Florida Division of Arts and Culture

05/20/2026

Florida Folk Festival is only two days away! Come out to enjoy a three-day celebration of the music, dance, stories, crafts and food that make Florida unique.

Be sure to stop by and see archivists Adam Watson and Chelsea Joslin, who assist patrons with research requests at the State Archives of Florida. In addition, they present a sampling of Florida Folklife records. These include film footage clips from previous Florida Folk Festivals and segments from documentaries created by Florida folklorists, as well as photographs and music selections from the Florida Folklife Collection that are held by the State Archives and accessible on FloridaMemory.com.

05/18/2026

Make plans to visit the America 250 Stage at the 74th annual Florida Folk Festival this Friday, May 22nd!

Suwannee River Fife & Drum is a Florida-based living history music ensemble devoted to preserving and sharing the soundscape of early America through traditional fife-and-drum performance. Drawing on repertoire associated with the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and later patriotic and popular traditions, they bring the music of America’s past to life through historically informed performance and period dress.

This performance will be on the America 250 Stage, which celebrates two and a half centuries of American culture, heritage, and traditions. Facilitated by the Major John Leroy Haynes Florida Veterans’ History Program, the stage also honors the service of Florida’s veterans throughout the nation’s history.

05/15/2026

We're only one week away! The 74th Annual Florida Folk Festival will be held Memorial Day weekend, May 22 - 24, 2026 at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs.

This year, the cabins of the Craft Square are host to alums from the Folklife Stage. Come down to the Fiber Arts Cabin, the Pottery Cabin, and the Blacksmith Forge to see three of Florida’s great traditional artists practicing their crafts all festival weekend.

2023 Folk Heritage Award winner Concepción Poou Coy Tharin is a master weaver in the traditional indigenous Guatemalan style known as pikb’l. Ms. Tharin grew up in a village in the Alta Verapaz region in the central highlands of Guatemala. Now living in Tarpon Springs, Florida, she demonstrates and teaches classes in this traditional Mayan technique. Concepción will have her backstrap loom tied to the front porch of the Pottery Cabin in the Craft Square all weekend.

This year, the cabins of the Craft Square are host to alums from the Folklife Stage. Come down to the Fiber Arts Cabin, the Pottery Cabin, and the Blacksmith Forge to see three of Florida’s great traditional artists practicing their crafts all festival weekend.

05/12/2026

Be sure to visit the America 250 Stage at the 74th Annual Florida Folk Festival!

Matthew Sabatella and the Rambling String Band present American roots music as both performance and public history, tracing the many traditions that have shaped the nation’s musical life. Their repertoire connects folk song, spirituals, fiddle tunes, Appalachian music, blues, jazz, country, bluegrass, and early popular song, highlighting the multicultural exchanges that lie at the heart of American music.

This performance will be on the America 250 Stage, which celebrates two and a half centuries of American culture, heritage, and traditions. Facilitated by the Major John Leroy Haynes Florida Veterans’ History Program, the stage also honors the service of Florida’s veterans throughout the nation’s history.

05/11/2026

Looking forward to seeing this artist and many others like her at the Florida Folk Festival? We are too!

The 74th annual Florida Folk Festival will be held Memorial Day weekend, May 22-24, 2026, at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs.

Invited Artist: Haiqiong Deng (2017 Heritage Award winner)
Deng was born in Lanzhou, China, where she began studying zheng music at an early age. The zheng is a plucked, 21-stringed instrument with a resonant body. Traditionally, this music was shared orally in small communities, creating regional variations and stylistic differences. Deng made her professional debut in Beijing in 1997 and has since developed an international reputation as a soloist and chamber musician. She earned a PhD in Music from Florida State University, where she is now the Director of the Chinese Ensemble.

05/05/2026

Make plans to visit the America 250 Stage at the 74th annual Florida Folk Festival!

Mary Fears is a Florida storyteller, living historian, and retired educator whose work brings African American history to life through researched first-person interpretation and narrative performance. . In addition to her storytelling, she incorporates quilting and textile traditions into her public presentations, highlighting the creative and cultural significance of those practices within Black history. Her presentations have included portrayals and biographical programs centered on figures such as Harriet Tubman, Susie King Taylor, and Phillis Wheatley, and she has also curated educational exhibits on the role of African Americans in the Civil War.

This performance will be on the America 250 Stage, which celebrates two and a half centuries of American culture, heritage, and traditions. Facilitated by the Major John Leroy Haynes Florida Veterans’ History Program, the stage also honors the service of Florida’s veterans throughout the nation’s history.

03/23/2026

Good luck to our two-time winner, Esinam Agama, as she continues to the National Championship and thank you to all of the talented competitors in the 2026 State Championship for the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest! We admire your dedication and passion for the art of the spoken word. If you’re curious about Poetry Out Loud visit https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/poetry-out-loud for more information.

03/07/2026

Our team had a great day hosting Florida students at the State Championship for the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest!

The winner today is Esinam Agama from Tallahassee Collegiate Academy. She will go on to Washington DC to compete at Nationals in May.

Congratulations to all of our competitors!

For more information about this program, please visit https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/poetry-out-loud

03/06/2026

Join the Division of Arts and Culture at the Poetry Out Loud State of Florida Finals. Students from around the state will be competing to go to the national competition in Washington D.C. The competition begins Saturday, March 7 @ 9 a.m. in Heritage Hall Auditorium, R.A. Gray Building, Tallahassee.

02/12/2026

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY - Applications for the South Arts Southern Prize and State Fellowships for Visual Arts are now open through March 18, 2026.

More information can be found here on their website -

The Southern Prize and State Fellowships is open to visual artists in our nine-state region to support, expose, and celebrate the breadth, depth and diversity of artistic excellence.