WKU News

Jan 22nd, 2025

The Kentucky Folklife Program is pleased to announce the 2025 winner of the Homer Ledford Award. Based at Western Kentucky University, the KFP has a long history of working with the Kentucky Arts Council to document, present, conserve, and teach the publ

Oct 29th, 2024

On Thursday, October 31st, 2024 The Kentucky Folklife Program in collaboration with the Department of Society, Culture, Crime, & Justice Studies and the Kentucky Museum will present Ellos no Sabían que Éramos Semillas ~ They Didn’t Know We Were Seeds

Jan 25th, 2024

The Kentucky Museum will host the grand opening for the Farmer Cultural Awareness Project from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; remarks will begin at 4:30 p.m. The exhibit is a collaborative effort to collect and share the experiences of area farmers.

Dec 22nd, 2023

Retired Professor of Folk Studies William Lynwood Montell passed away on December 21. WKU Folk Studies joins his family, friends, colleagues, and his many admirers in Kentucky and beyond in the deep sadness of our collective loss.

Oct 16th, 2023

The WKU Department of Folk Studies & Anthropology and the Kentucky Folklife Program will host a meet-up for oral historians in Southcentral and West Kentucky on November 17, with funding support from the Oral History Association.

Sep 11th, 2023

This past week, four students in the Folk Studies MA and Folklore Minor programs presented their reflections on their internship experiences in three different museums in Bowling Green and the surrounding region.

Apr 5th, 2023

The Kentucky Folklife Program is pleased to welcome Camille Acosta as the new Folklife Specialist. She began the position on March 27th, 2023.

Mar 18th, 2023

WKU Folk Studies will wrap up the 50 Years of Folklore Graduate Studies at WKU speaker series with a talk by alumnus Dr. Peggy Bulger on Thursday, March 23rd at 5:30 at the Kentucky Museum entitled “Public Folklore in the USA: Born of Activism."

Feb 21st, 2023

WKU will host Dr. Marilyn White this Thursday, February 23rd, at 5:30 in the Western Room of the Kentucky Museum, as part of the Folk Studies 50th anniversary speaker series. Dr. White is president of the American Folklore Society and former WKU faculty.

Feb 16th, 2023

The Kentucky Folklife Program will award the 2023 Homer Ledford Award to George Wakim and Tommy Case at the 2023 Kentucky Crafted Market at the Kentucky Horse Park Alltech Arena in Lexington on March 11th.

Jan 25th, 2023

Students share their experiences of the Folk Studies Winter Term Study Away course Public Folklore Policy and Practice in Washington, D.C.

Aug 24th, 2022

The Folk Studies program at WKU is celebrating with a series of five speakers marking five decades of folklore graduate studies at WKU.

Jun 7th, 2022

Folk Studies graduate Taylor Dooley Burden has received a prestigious Archie Green Fellowship, awarded by the American Folklife Center (AFC) of the Library of Congress, to support her project “The Occupational Lives of Religious Workers in Kentuckiana.

Feb 11th, 2022

Kentucky Folklife, the Digital Magazine from the Kentucky Folklife Program, has just released it's 4th Spring 2022 Issue!

Jan 13th, 2022

The Kentucky Folklife Program, part of the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at WKU, received a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the continuation and expansion of the Kentucky Folklife Network.

Oct 24th, 2021

WKU Folk Studies students, faculty, and staff attended the American Folklore Society 2021 Annual Meeting, presenting research and projects, connecting with alumni, and celebrating the awarding of a prestigious honor to alumnus Teresa Hollingsworth.

Sep 1st, 2021

Folk Studies MA student Caitlyn Sheets has received an In These Mountains Graduate Student Fellowship, with funding provided by the regional arts organization South Arts

Aug 20th, 2021

The Kentucky Folklife Program (KFP) is proud to release its third consecutive volume of the online publication.

Apr 26th, 2021

On Friday, April 16, the WKU Graduate School honored the Outstanding Graduate Student Awardees from each college, including Folk Studies MA student Georgia Ellie Dassler who was chosen as the Potter College of Arts and Letters Outstanding Graduate Student

Apr 5th, 2021

On April 8th at 5:30pm, the Potter College Alumni Speaker Series will host alumnus Dr. Jon Kay for a virtual keynote talk titled, "Folklore, Art, and Aging: The Power of Creative Practice in Later Life."