Inaugural Folk & Traditional Arts Touring Network Tours Announced

Four men pose in front of a street corbner building with a red door. The two in the center are seated on curving steps. The two on the outside left and right are standing back toward the building. The two mean on the lft are holding string instruments.

 

Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Announces Folk & Traditional
Arts Touring Network
Inaugural Tours

 

 

 

Baltimore, MD – December 5, 2018 – Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF) has announced the inaugural tours of the Folk and Traditional Arts Touring Network (FTAN). FTAN is a presenter based membership network designed to increase public understanding of folk and traditional arts in the region. FTAN members annually book tours featuring artists and practitioners that represent the range of living traditions and cultural backgrounds present in the United States. FTAN tour engagements include public performances or demonstrations, cultural presentations, and collaboratively planned residency activities.

The inaugural tours include:

  • Country Blues and Dance | featuring Phil Wiggins’ Blues House Party and The Harris Brothers
  • Lift Me Up! Gospel Masters | featuring The Legendary Ingramettes with special guests The Northern Kentucky Brotherhood Singers
  • Picker’s Paradise: From Balkans to Bluegrass | featuring Tamburaški Sastav Ponoć and Danny Knicely’s Next Generation

For in-depth tour descriptions, please click here.

FTAN members selected tours from options developed by a curatorial team based on members’ interests and community engagement goals.

The pilot FTAN program includes 8 member organizations:

  • Augusta Heritage Center at Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV
  • Carnegie Hall, Lewisburg, WV
  • Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD
  • Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY
  • Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Lake Placid, NY
  • Miller Center for the Arts at Reading Area Community College, Reading, PA
  • Salisbury University Cultural Affairs, Salisbury, MD
  • Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, NY

Starting in the fall of 2019, new members will be selected on an annual basis through an open, competitive selection process beginning in 2019. Mid-Atlantic region (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA, USVI, VA, and WV) non-profit presenters are eligible to participate in the program. FTAN prioritizes participation by presenters that work in and with communities underserved by the arts. Once selected, membership in the program is ongoing contingent upon meeting annual participation requirements.

MAAF has partnered with the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) to facilitate collaborative planning between FTAN members and touring artists and tradition bearers. NCTA will provide both artists and members with administrative tour support.

The Folk and Traditional Arts Touring Network is made possible through the generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Image: Phil Wiggins’ Blues House Party. Photo Credit: Michael G. Stewart.

About Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation develops partnerships and programs that reinforce artists’ capacity to create and present work and advance access to and participation in the arts. The Foundation was created in 1979 and is a private non-profit organization that is closely allied with the region’s state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts. It combines funding from state and federal resources with private support from corporations, foundations, and individuals to address needs in the arts from a regional, national, and international perspective. To learn more about MAAF, its programs and services, visit our website at www.midatlanticarts.org.