Cloggers keeping folk arts alive

Folk art, which comes from the ground up, unites people and defines culture in ways few other things can.

"Immigrants from many lands brought to America their own cultural heritage and together wove a tapestry of culture unique in all the world," says Shawnda Bishop, founder and director of one of America's premier folk-art groups, Clog America, based in West Valley City.

"Generations of Americans have expressed their hearts and minds through the music, dance and other folk art that make up this cultural tapestry," Bishop says. "But this tapestry is beginning to unravel. Young Americans are growing up without knowing or experiencing our traditional American folk art."

To counteract that trend, Clog America has launched a couple of initiatives. For one, Clog America is spearheading a campaign to build a House of American Folk Arts in Salt Lake Valley.

The house will be dedicated to the preservation and cultivation of such American folk arts as dance, music, craftsmanship art and poetry. The facility will be a center for classes and workshops and will have dance studios, music rooms, office space, costume-storage space and a Preservation Hall for community performances.

Among programs on the agenda will be a free monthly Kids Culture Club that will help expose children to American folk arts.

Clog America will be a resident performing group, but the house will be open to and utilized by other folk-arts groups in the state, says Bishop.

In a second initiative, Clog America is teaming up with the Utah Cultural Celebration Center to present a Preservation of American Folk Art award.

The recipient of this year's award is Rex Burdett, currently serving as president and U.S. delegate for CIOFF-USA (Council International Organization of Festivals and Folk Art), who is an entertainer and music entrepreneur in Branson, Mo. Among other things, Burdett is an inductee into the Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame, has performed in the Ozark Jubilee with Red Foley, and created World-Fest, the largest international festival in the U.S.

The award to Burdett and plans for the House of American Folk Arts will be introduced at Clog America's annual gala, which will be held in the Utah Cultural Celebration Center on Saturday. The program will include a catered dinner, silent auction and performances by The Cadillacs A Capella and Clog America. Two mini-documentaries on Clog America's tours to Russia and Mexico during the 2005 season will also be shown.