Saturday, April 27, 2019
Dear Friends, Welcome to the 45th Annual New Jersey Folk Festival! Our staff of thirteen undergraduate students have 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.
At the New Jersey Folk Festival, we hope that this event provides a glimpse into the traditions of various groups of people who call New Jersey home. For our 45th year, we will be welcoming back past festival themes such as Maritime, Country Blues and Bluegrass, Turkish Traditions and Native Americans of New Jersey! As always, we will be hosting over 100 crafters, performers, and offer a robust Heritage Area that acts as a living outdoor museum.
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, The State University of New Jersey. As 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 40 years.
During my first year on staff as the Public Relations Coordinator, the most rewarding part of my position was seeing all of our hard work come together on festival day. The smiles on everyone’s faces speak volumes and it encourages us to make the festival experience bigger and better year after year. Whether this is your first or fortieth time with us, I hope that you meet new encounters, enjoy folk music, and learn something new!
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 K. Gillespie, our Directors, Carla Cevasco and Maria Kennedy, 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 continuous support in this endeavor. I would also like to recognize the truck drivers, custodians, food workers, groundskeepers, and all the other people whose oft-hidden 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 45th Annual New Jersey Folk Festival.
Sincerely,
Shirley Cheng SAS’19
Festival Manager of the 2019 New Jersey Folk Festival