A study of the Newport Folk Festival and the Newport Folk Foundation

Brauner, Cheryl Anne. (1983) A study of the Newport Folk Festival and the Newport Folk Foundation. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (9MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

This work examines the motives and intentions, underlying the creation and production of the Newport Folk Festival from 1959 through 1969. It outlines the reasons why and describes the ways in which the directors of the Newport Folk Foundation used income from the festival to support the preservation, presentation, and perpetuation of the folk arts. -- Materials for this study included Newport Folk Foundation board meeting minutes and correspondence, and program books, recordings, and reviews of the festival. Interviews and conversations with former board members, participants, and spectators supplemented the documentary sources. -- The Newport Folk Festival was an important cultural institution that became a model for the organization and production of other folk festivals and public presentations. Throughout its history, the festival was primarily a showcase for pop folk entertainers. However, its directors continually worked to develop presentational strategies that would stress the relationship between artists and their art, in order to illustrate the idea that folk music "grows out of living." -- The spirit of Newport--the belief in appreciating and helping to perpetuate a myriad of expressive traditions--survives in the many projects initiated or supported by the Newport Folk Foundation. Among the foundation's most noteworthy accomplishments were its contributions toward the preservation of the traditional cultures and cultural expressions of blacks living in the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, and of Cajuns in southwestern Louisiana. The foundation also contributed to the appreciation and perpetuation of traditional arts by supporting the initial operations of the John Edwards Memorial Foundation and Foxfire, Inc., and providing critical funding for the development of the Jugtown Pottery. Newport-sponsored field research laid the groundwork for a research and presentation program in American subcultures at the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian program, in turn, has become an important resource and model for local and regional folk arts programs around the world.

Actions (login required)

View Item