Folk + Traditional Arts

Jetter works broadly across cultural genres to continue her family’s long legacy of promoting Black history and culture in a town where it’s otherwise dwindling.

Based in the Driftless region of Wisconsin, Buche shares her skills with students seeking new experiences and ancient wisdom.

Pieper Bloomquist breathes new life into the traditions of dalmålning and bonadsmålning, mixing contemporary stories with historic Swedish iconography.

The Bloomington-based director of IU’s African American Dance Company continues a long lineage of dance, community, and exploration.

Pachas’s traditional dances pass down indigenous values through stories about bridge building, Mother Earth, and even Lake Michigan.

Artists from around the U.S. and Mexico participate in the Mexican Folk Art Collective, sharing a variety of arts and crafts and inviting the local community to cross-cultural celebrations.

The Ann Arbor-based artist and scholar builds bridges between Filipino diasporic and indigenous communities through music.

This old-time music and dance festival is set in the chilly woods of northeast Minnesota. The weekend is a celebration of winter triumph, collective joy, and movement.

Constantine Maniakas has contributed his musical talent to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral for 50 years.

Through his Native American rock band, Paul Summers rejected commercial success in order to reach younger generations with messages of cultural acceptance and reconciliation instead.

Students and staff at a rural Indiana school grow and harvest produce, and serve it up for lunch.

Minnesota-based Nashke Native Games is breathing new life into dying languages, in the classroom and beyond.

From food trucks to catering, North Dakotans can enjoy the cuisine made with local and indigenous ingredients in Minot, Bismarck-Mandan, and Grand Forks.

With Deeply Rooted Produce, Dazmonique Carr cultivates crops and a community of local food growers and consumers.

What do games have to do with cultural revitalization? Everything! Jeremy Red Eagle and youth in Lake Traverse Reservation share how it’s all connected.

Grupo Folclórico Macehuani, led by Carol Nuñez Verdín, can be seen performing at Indiana Pacer games and regional cultural events.

Minnesota-based nonprofit and service organization Adoptee Hub is helping Korean adoptees build connections to their culture—and each other.

The New Soul Food Movement satisfies the palates of a generation that prefers lighter, more elevated preparations, yet still enjoys soul food’s classic flavor profiles.

Far North Spirits has transformed a northern Minnesota family farm into a pioneering distillery that’s making a name for single variety whiskeys.

Three recipes to stock your shelves with food, memories, and tradition.

The more Tim Olson learned about Iowa’s oldest city, the more he saw it as a place for artistic inspiration.

Spending time with the John/Ogemagegedo family on the water, one experiences their connection to place and love for Gichi-wiikwedong (Grand Traverse Bay).

For 10 years, a 100-year-old store stood empty in the little hamlet of Newburg. Now, it is home to an authentic French bakery where crowds of customers wait patiently for the two hours a week the small batch operation opens its doors.

How Jan Sanderson of Sanderson Gardens built his reputation on harvesting rhubarb for the world to eat, drink, and grow.

The Minnesota State Fair is in full swing, and there’s still time to stop by the Great Minnesota Get-Together for your share of crop art and deep fried ranch dressing.

Brazil’s Zouk dance was almost stifled out of existence at the end of the 20th century. Now a nascent community of dancers in Iowa is propelling its resurgence.

From unofficial contests to eat the most cream puffs to pigs taking mid-race snack breaks, one of the region’s top state fairs is a show-stopping culinary and agricultural fest.

With 16 grape-growing regions across seven states, independent winemakers and vineyards have created a long-lasting practice and love for the process.

The 2024 Bush Fellow led the Chief Buffalo Memorial mural project in downtown Duluth, and is currently exhibiting a new collaborative project.

Iowa has the Midwest’s second-largest State Fair. And deep-fried deviled eggs.

The dessert can be found anywhere on the Minnesota Iron Range, but it takes time, dedication and craft to prepare.

Organizations and educators, from Minnesota to Michigan, are keeping the art alive with creativity, craftsmanship, and community labor.

Victor Banis, who grew up in Preble County, Ohio, redefined LGBTQ+ literature and captured a global audience.

Laura Red Eagle created the Indigenous Language Table to offer a judgment-free gathering space for active language practice beyond the classroom.

On June 13, hundreds of visitors attended Mackinac Island’s Second Annual Jamaican Celebration.

At LIAL, a hodgepodge of letters, diaries, doodles, recipes, magazines and ‘GAY ART’ is an ever-growing archive of distinctly Iowan queer materials.

For one night, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Refugee Coalition turned inspirational immigrant stories into a musical journey to bring awareness of the current migrant crisis.

Willard Malebear Jr. of Iktomi Tattoo in Minneapolis carved his own path as a creative, and is now looking to provide access to art to locals.

Artist Talle Bamazi turned personal tragedy into an ongoing series of works centered on the calabash, an object from African culture representing sharing and community.

In Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois, explore three different stories of the Black experience in America.

One grandfather’s vision about ‘gallons and gallons’ of Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara seeds nurtures Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College food sovereignty project.

Wenceslas Martinez transforms Sandra Jo’s paintings into intricate woven masterpieces. The couple started by selling their creations from a chicken coop and have since expanded their reach internationally.

At the start of Covid lockdown, Harmony Hill felt called to support her community of Native artists in Milwaukee. Since then, she’s built a nonprofit – Red Magic – that hosts festivals and provides resources for all Native artists. Through it all, she’s upending colonial narratives about what art is.

In North Dakota and Minnesota, a new generation continues a centuries-old tradition.

Afnan Isleem Algharabli of Balady Stitch and Jenin Yaseen of Sr7aneh are stitching the Palestinian traditions of the past to a new generation for the future.

How Jordan’s “Musical Ambassadress” teamed up with Oskaloosa’s local choir for a week of cultural exchange and learning.

Sacred Pipe Resource Center aims to provide Native people a safe space to meet others and expand their circles.

Trappist Caskets, located near the New Melleray Abbey in northeast Iowa, prayerfully serves families and the land.

A master carousel carver and restorationist from Ohio and a tap dancer, teacher, and historian from Illinois are two of the latest NEA National Heritage Fellows.

JustAJar Design Press in Marietta keeps the art of letterpress alive by making event posters, greeting cards, and fine art prints using a centuries-old art form.

With mentorship from relatives and other artists, Artichoker says she is eager to gain knowledge around traditional art practices and tell impactful stories through her art.

Inspired as a young ranch hand, Baxter considers saddle-making a “nice little hobby” as he spends evenings after full days of ranching to craft distinct hand-tooled saddles.

This Detroit-based artist uses foraged plants from uninhabited lots to create natural dyes, pigments, quilts, and more.

Colors, traditions, and prayers are all pieced into Benson’s star quilts. Her craft has been encouraged by the women in her family.

The non-profit organization is keeping traditional craft afloat through community boatbuilding in Green Bay.

“Urushi is most close to who I am,” says Indianapolis-based artist Nhat Tran, who has been creating abstract sculptural and 2D pieces with lacquer over the past two decades.

From type factory to “working museum,” Hamilton still calls Two Rivers, Wisconsin, home, bringing artists together from all over the world.

Local and national attendees participated and people danced with and for their communities at the inaugural powwow of its kind in western South Dakota.

Drawn by the utility and accessibility of the craft, spoon carvers in the Driftless region gather to create a new niche for future generations.

A member of the Miami (Myaamia) Tribe of Oklahoma, Tippmann’s work brings people together through plants, culture and sense of community.

From growing their materials to teaching others the craft, Lee Zieke and Lindsay Lee’s artistic practices are creatively interwoven with their lives.

Okaidja Afroso’s week-long World Fest residency brought music into schools, stores, and a Main Street theater, spreading connection and curiosity in small town Albion.

Arlene Fairbanks and Jessica Travis opened a one-stop shop to support sewing and regalia-making, an important cultural and creative practice for Native Americans.

In Indigenous culture, the arts aren’t mere entertainment but a vital practice grounded in community. Those arts include hoop dancing, a form of storytelling through movement. Starr Chief Eagle is among a generation of women making the traditionally male practice their own.

Finnish music sensation Okra Playground brought its captivating and charming sound to South Dakota, connecting cultures through music.

If we told you there’s a farm where calving, cheese-making, watercolor painting, and singing (to cows) converge, would you believe us?

The music of Alaskan ensemble Pamyua moved communities in rural Wisconsin and Michigan, creating “one-in-a-lifetime” moments of connection, collaboration and curiosity.

An act of preservation in 1911 made way for this living project that reclaims Lakota culture, knowledge and religious freedom.

A space is truly of the community when it is shaped by the needs of the people it serves. The Sitting Bull Visitor Center in Fort Yates, North Dakota, the tribal headquarters of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, is recognizing and addressing its community’s need for holistic education around food sovereignty through their proposed Open Kitchen. This initiative complements their rich portfolio of offerings related to Indigenous knowledge and tradition.

As Executive Director of Heritage Works in Detroit, Michigan, Rhonda Greene has spent decades connecting folks to West African cultural traditions through youth programs, community programs, and placemaking efforts. Arts Midwest spoke with Rhonda about cultural reclamation, placemaking, skill sharing, and the moves we need to memorize for a brighter future.

Over the course of seven days and nine time zones, Finnish band Kardemimmit joined Minnesota’s New York Mills community in celebrating its Scandinavian heritage.