The Arhoolie Foundation Year-End Letter
Looking back at this last year, the Arhoolie Foundation continues the work of promoting and preserving roots-based American music. From Mississippi to Louisiana, Florida, Mexico, and of course the Bay Area, the Foundation is helping tell the stories of the music and musicians who have created such a rich vernacular tradition. We wanted to share with you some of our efforts and ask for your help in expanding our reach in the coming year.
In March, we launched the first exhibition from our Robert Stone Sacred Steel Collection, Tuned To The Spirit, at the A.E. Backus Museum in Ft. Pierce, FL. The exhibition opening was well attended, and we are now in the process of launching an extended tour of the photos throughout the country starting in 2024.
We continued our efforts to tell the stories of the music and musicians in our collection on
We created the “Arhoolie Foundation Presents” video series with selected videos from intimate performances filmed by Chris Strachwitz over the last 30 years. New videos included included Taj Mahal, Barbara Dane, Lawrence Ardoin & Canray Fontenot, and others.
The same month we also experienced a crisis when a copyright dispute shuttered our Frontera Collection YouTube channel for 30 days. The closure highlighted the impact the collection has on listeners who have built a community around the channel over the last five years. The channel was reinstated, and we are now making changes to ensure that it won’t be taken down again. Thank you to all who offered help during the blackout. We were grateful to hear from so many who appreciate the importance of the Frontera Collection.
Over the past year, we have started digitizing Chris’s collection of reel-to-reel and cassette
Lastly, we have been working with local author and critic Joel Selvin to publish a book of the best black and white photographs that Chris took from 1956-1990. The book will showcase the cultural environments that have supported the tradition bearers of blues, Cajun, Creole, folk, country, jazz, gospel, Tejano, and Norteño music. With release expected in 2023, we will be organizing a traveling exhibition of the photos to potentially visit your town.
Our staff is working on some exciting new projects for the coming year. Your support will help us to continue to share more material through our website, community and online exhibitions, and maybe possibly some new releases. We have a donor willing to match each donation we make in this appeal. We ask for your help to make it all possible.
Please consider making a donation to help with our work:
$75 helps us preserve one reel of tape from the Chris Strachwitz Collection.
$100 pays for two hours’ worth of digitizing Chris’s correspondence with Arhoolie artists.
$1,000 helps us continue sharing our collections through our website.
$75 helps us preserve one reel of tape from the Chris Strachwitz Collection.
$100 pays for two hours’ worth of digitizing Chris’s correspondence with Arhoolie artists.
$1,000 helps us continue sharing our collections through our website.
The Arhoolie Foundation wishes you the best during this holiday season. May the coming year provide lots of opportunities to celebrate and enjoy good down-home music.
— The Arhoolie Foundation
(Chris, Clark, John, Juan Antonio, & Adam)
(Chris, Clark, John, Juan Antonio, & Adam)