Saturday, April 28, 2018
Welcome to the 44th Annual New Jersey Folk Festival! Our staff of fourteen undergraduate students has been working diligently with our directors to put this festival together, and we are delighted to have you join us. We hope you will find a place for yourself as we celebrate the music, arts, crafts, and folklore of New Jersey's traditional cultures.
We at the New Jersey Folk Festival hope that this event provides a glimpse into the traditions of various groups of people who call New Jersey home. On the Skylands Stage, you will find Pow-Wow presentations by three Native American Tribes of New Jersey. The Ramapough Lunaape Nation, Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, and the Powhatan Renape Nation are all making appearances this year. Skylands will also feature Christian Parrish also known as Supaman, who is from the Crow Agency in Montana. He specializes in rapping!
Established in 1975 and run out of the Department of American Studies, the New Jersey Folk Festival has a unique place in the landscape of Rutgers University-New Brunswick. One of the founding pillars of Rutgers Day, the festival has been bringing people from Rutgers, New Brunswick, Highland Park, and other nearby communities together for over forty years. During my first year on staff as the Alumni Coordinator, the most rewarding part of my position was meeting the all the previous coordinators and listening to stories of previous festivals and how everything has changed over the years. Whether this is your first or fortieth time with us, I hope that you meet neighbors and make friends that you might not otherwise encounter.
As we strive to promote harmony and understanding across different backgrounds, I would like to acknowledge the people that make this event come together. I want to thank our Executive Director and Founder Dr. Angus Gillespie, our Director Carla Cevasco and our Associate Director Matthew Hueston for all the work they do to facilitate the success of our student staff. I also have the deepest gratitude to the Department of American Studies for their continued support in this endeavor. I would also like to recognize the truck drivers, custodians, food workers, groundskeepers, and all the other people whose ofthidden labor makes this event possible. Finally yet importantly, I would like to thank all of you for your continued support of the New Jersey Folk Festival. I look forward to you joining us as we celebrate community, arts, and culture at the 44th annual New Jersey Folk Festival.
Dana Fuchs ' 18
Festival Manager