2003 Folklife Festival

During the summer of 2003, the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (BCMA) will be the lead organization working with the Smithsonian Institution in presenting a program at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.  The theme for that program, entitled "Appalachia: Heritage and Harmony" is the music of Appalachia and the BCMA was chosen as the lead organization due to its commitment to the musical traditions of the area and its status as an affiliate of the Smithsonian. 

The Folklife Festival is a ten-day event spanning the Fourth of July weekend at the height of the tourist season and is held between the Capital and Washington Monument on the mall in Washington, D.C.  It has been described as “a peoples’ museum without walls.” 

There are usually three major programs at the festival focusing on a foreign country, a state, and a region or culture.  In 2003, the other programs will be Scotland and Mali.  The BCMA will provide the third program with the celebration of the musical and cultural heritage of our mission region, which includes the mountainous portions of Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.  This event has been named the number one tourist attraction in the United States and attracts over a million and a half visitors each year.  This presents the people of Appalachia with a tremendous opportunity for us to tell the world who we are as a people and as a region.

This event will be the culminating event of the “Year of Appalachia,” a full year of activities and events which will serve to promote the entire region and turn the national and international spotlight on all of Appalachia, which began in the summer of 2002 with the 75^th anniversary of the historic Bristol Sessions.

Two committees have been formed to help planning the presentation and conducting the field research necessary for program development.  One is the advisory council made up of individuals who will provide support through the credibility provided by their name recognition.  This group of prominent individuals will help open doors and eyes to the importance of this project around the nation and the world.  The second is a curatorial committee which will provide overall direction for program design.  This group, which includes representatives of a wide variety of academic and artistic disciplines and geographic areas, will meet to determine the content and areas of performances, presentations, and exhibits to be featured in Washington. 

The performances at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival will give the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance a prominent national setting in which to showcase the cultural heritage of southern Appalachia.   The performances at the Folklife Festival will include both nationally known performers and local artists who carry on the traditional culture of the region.  The performances should serve to not only focus attention of the region, but to educate the public at large to this largely misunderstood or neglected area of American culture.