The Susquehanna Folk Music Society (SFMS) has been Central Pennsylvania’s grass-roots voice for folk music and dance for 36 years. We are excited to partner with the American Folklore Society and welcome AFS conference participants to Harrisburg. We’d like to show you some of the diverse folk arts practiced in our region.
SFMS supports folk artists in Dauphin, Lebanon, and Cumberland counties through our Susquehanna Folk Arts Center, as a partner of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
SFMS presents a busy calendar of events all year round, featuring artists from around the globe as well as hometown performers. Our events range from jams, coffeehouses and intimate workshops to concerts and dances to big festivals.
Join us each summer for the Susquehanna Folk Festival, a celebration of music, dance, storytelling and traditional arts. It features nationally known acts and hometown folks, family activities, several stages and a fantastic dance hall.
Love traditional arts? Visit us at SusquehannaFolk.org
Folk Arts Center
The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) partners with organizations across the state to support practitioners of traditional arts. We are proud to be the Folk and Traditional Arts Partner for Dauphin, Lebanon and Cumberland counties.
The Susquehanna Folk Arts Center provides a “virtual home” for traditional arts resources. We have hosted educational workshops, intimate seminars with artists, and all-day residencies, both virtually and at community venues.
Folk Artists Gallery
Our Folk Artists Gallery showcases traditional musicians, craftspeople, storytellers, dancers, and other guardians of cultural heritage. Traditional arts in this showcase range from Vietnamese recipes to quilting, from Irish tune sessions to Bharatanatyam dance, from gospel harmonies to colorful woolen rugs.
PCA Folk Arts Apprenticeships
Traditional artists can apply for funding to support a year-long apprenticeship to either learn skills or teach their skills to someone else. We are proud that the Spiritual Warriors Messengers of God, a gospel ensemble featured in our Gallery, has been awarded a Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant from the PCA! One of this conference’s program sessions features the Spiritual Messengers.
Every Community has a Story
We love hearing from traditional artists — “art” meaning any skills, practices or knowledge that are passed down within families and neighborhoods. This video, created for our Gospel Traditions residency, illustrates the wide range of traditional arts practiced within our three-county region.
Our Events Calendar
Susquehanna Folk presents a busy year-round calendar of traditional arts events. We present concerts with nationally and internationally known performers — intimate workshops, seminars and residencies — coffeehouse concerts — family events — educational programs in schools and libraries — international and American folk dancing — performers at community events — and more.
Our 2020-2021 season included folk icons Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, John McCutcheon, Tom Paxton and Reggie Harris. Alongside those big names were an array of local favorites and newer touring artists, established and rising stars. We are proud that SFMS is considered a staple on the traditional music circuit, known to performing artists and music lovers worldwide.
Our virtual programming has drawn praise from audience members in the US and overseas, but we’re still eager to see our in-person audiences in York, Harrisburg and Lancaster.
Visit our website to see what’s happening in fall 2021.
Susquehanna Folk Festival
Join us each summer for the Susquehanna Folk Festival, a celebration of music, dance, storytelling and traditional arts. It features nationally known performers and hometown folks, fun family activities, several stages and a fantastic dance hall.
In 2021 we created a whole new kind of music festival, with virtual and in-person events taking place from May to September. The richness of our in-person festival translated well into virtual form, with the added benefit of being accessible worldwide. Many of the programs are now available for viewing anytime,and others will be offered as YouTube premieres in the coming months.
Watch our website next spring for news about the 2022 Susquehanna Folk Festival, which we hope will be back at Roundtop Mountain Resort in late July.
SFMS is very proud that its high-quality programming is recognized and supported by many funding sources, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Cultural Alliance of York County.
The SFMS Folk Arts Center is supported by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Additional support comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, through a grant made as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Many thanks to these photographers for the use of their images: Randy Flaum, Karen Mitchell, Clay Shaw, Bob Yahn, Blair Seitz, Fred Heagy, and others. Thanks also to the photographers of the artists who appear in our Events montage.
Susquehanna Folk Music Society
Central Pennsylvania’s grass-roots voice for folk music and dance
Learn about us and see upcoming events at SusquehannaFolk.org
Contact us at (717) 745-6577
Susquehanna Folk Arts Center
Every community has a story
For info about our Folk Arts Center, please visit SusquehannaFolk.org/folkarts
Or contact Amy Skillman [email protected] or (717) 919-3122