Our Mission
"Celebrating the arts, music, and heritage of the South from the cultural crossroads of Memphis" is best served by enjoying, living and breathing the very things we are sworn to preserve and protect. We believe that by providing a platform for art, music, and culture we encourage its growth and evolution. When you visit the Center, you visit a stage that comes alive with every show.
Judy Peiser
Co-Founder Executive Producer
Each summer and later on Labor Day Weekend starting in 1988 we've produced the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival. Honoring Memphis' own Joyce Cobb, Mose Vinson, Jim Dickinson and Otha Turner our festival has become one of the city's signature events. With urban Memphis as our backdrop we showcase and celebrate the music, culture, arts, and rhythms of the Memphis/Delta region. Look for it to return soon.
Since its founding it 1974 the CSF archives have amassed audio recordings, film and video footage, historical and contemporary photographs, printed materials, and other artifacts that present mule traders and fife makers, folk artists and blues performers, salsa and soul musicians and much more.
Mark Hayden
Music
Check out some of the music that the Center has helped produce on iTunes! Current selections are Joyce Cobb's "Beale Street Saturday Night," and the "Memphis Music & Heritage Festival Live 1989 Highlights"
WELCOME TO THE CENTER FOR SOUTHERN FOLKLORE
HOURS OF OPERATION:
Tue, Thurs.
-Fri: 9:30AM-5PM
Sat: CLOSED
Sun: 2PM-5PM
Please CLICK HERE to CONTRIBUTE to the Center for Southern Folklore through PAY PAL or Credit Card.
-- Judy Peiser,
Executive Producer
BE A VOLUNTEER
Click HERE to contact us about becoming part of our team and helping to keep the Center for Southern Folklore alive as a premiere resource for Mid-South culture and entertainment.
Create your very own unforgettable, unique experience at the Center that will be talked about for years to come. Contact us and make it happen for your family, business or special occasion. We offer a variety of venues to have your parties, weddings, business events, and more!
If you would like more information, contact us at:
The Center for Southern Folklore offers a wide variety of events, programs, and customized tours that showcase the music and cultural history of the Memphis/Delta region. To top off the programs we serve our yummy southern comfort food.
This is the area of the Center where you can watch film, see folk art, and enjoy a variety of photographic exhibits. On a given night you might see a show by southern bluesman Bobby Rush, a jookin' contest by some of Memphis' best dancers, or a Memphis Music Revue by Memphis Diva Joyce Cobb
The Folklore Store is the Center's version of Alice's Restaurant: part general store, part art gallery, and part music hall. You can purchase regional folk art, prints from the archive, great CDs and DVDs produced by the Center and regional musicians, while you listen to live Blues, Jazz, Hip Hop, Rockabilly, Gospel, and everything else Memphis and the surrounding areas has to offer!
You can also sit down and enjoy some of our authentic southern cuisine and drinks while you enjoy your music. We have live performances most Friday and Saturday nights which usually start around 8 p.m.