August 7-9, 2009

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Roots-Rhythms-Richness

MSU MUSEUM ANNOUNCES ‘09 FOLK FESTIVAL LINE-UP

MSU MUSEUM, EAST LANSING, MICH. -- The roots, the rhythms and the richness of music, dance, arts and culture from across America and around the world come to downtown East Lansing for the Michigan State University Museum's annual Great Lakes Folk Festival, Aug. 7-9.

The MSU Museum announces the initial line-up of musical performers, sponsored by the City of East Lansing:

Slide, from Dublin, Ireland, will appear at the the 2009 Great Lakes Folk Festival


Each band name is a clickable link to that band's web site

Berntson Family Band (Norwegian-American). Washington, D.C. & Los Angeles, California

Beyond the Pale (Klezmer), Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Gadelle (Acadian), Wellington, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Blues Singer Diunna Greenleaf

Diunna Greenleaf and Blue Mercy (Blues), Houston, Texas

Los Bandits de Michigan (Tex-Mex), Kalamazoo, Michigan

Lost Bayou Ramblers (Cajun), Broussard, Louisiana

Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys (Bluegrass), Gallatin, Tennessee

Alex Meixner Band (Polka), Allentown, Pennsylvania

Shotgun Party (Western Swing), Austin, Texas

Slide (Irish Celtic), Dublin, Ireland -

Tumbao Bravo (Cuban/ Caribbean), Ann Arbor, Michigan

In addition to more than 50 musical presentations, the weekend features artist showcases, demonstrations and meet-the-artist sessions.

 




Beyond the music,
the MSU Museum’s festival program includes

The half-mile festival site | across the street from the MSU campus -- spans the downtown core of the city, tapping laid-back park settings and pulsing city crossroads for three days of festival fun.

“The festival is a one-of-a-kind event and a special celebration in our community -- a fusion of arts fair, music festival, county fair, hands-on activity workshops, living museum exhibitions, and showcase of multi-ethnic heritage,” notes Marsha MacDowell, GLFF founding director and MSU Museum curator of folk arts.

“With arts and culture programs at risk nationwide | and especially in our state | we are proceeding with a trimmed and tight program that reinforces our commitment to sharing traditions and cultural expressions, while facing the realities of decreasing public funding,” she adds.

This award-winning event is of the region's premiere arts programs and a summer-time high note -- and is expected to draw more than 90,000 visitors throughout the weekend to celebrate culture, tradition and community. GLFF was named the state's top public humanities program by the Michigan Humanities Council and the event received an artistic excellence grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to help produce this year’s activities.

Festival hours are:
Friday, Aug. 7, 6 - 10:30 p.m.;
Saturday, Aug. 8, noon - 10:30 p.m.; and
Sunday, Aug. 9, noon - 6 p.m.
For more information, call the MSU Museum at (517) 432-GLFF (4533) or learn more at http://www.greatlakesfolkfest.net and on Facebook (sign up for Facebook required to access). Admission to the MSU Museum's Great Lakes Folk Festival is free (donations are encouraged).

The Great Lakes Folk Festival is produced by the Michigan State University Museum, Michigan's first Smithsonian affiliate. The festival is produced by the MSU Museum's Michigan Traditional Arts Program, which researches, documents, preserves, and presents our shared heritage and cultural expressions. Primary financial support for GLFF comes from the City of East Lansing, Michigan State University Office of the Provost and University Outreach and Engagement, and Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. In addition, nearly 100 corporations, foundations and organizations also support GLFF annually, as well as individual donors, "Great Friends."

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO LANSING'S CIESADESIGN FOR 'GUVVY' AWARD
Congratulations to CiesaDesign on receiving the Governor's Award for Arts & Culture for 2008! The award is presented each year to a Michigan business or business-related organization that has dedicated extraordinary support to artists, arts and cultural organizations, or arts educators in Michigan.

CiesaDesign has donated design services for the MSU Museum's Great Lakes Folk Festival since its inception and has provided inspired and high-impact graphic arts identity for this event, as well as a number of other festivals and arts organizations in Greater Lansing.

"This award is a great honor for our studio and I would like to thank all of those who, for more than two decades, have stood selflessly by our sides investing time, money and passion towards creating and sustaining a vital arts and cultural community. This award belongs to all of you," said Creative Director Chris VanWyck. "Thank you to all of the arts organizations and their volunteers who do the extraordinary, year after year, with less than extraordinary resources... we are blessed to have a community that is never wanting for arts and culture."

Other honorees in the Exemplary Business category include Macy's and Oakwood Healthcare System.

Established in 1985 by Concerned Citizens for the Arts of Michigan, The Governor's Awards for Arts & Culture is the longest running Michigan event recognizing statewide and international leaders in the arts and is Michigan's largest statewide celebration of arts, culture and creativity. For more information about the Guvvy's, presented by ArtServe Michigan, visit http://www.theguvvys.org.


'08 FESTIVAL FLASHBACK:

CHECK OUT THESE LINKS from the Lansing State Journal and YouTube and more -- including Western swinger Wylie Gustafson singing about East Lansing:

MSU Museum's Patrick T. Power's Facebook gallery:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=145885&id=756490223&ref=mf
You have to sign into Facebook to view these photos

LSJ's Mike Hughes' Entertainment blog:
http://noise.typepad.com/mike_hughes/

LSJ's photo gallery by Robert Killips:
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=A3&Dato=20080810&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=808100801&Ref=PH
LSJ's Kevin Fowler's photos:
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=A3&Dato=20080808&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=808090801&Ref=PH

Jim Fordyce, WILS Radio and MI entertainment TV reporter:
http://www.mientertainment.biz/GLFOLK08.html

YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsWlBPlepak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klk1_hMsg3c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcsWhOmR-5A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1q7ulSnI4g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wzl9oVoHlM

Send us your photos, online galleries and links and we'll add them to our GLFF web page and MSU Museum Facebook page. Contact: pr@museum.msu.ed

For more information, call the MSU Museum at (517) 432-GLFF (4533) or learn more on Facebook,
A link to the Festival's Facebook page is below- log in is required
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10222494617 .

What is Facebook? Click here for more info.

The event is produced by the Michigan State University Museum, Michigan's first Smithsonian affiliate. The festival is produced by the MSU Museum's Michigan Traditional Arts Program, which researches, documents, preserves, and presents our shared heritage and cultural expressions. Primary financial support for GLFF comes from the City of East Lansing, Michigan State University Office of the Provost and University Outreach and Engagement, and Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. In addition, nearly 100 corporations, foundations and organizations also support GLFF annually, as well as individual donors, "Great Friends."

-- MSU MUSEUM: marking 150 years of discovery -- The MSU Museum is Michigan's
natural history and culture museum and the state's first Smithsonian Institution affiliate