The third annual Folklife Summer Workshops hosted by the Southern Maryland Folklife Center will take place on Saturday, May 20, and Sunday, May 21, 2023 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day, and will be held at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
The workshops offer a wide range of topics on everything from writing about the Southern Maryland landscape and making stuffed ham to participating in Umfundalai contemporary African dance and making piñatas.
The workshops will conclude with the signature celebration and gallery exhibition highlighting the traditions and cultures shared in the workshops. The closing celebration will also feature a talk from Joan Gaither PhD, a native Baltimorean who uses her art to document the lives and contributions of African Americans in the history and culture of Maryland and the greater American story.
A detailed schedule and description of all of the workshop offerings can be found on the Southern Maryland Folklife Center website. Attendance at each individual workshop is $15.
Workshops will be held in both morning and afternoon sessions, with most workshops lasting 2 1/2 hours each. Morning workshops will be from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and afternoon workshops will be held from 2:00 p.m to 4:30 p.m. The “Making Stuffed Ham” workshop will be from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on both days.
A lunch break is built into the schedule each day from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. On Saturday, a free lunch is hosted by SMCM in honor of the Commemorative to Enslaved Peoples of Southern Maryland, or participants can pre-order lunch from Enso Bakery via their website. Please note that Enso is not open to the public on this day, and lunches will be delivered to participants at Montgomery Hall on the SMCM campus.
On Sunday, the Center will be hosting lunch, free of charge, at the closing celebration. The public is welcome to join the free opening kick-off and coffee event on Saturday at 9 a.m., as well as the free closing celebration and lunch event on Sunday at 12 p.m., both in Montgomery Hall’s Upper Commons.
Alternatively, participants can visit any open local establishment to purchase lunch, or bring their own either day.
The Southern Maryland Folklife Center celebrates and supports community-based living and cultural traditions of Southern Maryland. The Southern Maryland Folklife Center is part of the Maryland State Arts Council’s (MSAC) Folklife Network. The Summer Workshops and The Center have both grown out of a number of past efforts at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, but both owe much to The SlackWater Center. Since the mid-1980s, The SlackWater Center has been documenting life in Southern Maryland, especially through the publication, SlackWater: A Journal on Environmental and Cultural Change in Southern Maryland.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. St. Mary’s College, the National Public Honors College, is ranked as the top public liberal arts college in the U.S. by Money magazine. Approximately 1,600 students attend the college, nestled on the St. Mary’s River in Southern Maryland.
