The mission of Berkshire Folk Arts (BFA) is to inspire and educate students and the general public across the region, by providing engaging, educational, and community-centered programming focused upon the world’s vernacular music and dance—that is, participatory art forms that are learned, taught, and passed on by ear and in the memory. We prioritize student- and learning-centered offerings that emphasize vernacular arts’ capacity to build community, inspire creativity, and generate new and resilient knowledge and experience. We provide practical training in the techniques, aesthetics, pedagogy, entrepreneurship, and social efficacy of vernacular music and dance, and partner with organizations in order to enrich our offerings and the lives of the people we serve.
BFA engages with folk and traditional music, dance, and related expressive forms from around the world: "vernaculars" that are learned, taught, shared, and passed-on by ear and in the memory, with the arts of improvisation and performance practice, and with practice-based research and publication about them, as they intersect with history, culture, and community. BFA is dedicated to celebrating the "vernacular" processes by which music and dance can be taught and passed on as a community-building activity, as well as assisting in the ongoing cultivation of arts in the US Northeast, across the country, and around the globe.
We welcome participation by adults and students age 16-and-up, and draw on the expertise of a stable of teaching artists from a range of genres and professional experience. We prioritize students’ interaction with visiting scholars and guest teachers, and we serve as both a liaison and consultant for partners such as learned societies, archives, non-profits, museums, public broadcasting, and private corporations.
A central and unique part of BFA’s core mission is the training of young arts practitioners: young singers, dancers, players, teachers, and organizers who, through their BFA experience, are empowered to advocate for and lead vernacular art initiatives in their own communities, student bodies, and future activities. Our students apprentice in the skills of combining speaking, playing, singing, dancing, and teaching on behalf of participatory community arts; such activities are part of every BFA initiative. We particularly emphasize team- and project-based learning, within which developing arts professionals collaborate to create performances, new works, and new initiatives; a glance at the list of “Past Productions” provides examples. BFA alumni are uniquely positioned as advocates within and beyond their home communities and experience: on curriculum committees, to state education coordinating boards, ISD school boards, and Boards of Regents, but also to other arts organizations, educators, and community leaders.
BFA alumni embody and promulgate cultural diversity and a vision of inclusive excellence, and our students and alumni are powerful and capable advocates in support of these ideals. BFA serves as a foundation organization for the study, appreciation, and support of vernacular music and dance. We also sponsor a calendar of special projects, and annual arts and cultural events, which are open to students and public alike.