Center of Southern Folklore, Memphis
The Center of Southeren Folklore is a non-profit organization that celebrates and showcases the lifestyles, history, cultures, people, and wonders of the south. At the Center for Southern Folklore, their mission is "To preserve, defend and promote the music, culture, arts, and rhythms of the South", with the goal of developing programs in the broadcast and print media field, cyberspace, public performance venues, education and tourism that celebrate the cultural heritage of the Memphis region.
The Center has a wide range of methods to ingeniously presents folk culture to visitors of all ages. Events and programs at the Center for Southern Folklore include the Memphis Music and Heritage Festival held every Labor Day weekend, The Folklore Factory that strives to provide jobs and create new businesses for musicians, performers, cooks, craftspeople, and traditional artists. Cultural Excursions, musical programs, and educational seminars are available by appointment for tours, schools, and community groups at the Center. The Center for Southern Folklore frequently books touring musical acts as well as art programs. Performances in the Folklore Hall range from a variety of artists like bluegrass, blues, jazz, soul, gospel, rockabilly, country and folk musicians, as well as dancers, poets, cooks, and more.
The facilities at the Center for Southern Folklore offers a Folklore Store, Online Catalog, Performance Hall, Gallery and VIP lounge, a Media area for screening videos, and Multimedia Archives containing video and audio recordings of music and narratives, historical photographs, film, selected artifacts and folk art. The Center also offers cool spaces which can be rented out for parties, programs, meetings, and special events. The Center for Southern Folklore is open Monday thru Saturday, with appointments taken for evenings and Sundays.
