Presenting Resources

The presentation of folklife and cultural heritage at festivals, exhibits, and community programs is usually a final celebratory event that showcases many hours of research, preparation, and careful choices of how best to celebrate and share culture and tradition.

Some of the most valuable research is done not a library or through reading books but by visiting community members who practice the tradition, and if possible, doing an oral history interview. Many people love to share their knowledge and experiences, and listening to their first-hand accounts of what it is like to practice a tradition will give you as a presenter a deeper and more accurate idea on how best to help present community traditions at a festival or community event.

Oral History & Presenting Resources:

Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage

• Folklife and Fieldwork: An Introduction to Field Techniques
• Folklife & Oral History Interview Guide

Library of Congress

• Guide to using primary sources

Another great resource is to visit a community festival and observe different methods of presenting and sharing information.

Cultural Heritage Programming Reflection Journal

The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts in partnership with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage has created a guided Reflection Journal that you can print out and take with you on your next visit to a cultural heritage event. We hope this will enrich your own understanding of ways that cultural heritage programming can be best presented in New Hampshire.

Here are some local and national folk festivals, but please visit the New Hampshire folklife calendar to see current local events.

• Working Water Front Festival, held every fall in New Bedford, MA
• Lowell Folk Festival, held every summer in Lowell, MA
• American Folklife Festival, held every summer in Bangor, ME
• Common Ground Country Fair, held every fall in Unity, ME
• National Folklife Festival, held at a different State Park every three years
• Smithsonian Folklife Festival, held every summer in Washington, DC