It is with humility and sadness that we share our beloved teacher, elder, and Tucson Meet Yourself Folklife Festival co-founder, Dr. James S. “Big Jim” Griffith has transitioned from this earth. Big Jim passed quietly and peacefully at his home. His love for these lands and their cultures is a light that will continue to illuminate new ways to come …
News & Events
NEA Funds Tucson Meet Yourself 2022
We are thrilled to share that we've been awarded a $35,000 Grant for Arts Projects from the National Endowment for the Arts in support of our annual folklife festival, Tucson Meet Yourself. To be included in the NEA's first round of awards for 2022 is an honor, and these funds monies will help us produce TMY 2022 and bring you three days of …
Announcing the 2021 Master-Apprentice Artist Awardees
We are delighted to announce the SFA Master-Apprentice Artist Awardees for 2021! (Just in time.) This award program supports master traditional artists/culture bearers with $5,000 to work with emerging-artist mentees ($500) in a yearlong exchange to support the transmission of traditional cultural knowledge and practice. The first award program of …
December 2021: Shining light on new narratives, old words, and ever-present darkness
Check out the latest stories from BorderLore: This month: Kimi Eisele visits emerging artists in Douglas and Agua Prieta who are creating safe spaces to shift border narratives, Mele Martinez considers the valuable project of reclaiming language in New Mexico and beyond, and we revisit the archives for a 2017 interview with bereavement specialist …
From the Folklife PAR Network Blog: Convivencia: Living Together Like Family
Participatory Action Research Fellow and theatre-maker Paul Flores writes about his Somos Esenciales project, which documents the stories of Latinx day laborers, domestic workers, and volunteers at the Mission Food Hub and how COVID has, paradoxically, brought people together. Read Paul's blog post and others at the Folklife (PAR) Network. …
October 2021: How Ancestral Roots and Foodways Are Nourishing Us Now
Check out the latest stories BorderLore.org. This month: Adiba Nelson makes a personal journey to find Black farmers and ranchers in Southern Arizona. Maria Parra Cano, a 2020 SFA Master-Apprentice Artist Awardee, shares how ancestral foods and a new food forest is helping her heal herself, her family, and her community. And Jennifer Nalewicki …