Headquarters for Folk and Traditional Arts of Alabama

Archive of Alabama Folk Culture: Imagine decades of recordings of Alabama music including Gandy Dancer traditions, Sacred Harp singers, spirituals, blues, and the songs of Gee's Bend quilters stored in a basement where they are inaccessible to the public and deteriorating. Then imagine scholars, students, geneologists, educators, and community historians traveling to Montgomery to the oldest state funded archives in the United States, sitting at a table in the new research room and listening to this music in order to produce lesson plans, essays, books, documentary films, exhibits, and other products. This is the role of the Archive of Alabama Folk Culture (AAFC), a collaboration of the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA) and the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) with the AFA. The AAFC is a specialized multimedia processing center located in the ADAH in Montgomery. The AAFC collects, processes, and catalogues folklife collections so that they can be preserved and made available to the public in a controlled and professional archival environment.

Elizabeth Church Hall of Sacred Music: Can you hear the voices? Imagine the living traditions of Alabama's sacred music resonating from the walls of this historic frame church, c.1858, that once stood in a rural landscape in Sumter County, Alabama. To be moved to the campus of the University of West Alabama and restored for adaptive use, this church can once again echo the sounds of Alabama's sacred traditions and be a place for others to visit.

Hunt House of Alabama's Folk and Traditional Arts: A bus load of tourists from Mississippi gather together and prepare for a journey through the Alabama Black Belt. They enter the state and visit Livingston, Alabama at the gateway to the Black Belt Heritage Area and there, they visit the Black Belt Museum, the Treasurers and Traditions shop, and the Hunt House of Alabama's Folk and Traditional Arts. At the Hunt House, they enjoy a traditional meal featuring a special secret sauce made by one of the Sumter County BBQ clubs. Then, they participate in a quilting or basket making workshop, watch an introductory video about the Black Belt, and pass by exhibits. This can all be made possible with a generous contribution to fund the restoration and adaptive use of this historic home owned by the University of West Alabama. From Livingston, they can move on to the Kentuck Festival in Northport, the Folk Festival in Eutaw, Black Belt Treasurers in Camden, the Kathryn Tucker Windham Museum in Thomasville, or visit Civil Rights sites from Selma to Montgomery.

Today, the Alabama Folklife Association needs to establish a centralized headquarters in collaboration with the University of West Alabama in order to gain access to spaces for public programs, retail outlets, exhibits, and offices. This year, you can donate to the Alabama Folklife Association according to the project of your choice and make a lasting contribution to historic preservation, education, and economic vitality by supporting the development of Alabama's folk and traditional arts. There are optional levels to donate based on the future vision of the Alabama Folklife Association. The photographs and videos above provide an overview of the projects and the possibilities and opportunities that await.

By locating in the gateway to the Alabama Black Belt Heritage Area, the AFA will be in the heart of folklife studies in Alabama, where Ruby Pickens Tartt and others spearheaded and propelled the documentation and preservation of Alabama's folk and traditional arts, drawing researchers from all over the world.

The AFA will continue to serve the state of Alabama, but will now have the opportunity to impact the role of the arts in heritage development. We can also incubate the establishment of other centers and outreach posts that will have similar goals and objectives. The AFA is excited about the potential to work with the Center for the Study of the Black Belt and the Division of Educational Outreach at the University of West Alabama in securing several headquarters that will preserve and present Alabama's traditions in music, foodways, and material culture and allow these new cultural attractions to serve local revitalization efforts.

The AFA willl remain a partner program of the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA) and continue to work with the folklorists at the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture (ACTC), a division of ASCA.