[By Tina Bucuvalas, Ph.D. ]

Celebrating 25 years of Florida's Rich and Diverse Cultural Traditions

Folklife in Florida is vital and vibrant. This year, the Florida Department of State's Florida Folklife Program (FFP) marks 25 years documenting, preserving, and presenting the state's folklife and folk arts. Florida's living traditional cultural resources: its people, their activities, traditions and communities - and the artifacts that they create, are the focus of the program. Florida is home to a vast cultural array of people who preserve their heritage and traditions. Florida's Folklife Program gives a face-or rather many faces - to the rich variety of Florida's folklife traditions.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Floridians maintain an astonishing variety of healthy traditional cultural forms. Some developed in Florida in response to local ecology and history. Many others have been brought from distant lands or the Northern United States, but continue to flourish and change in response to Florida's unique environment. The state's demographic patterns shape its cultural and social character. Florida's 2000 census figures revealed a total population of 16 million that was 78 percent white, 14.6 percent black, 16.8 percent Hispanic (cultural category), 1.6 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, and 0.3 percent Native American.

Now one of the oldest continuous folklife programs in the country, Florida's Folklife Program grew out of a Folk Arts Program housed at the Stephen Foster Center in White Springs in1976. This program initiated field surveys and developed folk cultural projects that built a foundation for statewide services. In 1979 the Florida Legislature established the Florida Folklife Program to provide expanded services through the Department of State. In 1995, the Florida Folklife Program was integrated into the Tallahassee offices of the Division of Historical Resources, where it continues to provide a folklife perspective for Department programs. Today, with a staff of two folklorists in Tallahassee and a Statewide Outreach Coordinator in Gainesville, the Florida Folklife Program is supported by the Florida Folklife Council, a citizen advisory board representing a broad range of knowledge and expertise.

The richness, diversity and significance of Florida's folklife resources are nationally recognized. In 2003 the National Endowment for the Arts honored Tarpon Springs diving helmet maker Nick Toth with a prestigious National Heritage Fellowship, recognizing Toth's artistic excellence and continuing contributions to America's traditional arts heritage. For 20 some years, Florida's Folklife Program has been the recipient of highly sought-after NEA grants that support projects designed to showcase Florida's cultural traditions and bring them to communities and classrooms throughout the state.