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ALABAMA CENTER FOR TRADITIONAL CULTURE
The Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, a division of the Alabama State Council on the Arts, was created in 1990 to further the agency's mission to research, document and preserve the state's folk cultures.
Folklife is comprised of those traditional expressions of culture that have grown from generation to generation among the many communities that have settled in this state--communities that share the same historical experience, ethnic heritage, language, occupation, religion, or geographic area.
Folklife includes folk arts such as traditional crafts, music and dance, as well as, regional foodways, folk architecture, beliefs, storytelling, myths, and medicinal practices, etc. Because it is a product of an historical and geographical process, Alabama folklife, in its many facets, uniquely reflects the personality of our state and values and aesthetics of its communities. The unique folk expressions of Alabama identify and symbolize those communities that have originated them and nurtured them, enlivening and giving meaning to the lives of Alabamians.
We have a rich heritage of folk traditions that is often overlooked, taken for granted and misunderstood. They define what it is to be an Alabamian. Given the diversity and wealth of Alabama's folklife, we strive to broaden an understanding of our community-based traditions so that all Alabamians can be proud of this shared inheritance.
The Objectives of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture
To identify, through research and fieldwork, folk traditions in communities and among individuals throughout the state of Alabama.
To bolster, though projects, initiatives, grants-making and technical assistance, the cultural activities of those traditional communities throughout the state where expressions of Alabama folklife exist.
To make the power, beauty, diversity and significance of Alabama's folklife expression more accessible to all citizens of the state.
Through research, publications, touring exhibitions, media productions, concerts and festivals, school programs and symposia, the Center produces, statewide, an array of folklife products and activities, and serves as a partner, collaborator and resource to colleges and universities, local arts agencies, libraries, schools, museums and other cultural organizations throughout Alabama.
The Alabama Center for Traditional Culture strives to preserve and present Alabama folk culture and to further an understanding of this cultural heritage. To achieve this goal, the Center also identifies and documents Alabama's folklife and helps others to do so through funding from the Alabama Folklife Program.
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