National Council For The Traditional Arts

Folk and traditional arts-focused public programs (national scope of activities): founded in 1933, the ncta is the nation's oldest folk arts organization. A producer of a broad range of public programs, most of them free, the ncta stresses excellence and authenticity in bringing traditional artists representing the nation's diverse cultural communities to the public. Programs include: the traveling national folk festival, the nation's oldest and longest-running multicultural celebration of traditional arts, tours, concerts, workshops, demonstrations, cross-cultural exchanges, radio and television programs, exhibitions, school programs, residencies, recordings, among others. Ncta works to build sustainable events with lasting cultural, social and economic impact in communities around the nation.

National park service work: for 53 years, the ncta has had a cooperative agreement with the national park service to assist parks across the country with the research, planning, presentation and documentation of cultural heritage programs, exhibits and other special projects, and to help local nonprofit groups organize cultural events in national parks. In 2024, the ncta worked with nine parks in locations across the country.

Archive preservation: the ncta maintains an archive of original audio recordings of traditional music dating from the 1930s, with extensive materials from the 1960s forward. A multiyear project to preserve, copy and digitize the entire collection is underway. Portions of the ncta collection that have already been preserved and digitized, (over 7,000 hours to date), are now permanently housed at the american folklife center of the library of congress. Expenses include staff time, consultant fees, and costs associated with maintaining the archive and projects digitizing recordings from festivals and other public programs.