2026 Program Panelists
Laiken Blankenship,
Editor, Goldenseal magazine, musician
Charleston, WV
Caleb Brown
Documentarian, Appalachian State University
Boone, NC
Lucretia VanDyke
Herbalist, author
Asheville, NC, and New Orleans, LA
Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth
Folklorist, Director and Curator of Gordon Art Galleries, Old Dominion University
Norfolk, VA
2024 Program Panelists
Fameika Elliot
Foodways educator and founder of food justice organization Rooted East Knoxville
Knoxville, TN
Susan Feller
Fiber artist and Tamarack Foundation Board Member
Augusta, WV
Matt Lamb
Creative Director of Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center
Windber, PA
Edwin Martell
Former Portsmouth City Councilman and community arts advocate
Portsmouth, OH
Kiran Singh Sirah
“Storytelling for Change” artist, folklorist, and former President of the International Storytelling Center
Johnson City, TN
2023 Program Panelists
Dr. Sophia M. Enriquez
Assistant Professor of music and Latino/a studies at Duke University, folk musician, native of Appalachian Ohio
Durham, NC
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter
Professor of humanities and anthropology and director of the Graduate Humanities Program at Marshall University
South Charleston, WV