Northwest Folklife Grants

Northwest Folklife

Northwest Folklife will be working with community organizations, artists, and creative industries entrepreneurs to engage 10-12 young people in the collection, curation and presentation of the Living Legacies - the stories, songs, artifacts, teachings and artistic expressions - of their focus communities. The presentation of these artifacts will be on Northwest Folklife's Living Legacies platforms throughout 2021 and 2022, including the 2022 Northwest Folklife Festival scheduled May 27-30, 2022 at the Seattle Center. This project will be completed by August 31, 2022.

Northwest Folklife

Northwest Folklife is leading this community-driven project to digitize and preserve recordings of folk performances from the 1990s and 2000s, ensuring that these invaluable cultural artifacts remain accessible to the public. Through a series of viewing and digitization events (June 2025 - May 2026), located at 305 Harrison St folk artists and community members will reconnect with their histories, contribute missing metadata (e.g., performer names, musical styles, repertoire), and develop hands-on digitization skills. This project fosters intergenerational connections, cultural storytelling, and heritage preservation, while increasing public access to archival materials that were previously inaccessible due to outdated formats. With this funding, NW Folklife will bridge archival recordings with the communities they represent, ensuring that these histories are actively shared, celebrated, and sustained for future generations. The project is free and open to the public.