Midwest Folklife Festival at Great Lakes Folk Festival

The Midwest Folklife Festival is a showcase for rich cultural arts and traditions of the Upper Midwest.

Since 2001, the Midwest Folklife Festival has been a joint project of the folk arts programs and state arts agencies of Midwestern states, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
The Festival rotates annually among the partnering states. In 2013 Michigan joins the group and will host the Midwest Folklife Festival as part of the Great Lakes Folk Festival, held August 9, 10 and 11 in downtown East Lansing.

This year's program is sponsored by the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Wisconsin Arts Board, Minnesota State Arts Board, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and each agency has selected performing and material culture traditional artists from their state to participate. 

The performing artists appearing at this year's festival are:

Paulette Brockington, Swing Dance and Lindy Hop (Highland Park, Michigan)

Clear Fork Bluegrass Quartet - Bluegrass (Chardon, Ohio)

Mike Espy and Yakity Yak - Chicago and Memphis Blues (Fenton, Michigan)

Shelia Ruby Graziano, Clogging and Step-dancing in Kidlore area (Chelsea, Michigan)

Kaivama - Finnish-American (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Lanialoha Lee - Hawai'ian Ukulele/Hula (Chicago, Illinois)

Joel Mabus - Old Time Strings (Portage, Michigan)

Lee Murdock - honoring 75th Anniversary of Alan Lomax in Michigan (Kaneville, Illinois)

Red Tail Ring/ Bowhunter - Old Time String Band and Contra Dance (Kalamazoo, Michigan)

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

Svetla Vladeva and The Eastern European Ensemble - Balkan Music (Bloomington, Indiana)

Mai Zong Vue - Hmong Vocal Music (Madison, Wisconsin)

The material culture artists appearing at this year's festival are:

James Anderson -  Native American stone carving (Gladwin, Michigan)

Wesley Cooper - Bamboo fly rod building (Fremont, Michigan)

Bounxou Daoheuang -  Laotian master weaver (Brooklyn Park, Minnesota)

Timothy Higgins - Metalsmith arts (Elsie, Michigan)

Carole Lanialoha Lee and her haumana (students) - Hawai'ian lau hala weaving (Chicago, Illinois)

Peter "Pekka" A. Olson -  Finnish American woodcarving and basketry (Chassell, Michigan)

Patricia Shackleton - Anishnaabek birch bark cutouts (Haslett, Michigan)

Nancy Schmidt - Rosemaling (Waukesha, Wisconsin)

Anshu Varma and her apprentices - Henna body art (Okemos, Michigan)

Lula Williams -  African-American quiltmaking (Detroit, Michigan)