article by Ian Hallagan, she shares how gospel music, hymns, bluegrass, jazz, and Broadway have shaped her voice - and how she approaches singing and ministry as a vessel, making each song her own.

👉 Read the full article on the Carolina Life & Lore blog: https://ncfolk.org/2025/artist-article-jalessa-cade/

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The North Carolina Folklife Institute documents and shares living traditions and the artists who carry them forward across our state.

12/31/2025

As the calendar turns, communities find creative and meaningful ways to mark the moment.

Today, NPR affiliate WFAE aired a Morning Edition segment on Mount Olive’s New Year’s Eve pickle drop — a local tradition that reflects how place, humor, and shared ritual come together over time.

NCFI’s executive director, Amy Grossmann, was quoted in the story, offering a folklorist's perspective on how traditions like this reflect community identity.

We’re glad to see North Carolina traditions - big and small - recognized as part of the state’s living cultural fabric.

🎉 Happy New Year from all of us at the North Carolina Folklife Institute

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/31/nx-s1-5639938/in-one-north-carolina-town-the-new-years-eve-pickle-drop-is-brined-into-its-history

12/27/2025

In Jackson, Stokes County, and Yadkin County, local artists showed us what cultural transmission looks like in real time. You arrive expecting a site visit, and suddenly you’re watching a lineage move — a student leaning in, a mentor demonstrating a chord, a room holding more history than you can see at first glance.

Moments like these stay with you. They remind us that tradition isn’t an artifact but a living practice, carried forward through people, places, and gatherings that endure quietly and consistently.

Our Folk & Traditional Arts program builds on what communities like these already sustain, supporting the culture bearers who keep knowledge moving from hand to hand and generation to generation.

Here’s to the artists who make place, community, and tradition feel alive.

Photographed in 2019 at Jackson Junior Appalachian Musicians, an In These Mountains Folk Arts Education partner site in North Carolina.