Traditional artists and culture bearers, the Southwest Folklife Alliance was created for you. Our programs exist for those of you who are carrying and sharing living knowledge of craft, music, foodways, ceremony, language, and story. We believe you are among the most important contributors to our region’s cultural life, and we are here to support, document, connect, and celebrate your work.
Who is a traditional artist or culture bearer? You might be a traditional artist or culture bearer if you actively participate in activities that are tied to your cultural identity.
Five Ways to Get INvolved
Present Your Work at Tucson Meet Yourself
Each October, more than 500 folk, traditional, and heritage-based artists from 65+ cultural communities share music, dance, manual arts, foodways, and more with some 150,000 visitors over three days in downtown Tucson. Tucson Meet Yourself is not a juried art market, but a celebration of living cultural practice.
We actively seek traditions and communities that are underrepresented in mainstream cultural venues.
Nominate an Artist for the Master-Apprentice Artist Award
The SFA Master-Apprentice Artist Award supports highly-skilled traditional artists in passing their knowledge to a qualified apprentice within their own cultural tradition. Master artists receive $5,000 and apprentices receive $500 to sustain a direct, hands-on teaching relationship. Artists are nominated by peers, cultural institutions, or through self-nomination.
Share a Story with BorderLore
BorderLore is SFA’s free online journal, published six times a year and reaching more than 9,000 readers, dedicated to documenting and elevating folklife across the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. If you have a story to tell about your practice or your community — or know an artist whose work deserves wider recognition — BorderLore is the platform for it.
Join Loom Network
Loom Network is SFA’s professional home for traditional artists throughout the region, offering a community newsletter, cultural gatherings, professional development, peer-to-peer learning, pop-up markets, and micro-grants: all designed around what heritage and traditional artists have told us they want and need.
Preserve Heritage Work
SFA documents the work of traditional artists through ethnographic fieldwork, oral history, photography, and video. We preserve knowledge for future generations and support artists in building their own professional archives.
If you are interested in having your or another artist’s work documented, or have existing recordings, photographs, or oral histories you’d like help preserving, we welcome the conversation.