Cultural Center FolkLife Area Application

About the Cultural Center FolkLife Area 

National Dance Day falls on Saturday, September 19, right in the heart of NC Folk Festival weekend. To celebrate, this year’s Folklife Area inside the Greensboro Cultural Center is dedicated to dance as a living cultural tradition.

Presented in partnership with Creative Greensboro, this space explores how movement carries history, identity, and community forward. Dance marks celebration, faith, migration, resistance, and belonging. It connects generations and keeps cultural knowledge alive through shared practice.

In the Van Dyke Performance Space, tradition bearers and dance groups will present performances, lead workshops, and share the stories behind their movement traditions. Audiences are invited not just to watch, but to learn steps, ask questions, and experience the meaning behind the form.

Throughout the Cultural Center’s atriums, visitors can explore the craft that supports dance. Regalia and costume work. Shoemaking. Instrument building. The materials, skills, and artistry that make movement possible.

Application Timeline and Compensation 

We are seeking dance groups and culture keepers whose work reflects living traditions rooted in community and heritage. If your group carries a tradition forward through movement, we invite you to apply before March 31, 2026. Decisions will be communicated by April 17, 2026.

Each selected artist or organization will receive a stipend of $250 for participation. All participating organizations, artists, and performers will be listed as official artists of the North Carolina Folk Festival in all promotional materials, including maps, schedules, and stage lineups. The space is fully air-conditioned and ADA accessible. 

Option 2: Performance Opportunities 
(Van Dyke Performance Space) 

The Van Dyke Performance Space, located on the first floor of the Greensboro Cultural Center, will host multiple performances throughout the operating hours of the FolkLife Area. We are seeking dance-centered performances, movement demonstrations, participatory workshops, short lectures, storytelling sessions, or film screenings that explore dance as a cultural practice. Presentations should be 30-45 minutes in length and may invite audience members to experience movement, learn steps, or hear the stories behind specific dance traditions. 
The space is equipped with professional lighting and audio support, though technical capacity is somewhat limited. Full backlines or highly complex technical setups may not be accommodated. The space is well suited for dance teams, ensembles that do not require individual microphones for each performer, and presenters such as storytellers, lecturers, or puppeteers whose work supports or contextualizes dance traditions. 

Option 1: Interactive Table Displays and Craft Demonstrations 
(First and Second Floor Atriums) 

We are seeking activated, interactive, and demonstrative tabling concepts that highlight an aspect of your community’s cultural arts or craft traditions as they relate to dance and movement. This may include demonstrations of costume or regalia making, shoemaking, instrument building, or other material traditions that support dancers and dance communities, as well as opportunities to learn about dance forms, histories, and cultural contexts. 

A wide range of ideas is welcome, including pamphleting; however, we ask that tabling include an engaging experience or demonstration in addition to informational materials, in order to reflect the living, participatory nature of dance traditions. 

Creative Greensboro will provide one six-foot table and two chairs. Participants will also have a few additional feet of space around their table. 

Participating individuals and groups assume all rights and responsibilities for the conduct of their operations including, but not limited to: obtaining liability and general coverage insurance for festival-related activities adhering to all local and state ordinances and regulations. The Festival does not have separate coverage for participating FolkLife artists under any insurance it may maintain.

Individuals or groups who fail to comply with or repeatedly violate these guidelines may be expelled and/or not invited to apply in future years. The Festival reserves the right to amend these guidelines as needed, at any time.
In the event of a dispute, the decision of the North Carolina Folk Festival Operating Team will be accepted as final.