‘Modern Folk: Traditional Culture and Community in the Southwest’ is a mini-festival looking at the many ways in which a heritage of folk music, tales, and practices inform and entertain us in the present day. It brings together academics from the University of Exeter’s College of Humanities on the Penryn Campus in Cornwall with acclaimed folksinger Jim Causley for an evening of talks, readings, and song.
Cornwall is a location rich in stories, ballads, and traditions, and so is a fitting place in which to consider the legacy of folk culture in the modern United Kingdom. Through this event and a series of writing workshops with local schoolchildren ‘Modern Folk’ aims to reflect and engage with the public on this fascinating topic.
It will be held in the acclaimed Helston Museum on November 19th 2015, with creative writing workshops for local schools running from January to March 2016.
‘Modern Folk’ is a part of Being Human 2015, the UK’s only national festival of the humanities. It was selected to be part of Being Human by the festival organisers, the School of Advanced Study, University of London, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and the British Academy (BA) with support from the Wellcome Trust. A series of creative writing workshops has received support from the University of Exeter’s Annual Fund.