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• Nashville TN

The National Folk Festival

Nashville, TN September 2-4, 2011 | FREE ADMISSION

History

Festival History
 
First presented in St. Louis in 1934, the National Folk Festival is the oldest, longest-running and most diverse festival of traditional arts in the nation.  Championed in its early years by Eleanor Roosevelt, it was the first event of national stature to put the arts of many nations, races and languages into the same event on an equal footing.  

Now entering its 73rd year, the National Folk Festival is still produced by the same organization that created it, the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA). It is a traveling event produced in partnership with communities around the country, where the “National’s” three-year stay in each host city is intended to lay the groundwork for a locally-produced festival and other events that continue after the National moves on. To date, the National Folk Festival has been presented in 27 communities around the nation.  Musicians and craftspeople from every state in the Union and most U.S. territories have participated in this “moveable feast of deeply traditional folk arts,” which is now attracting the largest audiences in its history.  

Learn More
About the festival: [A Brief History of the National Folk Festival (PDF)]
About the NCTA:  www.ncta.net

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