The Boston Folk Festival

The Boston Folk Festival is an annual event held at UMass Boston, to expose broad audiences to the diversity and vitality of the Massachusetts folk arts communities. The crowds attending the festival has grown steadily throughout the years. The Festival presents traditional and contemporary folk arts as expressed via music, crafts, dance, food and oral traditions, in concerts, festivals, exhibits and workshops. The events are organized by drawing upon the collaborative talents, expertise and diversity of the folk communities in the Commonwealth, in alliance with other supporters.

The idea for the Festival came about in 1996, when UMass Boston's Public Radio Station, WUMB-FM invited the public to a town-hall style forum to discuss the preservation of folk music into the 21st Century. Seventy-five representatives from more than thirty-five folk-related organizations attended. The consensus was that a plan was needed to ensure that folk music would be preserved for future generations in Massachusetts.

With the help of a planning grant from the Economic Development Program of the Massachusetts Cultural Council and a steering committee comprised of dozens of volunteers, the Boston Folk Festival was created and held its first free, family event on Boston Common and at other local venues in September, 1998. The Festival moved to the UMass Boston Campus in 1999.

Highlights from the 2006 Boston Folk Festival

Highlights from the 2005 Boston Folk Festival

Highlights from the 2004 Boston Folk Festival

Highlights from the 2003 Boston Folk Festival

Highlights from the 2002 Boston Folk Festival

Highlights from the 2001 Boston Folk Festival

Highlights from the 2000 Boston Folk Festival

Highlights from the 1999 Boston Folk Festival

Highlights from the 1998 Boston Folk Festival