Division of Folklife and Cultural Heritage

The Division of Folklife and Cultural Heritage, residing under the Arts Institute of Middlesex County, promotes, supports, and presents cultural traditions practiced by Middlesex County residents. Middlesex County is one the most diverse counties in the nation and proudly serves as a State-designated Regional Folklife Center, serving our County and Central New Jersey. In addition to programming, the Folklife Division conducts fieldwork to document regional folklife and maintains cultural archives.

Key programs include:

Share Your Foodways  Share Your Foodways celebrates the food traditions of Central New Jersey while providing access to recipes and ingredients. Featuring home cooks and culinary experts from throughout Central New Jersey, the series includes video tutorials, printable recipe cards, and folklife-focused content and guest chef profiles, all available in both English and Spanish.

Folk Arts in Education works with schools, after school programs and youth agencies to provide trained teaching artists for folk arts performances and workshops. This is intended to highlight local cultural practices and to serve as a community resource to the education system throughout the region.

Folk and Traditional Arts at Home, for Seniors and individuals with disabilities facilitates traditional arts programming in a wide range of institutions – including senior centers, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, youth shelters and veterans’ facilities.

Arts Institute-led folklife programs are open to the public and offered free of charge! All our facilities are accessible. Sign Language interpreters are available upon request.

Folklife and Cultural Heritage Programs are projects of the Arts Institute of Middlesex County and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.