Richmond, Virginia – VPM has partnered with Venture Richmond and the Richmond Folk Festival to produce a television documentary celebrating the Richmond Folk Festival’s 20th anniversary.
It includes footage from the 2023 Richmond Folk Festival and interviews with staff, artists and volunteers. Sounds of Culture It’s Richmond’s premier festival and highlights the largest folk festival in the country.
For nearly 20 years, people from across the country have flocked to Richmond’s downtown riverfront every fall for the Richmond Folk Festival, a tradition that began in 2005 when the City of Richmond and Venture Richmond hosted the National Folk Festival. The festival reflects “an ongoing national effort to realize the nation’s founding ideals of equality, liberty, and justice for all” (according to the National Council for the Traditional Arts).
“The Richmond Folk Festival celebrates our country’s diverse cultures through food, storytelling, dance, crafts and music,” said Steve Humble, VPM’s chief content officer and executive producer. “The festival is a hugely popular tradition in Richmond, and we’re excited to share the story behind how it started and what it means to our community.”
Sounds of Culture: Richmond Folk Festival 20 Years on Weaving together the history of the festival into a complete picture of the festival today, the documentary puts music at the heart of the story, chronicling the numerous stages spread around the vast festival grounds, the folk life areas and public participation.
Viewers will also get to meet Stephen Leckie, Events Director for Venture Richmond, who will be leading the festival in 2023. Stephen provides historical and logistical details about the festival and serves as a common thread throughout the film. Other interviews include current and past performers, volunteers and festival-goers.
Check out the 1 minute trailer here!
Sounds of Culture: Richmond Folk Festival 20 Years On It premieres Tuesday, September 17th at 8pm. It will be available to watch on VPM PBS Richmond, VPM PBS Charlottesville, VPM PBS Harrisonburg and livestreamed on the PBS app. The documentary will be available to watch again on Sunday, September 22nd at 5pm and Thursday, September 26th at 8pm. For more information, visit VPM.org.
The 2024 Richmond Folk Festival will be held over a special weekend, September 27-29, this year to avoid overlapping with the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur.
The Richmond Folk Festival is presented by Venture Richmond Events in partnership with the National Council on Traditional Arts (NCTA), the Center for Cultural Vitality, Virginia Humanities and the City of Richmond. For more information about the Richmond Folk Festival, visit richmondfolkfestival.org..
About Richmond Folk Festival
The Richmond Folk Festival is one of Virginia’s largest events, drawing visitors from across the country to Downtown Richmond’s historic riverfront. The festival is a free, three-day event that originated when Richmond hosted the National Council on Traditional Arts’ National Folk Festival, held in Richmond from 2005 to 2007. In the tradition of “The National,” the Richmond Folk Festival features outstanding performing groups representing diverse cultural traditions on six stages. The festival features a Virginia Folklife area with continuous music and dance performances and demonstrations, an interactive family area produced by the Children’s Museum, a folk art market, regional and ethnic foods, festival merchandise, and more. For more information, visit richmondfolkfestival.org.
About Venture Richmond
Venture Richmond, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed by business and community leaders to partner with the City to enhance the vitality of the community, especially Downtown, through economic development, marketing, promotion, advocacy and events. Venture Richmond provides enhanced property management services for Downtown, Manchester and the Riverfront, including Clean & Safe programs, beautification and landscaping projects, and management and maintenance of Brown’s Island, Canal Walk and Belle Isle parking lots.
Venture Richmond Events, LLC produces Friday Cheers, 2nd Street Festival, Richmond Folk Festival and in partnership with Sports Backers produces Dominion Energy Riverrock.
Riverfront Canal Cruises, LLC operates historically narrated boat tours and private charters on the James River and Kanawha Canal.
Venture Richmond Events, LLC and Riverfront Canal Cruises, LLC are both subsidiaries of Venture Richmond, Inc. For more information, visit venturerichmond.com.
About VPM
VPM, the home of Virginia’s public media, connects nearly two million people in Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley to insightful programming in news, education, arts and culture through television, radio and digital channels. The VPM news team provides award-winning coverage of the Virginia General Assembly, statewide politics, education, economics, legal issues and the news of the day. In addition to acclaimed series and documentaries, VPM produces a variety of music programming where local hosts curate classical, jazz, hop-hop and alternative music selections. VPM also produces content through its Science Matters initiative and provides early childhood education resources for families, parents and educators. Since 2021, VPM has operated Style Weekly, a magazine centered on deeper arts and culture coverage and local storytelling. For more information, visit VPM.org, Facebook, Bluesky, TikTok, Instagram and several YouTube channels.