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Donate today to help support the work of Blue Ridge Music Trails – Virginia as we guide travelers to the many public venues where local folk music and dance thrive today along the Commonwealth’s Blue Ridge Parkway corridor.
Website Maintenance + Contact
Blue Ridge Music Trails – Virginia is maintained by Ferrum College’s Blue Ridge Institute & Museum (www.blueridgeinstitute.org), the official State Center for Blue Ridge Folklore, with support from the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Comments or questions about the website as a whole should be sent to bri@ferrum.edu.
Project Background and Partners
Launched in 2003, Blue Ridge Music Trails grew out of the Blue Ridge Heritage Initiative, a multi-state partnership of organizations, communities, and individuals committed to promoting the cultural heritage of the region.
The BRHI was founded on the idea that heritage—the cultural traditions, natural resources, and historical events that together create a distinctive identity for the region—is integral to the well-being of communities and that the Southern Appalachians should preserve the heritage significant to the region and the nation.
Major institutional partners involved in the initial Blue Ridge Music Trails project included:
- National Endowment for the Arts (arts.gov)
- North Carolina Arts Council (ncarts.org)
- Virginia Commission for the Arts (arts.virginia.gov)
- Appalachian Regional Commission (arc.gov)
- Ferrum College’s Blue Ridge Institute & Museum (blueridgeinstitute.org)
- Blue Ridge Parkway (nps.gov/blri)
- Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy (virginiahumanities.org)