Baltimore, MD – August 8, 2019 – Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF) has announced $18,470 in support of the 2019-2020 Folk and Traditional Arts Touring Network (FTAN) tours. 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 2019-2020 tours will include:

Aurelio Martinez (Plaplaya, Honduras and New York, NY)
One of the most extraordinary Central American artists of his generation, Aurelio Martinez is a musical ambassador and champion of the Garifuna, a culturally threatened African Amerindian ethnic minority living primarily along the Caribbean coasts of Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Hailing from the small community of Plaplaya in Honduras, he grew up immersed in Garifuna rhythms, rituals, and songs. With powerfully evocative vocals; talent as a composer, guitarist, and percussionist; and over 30 years’ experience, Aurelio is central to the perpetuation and innovation of this unique tradition.

Native Voices: Katajjaq to Hip Hop | featuring Supaman (Crow Reservation, Montana) and Nukariik (Ottawa, Ontario)
From practitioners of the rarely heard Inuit women’s vocal tradition of katajjaq (throat-singing) and to a Fancy Dancer/hip hop artist/beatboxer from the Crow Nation, this program explores indigenous artistic expressions, both centuries-old and contemporary, in North America.

Christian Takes Gun Parrish, who performs under the name of Supaman lives on The Crow Indian Reservation, located in the Yellowstone River Valley in Montana. Supaman combines the best of New York’s hip hop beats with his own Native American traditional arts to speak to issues that plague his community. What he creates in this cultural synthesis is a genre he has termed Crow Hop. He is, simultaneously, a Fancy Dancer, a hip hop artist, a beatboxer, and a voice for the Crow Nation.

Kathy Kettler and Tamara Takpannie are Nukariik, a duo that carries on the rarely heard Inuit throat-singing tradition and other age-old forms of Inuit entertainment such as drum dancing and a ja ja songs. A vocal game used to amuse children and women while men were out hunting, Inuit throat singing is an art practiced almost exclusively by women. Two singers stand or crouch facing each other and engage in a bit of friendly competition as one singer takes the lead and the other follows. Skilled singers such as Nukariik blend and synchronize their voices so perfectly that it becomes difficult to distinguish between them.

For venues and dates, click here. Please contact venues directly for tickets and to confirm performance dates and times.

FTAN members selected tours from options developed by a curatorial team based on members’ interests and community engagement goals. MAAF has partnered with the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) to assist with tour coordination and facilitate collaborative planning between FTAN members and touring artists and tradition bearers.

The FTAN program currently includes four member organizations:

• Augusta Heritage Center at Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV
• 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



For questions about the Folk & Traditional Arts Touring Network program, please contact Jess Porter, Program Officer, Performing Arts at jess@midatlanticarts.org.

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




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. For more information on the Foundation’s programs and services, please visit: www.midatlanticarts.org

Contact:
Karen Newell
Director, External Affairs
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation 
karen@midatlanticarts.org
410.539.6656 x104