The New Jersey Folk Festival was founded in 1975 by Dr. Angus Gillespie, a professor in the Department of American Studies at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Beginning with a small grant from Douglass College, Dr. Gillespie recruited students to help launch a public festival celebrating the folk cultures of New Jersey. Modelled on folk festivals like the National Folk Festival, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and the Kutztown Folk Festival, the New Jersey Folk Festival aimed to highlight the regional traditions and cultural diversity of the state.
Dr. Gillespie created a course in the Department of American Studies, “Folk Festival Management”, which mentored students in producing all aspects of the festival, from coordinating craft and food vendors, to managing artists and stages, to managing finances and recruiting volunteers. Students gained valuable professional experiences in event management and made lasting connections with each other and with the artists and cultural communities they encountered through the Folk Festival.
Dr. Angus Gillespie honored for his forty five years of service as director at the 2019 New Jersey Folk Festival.
Dr. Carla Cevaso and Dr. Maria Kennedy took the reins as Co-Directors of the New Jersey Folk Festival after Dr. Gillespie stepped down following the 2019 festival after forty five years as director. Working through the years of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Dr. Cevasco and Dr. Kennedy introduced virtual performances, an Artist Encounter series, a podcast, and new partnerships with Ag Field Day.
Dr. Carla Cevasco and Dr. Maria Kennedy, Co-Directors 2019-2024
In the 1990s, Dr. Gillespie helped form an independent non-profit, the New Jersey Folk Festival, Inc. The Department of American Studies and the New Jersey Folk Festival, Inc board partnered together to produce the festival until 2024, when the last NJ Folk Festival event was held on the Rutgers Campus, and the Department of American Studies ended their role in producing the festival. In 2025, the New Jersey Folk Festival Inc mounted the festival in partnership with the Arts Institute of Middlesex County, celebrating fifty years of the New Jersey Folk Festival.
The Department of American Studies continues its commitment to Public Humanities in new forms and projects. For more information about current American Studies events see: https://amerstudies.rutgers.edu/
This website serves as an archival record of the legacy of the festival within the Department of American Studies. For more information about the festival’s continuing activities under the management of the New Jersey Folk Festival, Inc, please visit: www.njfolkfest.org