UMBC is one of eight regional Folklife Centers supported by an ongoing Maryland Folklife Network grant from the Maryland State Arts Council to support activities that identify, document, support, or present the living cultural traditions of Maryland’s diverse communities. Regional Folklife Centers are defined as continuing programmatic or educational efforts made by an organization to support traditional arts, or community-based living cultural traditions handed down by example or word of mouth. The Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts at UMBC (CIRCA) helps organize, promote, and manage projects led by UMBC faculty in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences supported by this grant.
In addition to UMBC, the other regional folklife centers are: Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (Talbot County), Common Ground on the Hill (Carroll County), Creative Alliance (Baltimore City), Frostburg State University (Allegany County), Sandy Spring Museum (Montgomery County); St. Mary’s College of Maryland (St. Mary’s County); and the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Salisbury University (Wicomico County).
