Humanities Biennial: Future of Folk

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What is The Future of Folk?

The term "folk" generates myriad associations: the folk music revival of the mid-1960s; a bowl decorated in Rosemaling; the birth of hip-hop and the blues; a story with murky origins passed down for generations like a game of 'telephone.' It might refer to people with whom we have blood relations or an affinity - my folk or our folk. In whatever form it takes, "folk" evokes a rich blend of cultural expressions emerging from diverse social contexts. It seems to communicate authenticity, unvarnished honesty, and a position outside the marketplace.

But in the early years of the 21 st century, authenticity is under siege and the market rules; "community" can mean the world, an industry, or the readership of a blog. Commercialization, globalization, tourism, and a yen for collecting have created businesses from cottage industries and transformed indigenous crafts into high art. Where does folk culture fit in this hyper-mediated, ultra-commercialized, overdriven age?

From April 14-23, 2005, we invite you to explore this question through the lectures, discussions, performances, and screenings in The Future of Folk. Join internationally known scholars and an eclectic range of artists to ask questions about authenticity, ownership, and the nature of tradition, to consider the new traditions that are developing around us, and to examine the roles we all play in the creation of new communities and new forms of expression.

The Future of Folk runs concurrently with Person to Person: Communicating Identity through Wisconsin Folk Objects, a major exhibition at the Wisconsin Historical Museum (April 9, 2005 through June 24, 2006).

More Information Call (608) 262-4970 for schedule updates, participant biographies and details on each program, ticket prices and advance sales locations, tips on traveling to Madison and parking, and venue locations. Program information included here is accurate as of March 1, 2005. More programs will be added between March 1 and April 1.

The Future of Folk is organized and presented by the Center for the Humanities and the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Program partners include the Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Historical Museum, Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association, Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, and Killdeer Records.

The Future of Folk is made possible by support from the Evjue Foundation, the Anonymous Fund of the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Letters & Science, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Continuing Studies.