On Saturday, September 28, 2024, Allen Centennial Garden hosted its annual Fall Harvest Festival, which included music, dance, student presentations, workshops, and a seed swap. The theme, Enchanted Ground, focused on the emotional connections we …
cederstrom
Indigenous Cultural Capacity Building and Sustainaing Scandinavian Folk Arts
We drove 1,633 miles. From June 9 until June 15, we drove 1,633 miles. From Oslo to Snåsa, from Snåsa to Hattfjelldal, from Hattfjelldal to Arvidsjaur in Sweden, from Arvidsjaur to Jokkmokk, Jokkmokk to Sundsvall, …
Dinner and a Spoon
Liesl Chatman had been thinking about this for over a year. Dinner with friends and family. A shared meal with a shared purpose: to bring together people from all walks of life to reflect upon …
Somali Studies International Association at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden
This summer, Nordic Folklife Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Sallie Anna Pisera united her interests in Scandinavian and East African area studies at the 14th Congress of the Somali Studies International Association, hosted at the University of …
Education and Sustainability in the Upper Midwest and Beyond: (Im)migration and Indigeneity Symposium Recap
In early October, we welcomed artists, culture workers, musicians, and scholars from around the Upper Midwest as well as three scholars, Elisabeth Utsi Gaup, Máret Hætta, and Anne Lindblom, from Sámi allaskuvla [Sámi University of …
Bowery Dance at Allen Centennial Garden
We kept checking the weather. Our weather apps. The radio. The sky itself. Everyone promised rain. Some promised a drizzle. Some promised a downpour. We couldn’t afford much more than a drizzle. We had taken …
FinnFest 2023 in Duluth
We’re back from a whirlwind of a trip to Duluth, Minnesota, to celebrate the first in-person FinnFest since 2019. And it was a doozy. Nearly 3,000 people came to the shores of Lake Superior to …
Songs of the Finnish Migration from Laulu Aika
Hundreds of thousands of migrants came from Finland to the United States beginning in the 1870s. Some sought religious freedom, others economic opportunity. Some followed family, friends, and lovers. Others fled Russification. Still others simply …
Dance To The Song Of This School Room: The Highlandville Dance
by Annika Quinn* The old schoolhouse in the tiny community of Highlandville in northeastern Iowa seems nondescript at first glance. However, a few nights a year people from near and far make their way to …
Show of Hands Recap
Folk artists from around the Upper Midwest and the Nordic region converged in Madison from May 2–4 for Show of Hands: Art in Education. In partnership with Wisconsin teachers of Local Culture and the Society …