Southwest Folklife Alliance

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Southwest Folklife Alliance

Nonprofit | Culture. Community. Connection.

Celebrating everyday expressions of culture, heritage and diversity in the Greater Southwest.
🌎 Producers of Tucson Meet Yourself
👇 Explore + support The Southwest Folklife Alliance is an affiliate non-profit organization of the University of Arizona, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. We are the designated Folk Arts Partner of the Arizona Commission on the Arts with the support of the Nat

ional Endowment of the Arts. We are the parent organization of the Tucson Meet Yourself Festival held in October of each year in Downtown Tucson, Arizona. In addition to the annual Tucson Meet Yourself Festival, the Southwest Folklife Alliance provides:

*educational opportunities through place based “Citizen Folklorist” field schools.
*and supports economic development through heritage artists professional development institutes, global heritage foodways business incubator projects/initiatives, and cultural diversity training through consultations, research and cultural asset mapping projects.

06/12/2026

Southwest Folklife Alliance supports more than 750 artists upholding heritage traditions every year.

We pay artists for their performances at Tucson Meet Yourself, fund generational teaching of skill through our Master-Apprentice Award, and provide peer-to-peer networking and training within Loom Network and other programs.

Heritage artists benefit from visibility, resources and networking within our community of folklife artists.

We share these artists and their traditional arts in Borderlore and events throughout the year.

What artist have you discovered through SFA?

Featured artists:

Slide 1: Michael Chiago, Sr. is a Tohono O’odham/Pima Maricopa watercolor artist and illustrator, and Tucson Meet Yourself folk artist.

Slide 2: Marilyn Hume, White Mountain Apache basket maker, Master Apprentice Artist Awardee 2024

Slide 3: Dan Levenson, Old Time Fiddler. Tucson, AZ | Master Apprentice Arts Awardee 2017 & 2021

06/11/2026

What if preserving Tucson’s cultural traditions was as simple as the click of a button? 🌵❤️

Every song, recipe, dance, story, and tradition passed from one generation to the next deserves a future.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Southwest Folklife Alliance relies on community support to help keep these traditions alive.

✨ Your tax-deductible donation helps fund:

🎨 Direct support for heritage artists and culture bearers
🤝 Programs that strengthen communities through cultural expression
🎉 Celebrations like Tucson Meet Yourself that bring us together through food, music, art, and storytelling
🌎 Opportunities to share the rich cultural traditions of the Greater Southwest with the world (and yes… a Kazakhstan artist exchange story is coming soon 👀)

When you donate, you’re not just giving money—you’re investing in people, traditions, and the cultural heartbeat of our region.

❤️ If Tucson’s cultural diversity matters to you, consider making a gift today.

Donate here:
https://southwestfolklife.org/give/

Image: Sampaguita Dance Group, Cultural Ambassadors of the Filipino American Sampaguita Club of Tucson.
Photo by Steven Meckler
ID: Group of three dancers wearing blue dresses and flowered aprons holding arches of red and white flowers.

06/05/2026

HOW WE BELONG, our new mini-program on KXCI Community Radio explores how everyday people create meaning and find belonging by embellishing the ordinary. Supported, in part, by Southwestern Foundation for Education and Preservation, and produced by Cáit NíSíomón and Kimi Eisele. Tune in at FM 91.3!

Starts FRIDAY, June 5, 2026.

Episode 1: Follow the Object features a conversation with Dr. Maribel Alvarez about OCCUPATIONAL FOLKLIFE and the work of a folklorist.

HOW WE BELONG airs:
Monday- 9:55 a.m.
Tuesday- 6:55 a.m.
Wednesday- 2:55 p.m.
Thursday- 7:55 p.m.
Friday- 11:55 p.m.
Saturday- 5:55 a.m.
Sunday -10:55 p.m.

06/04/2026

We are heartbroken to share that we lost our brilliant bright star Dawn McMillan to cancer on May 28, 2026. Dawn was a dearly beloved mother and friend, a trusted colleague, a gifted and passionate actor, and a compassionate and generous person. She brought warmth, kindness, care, and endless enthusiasm to her work as Tucson Meet Yourself Volunteer Coordinator, and more recently, to our partnership with the Smithsonian for TMY 2026. The skies have gained a bright one, and we have gained an ancestor. We will miss you so very much, Dawn. Shine on.

06/03/2026

“The real heartbeat of SFA? Our people.”

This is the team helping make it happen behind the scenes. ❤️

The meetings.
The brainstorming.
The community conversations.
The artist support.
The logistics.
The long days.

And somehow… still showing up with passion, creativity, and care every single day. ✨

As we head into summer and begin the ramp-up toward festival season, we just want to give a huge THANK YOU to the incredible staff at Southwest Folklife Alliance.

This work is so much bigger than an event. It’s about preserving culture, uplifting artists, creating spaces for community connection, and making sure traditions continue to thrive for future generations. 🌎🎭🎶

It takes an entire team envisioning, creating, collaborating, and problem-solving together to keep this work moving forward, and we are deeply grateful for every person who pours their heart into it.

Caption: (L-R)
Bottom Row: Alisha Vasquez, Nelda Ruiz, Jocelyn Retamoza Gonzvar, Kimi Eisele, Bryan Rafael Falcón
Top Row: Denise Uyehara, Peter Cano, Thania Cota

Show the SFA team some love below ❤️👇

05/29/2026

The best way to stay connected with Southwest Folklife Alliance?
Subscribe to OUR NEWSLETTER!

Quick to sign up, easy to love — get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox.

🔗Sign up here: https://southwestfolklife.org/newsletter/

No spam. Just festivals, artists, and everyday expressions of culture, heritage, and diversity rooted in the Greater Southwest and U.S.-Mexico Border Corridor.

05/28/2026

Curious about land stewardship and justice? 🌵

Join us for our second Community Land Trust (CLT) Symposium, in partnership with Regeneración!

🗓 Saturday, June 13 | ⏰ 9am–1pm
📍 Louis Market, 4001 S. 12th Ave

A Community Land Trust stewards land for the public good — separating land ownership from the buildings on it and keeping it in community hands. SFA is in the process of creating a CLT for the Louis Market Center for Cultural Organizing, returning it to the community it serves.

✅ Hands-on workshops
✅ Community conversations
✅ Breakout sessions

Learn how to move from awareness to action — and vision into policy and practice.

Free and open to the public.

Limited spots — RSVP by June 1! 👉 http://bit.ly/4wBS7V9

Image IDs
#1: Group of people walking by building with banner that says Louis Market Center for Cultural Organizing
#2: Poster for Community Land Trust Symposium with event details and background image of an ear of corn.

05/27/2026

BorderLore is the place to find these stories.. It’s a free online journal where we document, share, and elevate folklife in the US-Mexico borderlands region

Don't miss a story. Subscribe to BorderLore today at borderlore.org 🌵

A rite of passage from a young girl to a woman. The transition to the next chapter with the aid of a Death Doula. Creating space for local agriculture, food justice, and community connection…what do these all have in common?

Folklife. These are all the things we create or follow or practice, based on family or cultural tradition, occupational custom, or creative practice developed and passed on over time. These are “the embellishment of the ordinary,” or the ways we bring a particular “flair” to the things we make.

Published quarterly, BorderLore uplifts folklife practices often “hidden in plain view,” connecting people across culture, tradition, and geography.

The featured image is from our BorderLore article, “Tending Land, Tending Community,” published on April 9, 2026. In the piece, Cristina Dominguez, co-founder and current executive director of La Semilla Food Center, is interviewed by Kimberly Sumano. They talk about collective care required to grow food in the Chihuahuan Desert.

📖 Read it here: https://borderlore.org/tending-land-tending-community/

Photo by Deanna Ortega.

05/22/2026

If you, or someone you know is a master artist or tradition bearer, keeping a living culture alive, it’s your last chance to submit an application for the 2026 SFA Master-Apprentice Artist Award.

Nominate here: southwestfolklife.org/master-apprentice-artist-program

2025 Master-Apprentice Awardees M. Fumie Craig (pictured), also known as M, is an American of Japanese and Black/Creole heritage.

Based in Tucson, she has dedicated her life to origami as a way to connect cultures, generations, and communities. She first learned to fold paper cranes from her aunt in Tokyo and later co-founded the Tucson Origami Club, which has thrived for over two decades.

Today, she mentors her daughter and apprentice, Stephanie Mariko Rojas (second image, second from left), ensuring origami continues as a living tradition shared with future generations.

Questions?
Contact Denise Uyehara:
📧 [email protected] | 📞 (520) 230-2807

Picture #2 features origami artist M. Craig and her apprentice and daughter, Stephanie Mariko Rojas; Tammy Kelly, Quilter and Fiber Artist; Rebecca Lennon, apprentice to Dr. Ihor Kunasz, Ukrainian Pysanky (Egg decorating)

ID #1: Individual with short grey hair and glasses wearing a kimono and holding an origami vase with fish.
ID #2: Group of Master Artist Apprentice awardees standing at the Culture Keepers event.

05/21/2026

📍Louis Market Center for Cultural Organizing
4001 S 12th Ave
Tucson, AZ 85714
🗓 Closing May 28
⏰ Open Mon–Sat | 5–7 PM

Presented as part of ongoing efforts to create space for community storytelling, cultural preservation, and dialogue in Tucson’s Southside.

Regeneracion

Address

Tucson, AZ
85733

Website

http://www.southwestfolklife.org/

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