NJ Folk Festival to Bring Music to the Masses for 39th Year

A Rutgers University course offers an unusual project each year: organize a free music festival that is culturally rich, educational and fun, and must be suitable for more than 10,000 adults and children.

The New Jersey Folk Festival is a long-standing event of music and culture that is held annually on Douglass Campus at Rutgers University. And each year, it is a product of students at the university.

The festival highlights different types of folk music, celebrates features cultures, showcases local art and crafts, and educates about different kinds of folklore.

The festival is the subject of the course "Folk Festival Management" which is part of the American Studies department and taught by professor Angus Gillespie.

Students in the class study theoretical aspects of large festival management, but theory is put into practice in the months leading up the to the festival as the class books performers and vendors, plans logistics and gets the word out about the folk festival.

A core team of about 14 students work in teams to schedule and manage four performance stages, 80 craft tents and 25 food vendors, 250 volunteers and nearly 500 performances throughout the day. They also manage press and publicity and the festival website.

Gillespie said the group is prepping for attendance of between 10,000 to 15,000 people.

New Jersey folk musician Spook Handy is the festival's artist-in-residence for this year.

He has been holding workshops and free performances at Rutgers all this week leading up to Saturday, when he will emcee on one of the stages.

Handy said the folk festival is unique due to its concentrated focus on folk music and the cultures surrounding it.

"People come to this festival to hear music," he said.

The day's offerings include exhibits, vendors and a varied roster of dozens of performances and folk story readings. Entertainment for children will include a number of crafts, a passport activity to explore the festival and pony rides.

This year's festival will pay special tribute to the Garifuna, a Central American people with Carib, Arawak and West African ancestry.

Camillo Gonsalves, permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) for St. Vincent and the Grenadines will be a featured guest at the festival, representing the country that the Garifuna recognize as their ancestral homeland.

Festival manager Gabrielle Rossi, 21, a junior at Rutgers, said the festival is a family institution for her.

Rossi's has attended the festival annually since her childhood, and her sister has helped organize the festival through Gillespie's course in the past.

Rossi has been working with the festival since her freshman year at Rutgers.

Students are able to repeat the course in subsequent semesters for credit, Gillespie said. The only requirement is that they work on a different aspect of the festival each time.

"It's definitely the most unique undergraduate opportunity you can here," Rossi said.

Handy said the festival has retained its organic, creative feel throughout the years because of the way it is organized.

"It's run by people, (about) people, for people," he said. "Who could ask for more than than?"

The New Jersey Folk festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 27 on Douglass Campus at Rutgers University. Admission is free.

For more information on the festival, including information on activities for children and a performance schedule, visit www.njfolkfest.org.