Your father’s peanut brittle recipe that you bring into the office every holiday.

The slightly lopsided sweater that keeps you warm on chilly winter mornings, knit with the skills learned from your aunt.

Spring days spent teaching your children the same morel foraging tips your grandfather shared with you when he was your age.

Traditions are a focal part of our everyday lives as West Virginans, as Appalachians and as Americans — whether it’s something we’re conscious of or simply carry out instinctively. The state Humanities Council’s West Virginia Folklife Program is just one way the vibrant arts and traditions of the Mountain State are being kept alive and shared with the next generation, fellow West Virginians of all backgrounds and non-West Virginians alike.

The council biennially invites specialists of Appalachian traditions and their apprentices to apply to its West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program. The program seeks renowned masters of their art to impart their expertise on an enthusiastic mentee. Selected pairs receive approximately $3,800 to be used for a year of one-on-one, personalized guidance in their chosen tradition.

The program has seen a variety of arts and traditions since its start in 2015. Last year’s seven mentor-apprentice pairs’ specialties included mushroom foraging, soul food cooking, Appalachian storytelling, clawhammer banjo, old-time fiddling, fiddle repair and fiber arts. 

“We’re facilitating this opportunity to pass on traditional knowledge, and we’re also offering an opportunity for people who live [in West Virginia] to learn about, get excited about and to celebrate the traditional practices that are existing and carrying on here,” said state folklorist and program director Jennie Williams. “[It’s also] something to be proud of and something to let people know about in other states. This is a chance for us to show what we do, what we’re proud of and the things that are meaningful to us.”

This is accomplished not only through the mentorships themselves, but also the ways the experience is shared beyond apprentice and mentor. Throughout their time in the program, participants are asked to share their art with their community, whether it be through a public demonstration or performance, a workshop or other form of public event. At the end of the apprenticeships, a series of public showcases present the ways each pair honed their skills in the year spent learning together.

The techniques learned, art created and experiences shared don’t end with the mentorships, either — through its public access online archive, the ever-growing WV Folklife Program Collection, the WV Folklife Program also documents photos, interviews, creative works, music and more that reflect the cultural value and significant figures of West Virginia folklife.

Although preservation of cultural practices is vital, Williams emphasizes that traditions are not only meant to be passed along, but to grow and find new form.

“Tradition as a concept isn’t static. It needs to adapt in order to carry on,” said Williams. “It’s important to see how the apprentice and teaching artists are keeping their tradition relevant in a contemporary context, so that they may be adding their own creativity to it. If they don’t do that, then it can be really hard to carry on a traditional practice. You want to be able to associate your own meaning and memories to it. You want to be able to see yourself in it.”

Program alumni James Froemel of Maidsville and his mentor, Bil Lepp, worked to strengthen this very skill, among others, during the 2022–23 session of the program. The pair focused on the age-old art of Appalachian storytelling, a timeless way to bring community together.

“There’s this interactive element to storytelling. It’s alive. One of the biggest elements is that you have this shared light; you can see your audience, they can see you and it becomes this great reciprocity of storytelling,” said Froemel. “It reminds people that there are ways to engage with stories differently, and that they can not only hear the story but they have the opportunity to then retell the story. They’re part of this tradition of keeping the story going and passing it along.”

Storytelling has been a vital part of Froemel’s life for well over a decade, but his apprenticeship with Lepp broadened his knowledge of the art, mastery he himself passed along at storytelling camps during his apprenticeship.

An unexpected lesson of the program, however, was not of his own skill but the passions of his peers.

“When you apply for the apprenticeship, you’re kind of in your artistic bubble. Then you get into it, and you realize just how eclectic the idea of folklife is,” said Froemel. “It was really inspiring to see the support that existed for all of these different artistic mediums, some of them I was familiar with, some I was not. It was really just an inspiring environment to be in.”

This same discovery and inspiration is part of what Williams hopes the WV Folklife Program can bring to life for West Virginians of all backgrounds. Here in the Mountain State and across the country where similar projects have been founded, the program has proven to do just that: get people excited about and engaged with the creative practices of their families and communities.

Applications for the 2024–25 WV Folklife Apprenticeship program conclude Aug. 26 and will reopen in 2026. For more information, visit https://WVFolklife.org. Reach out to Williams at williams@wvhumanities.org with questions. Visit the WV Folklife Program Collection at WVFolklife.lib.wvu.edu.

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