Documenting, preserving, interpreting and presenting the ongoing cultural legacy of New England-area folk music in all its forms.
FOLK New England is a 5-year old non-profit organization based in Massachusetts, not far from Harvard Square where the folk music revival of the 1960s kicked off a cultural revolution. FOLK New England is a living repository of folk music history materials, featuring 50 year-old audio recordings of rare performances and interviews; a photograph collection documenting the past and the active present of folk music; and a growing archive of personal papers, folk journals, and ephemera related to the folk music scene. FOLK New England is also an intimate performance venue for folk and roots musicians from the United States and abroad. FOLK New England prepares and travels curated exhibitions to cultural centers across America. FOLK New England provides area elementary schools with classroom materials and in-class musicians to teach the relationships between folk musicians, their songs, and social issues; the organization’s educational arm also presents salons, lectures, and films, treating audiences to both intelligent discourse and soulful entertainment. FOLK New England has worked in partnership with fellow cultural institutions such as the Cambridge Historical Society, Harvard’s Loeb Music Library, Rounder Records, the Putney School, the American Repertory Theatre, and the Cotuit Center for the Arts. All of FOLK New England’s work has been supported by grants from the Grammy Foundation, ASCAP, the Cambridge Arts Council, and by individual donors and volunteers.
FOLK New England’s mission is to create a dialogue between the history of folk music and the future of folk, through robust collections development, multi-disciplinary education, and engaging entertainment programs for the public.
