Florida Folklife Council
The Florida Folklife Council consists of seven members appointed by the Secretary of State to provide geographical, ethnic and professional representation. Members advise and assist the Division of Historical Resources and the Florida Folklife Program with respect to the following goals. Members advise and assist the Division of Historical Resources and the Florida Folklife Program with respect to the following goals:
- building statewide public interest and participation in folklife;
- developing and promoting traditional artists, performers, and folklife resources;
- recommending projects for the identification, collection, preservation and presentation of Florida cultural heritage throughout the state;
- and developing proposals to fund projects
Listen to the first Folklife Council meeting recorded on October 16, 1979, on Florida Memory.
Upcoming Meetings & Materials
Dr. Peggy A. Bulger
Folklorist
Fernandina Beach
Term: 2019-2023
Dr. Bulger served as the Director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress from 1999-2011. She began her professional career as Florida's first state folklorist (1975-1988) before becoming the Folk Arts Director and Senior Program Officer for the Southern Arts Federation, now South Arts. Dr. Bulger served as president of the American Folklore Society, co-authored South Florida Folklife, and edited Musical Roots of the South. She has produced several recordings, including Deep South Musical Roots Tour and Drop On Down in Florida, and has directed several ethnographic films. Dr. Bulger earned a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation is a study of folklorist and activist Stetson Kennedy, who was the director of folklore, oral history and ethnic studies for the Florida Writers' Project of the WPA during the 1930s and 1940s. After retiring from the American Folklife Center, Dr. Bulger returned to Florida where she continues to be active in the field of folklife with research projects and consultancies.
Dr. Annette B. Fromm
Folklorist
Miami
Term: 8/1/21 – 1/1/24
Dr. Fromm is the former Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies program at Florida International University. Dr. Fromm, a folklorist and museum specialist, has over thirty years of experience in museums and community projects in Ohio, Oklahoma, and Florida. Her work has ranged from institutions which emphasize ethnic cultural diversity to historic preservation. Dr. Fromm has published articles on immigrant-ethnic groups in America, Native Americans in museums, multicultural museums, historic preservation and community, Jews in Greece, Sephardic folklore, Greek folklore, and folk art. Fromm is the past-President of the International Committee of Museums of Ethnography, an international committee of the International Council of Museums.
Dr. Lanlan Kuang
Associate Professor, UCF
Orlando
Term: 8/1/19 - 8/1/23
Dr. Kuang is Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida's Philosophy Department and the Vice President of the Florida Folklore Society. Kuang's research focuses on China's media and cultural policies and their impact on social and economic development. A published author in China and the U.S. since 1997 and a prize-winning documentary film producer, Kuang holds a PhD in Folklore and Ethnomusicology from Indiana University, Bloomington and was on a Fulbright in China in 2008–2009. Her recent publications include a monograph on the expressive arts from along the Silk Road, The Dunhuang Performing Arts in Global Context (2016) and a chapter on music and Daoism in Oxford University Press’ Music and Consciousness II (2019). She has been granted Visiting Research Fellowship by the world-renowned Dunhuang Academy to work on her English monograph from 2019-2022. Kuang also has done researches and published on media studies and heritage studies in Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies (2017) and Communication Design Quarterly (2015). Kuang is a Center for Ethnic and Folk Literature and Arts (CEFLA) Distinguished Fellow appointed by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism for her contributions to safeguarding folk arts and heritage culture.
Dr. Celeste Landeros
Professor of English and Humanities, Barry University
Miami
Term: 1/1/19 - 1/1/23
Dr. Landeros is an artist, arts journalist and scholar who specializes in opera and carnival. A trained classical soprano, she has studied Afro-Cuban, Haitian and Colombian folkloric dance, drumming and song for more than two decades and has performed with the folkloric troupes Iroko Afro-Cuban Dance Theater and Troupe Manno Mercier. She is the founder and director of Carnival Arts, an arts education program that has offered workshops in the dance, drumming and masquerade traditions of the Caribbean and Latin America for youth across the state of Florida. Her scholarly work has appeared in journals such as Dance Research Journal, Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism and Public: A Journal of Imagining America. She is the co-editor of the anthology Everynight Life: Culture and Dance in Latin/o America (Duke University Press, 1997) and is currently completing a manuscript on Carnival Arts for Caribbean Studies Press. Dr. Landeros shares her knowledge of popular and folkloric performance with the general public, as a regular arts contributor to the Miami Herald, WLRN radio, Miami New Times and Opera News and as the founding editor of the South Florida arts media bureau, Artburstmiami.com.
Robin Reshard
Creative Director of Robert Robino Productions
Pensacola
Term: 8/1/21 – 1/1/24
As the creative director of Robert Robino Productions, Mrs. Reshard has advocated for and created content about African American culture and history. She has developed a variety of projects, including a public television show that explores community networks, a historic document exhibition and a documentary about the historic Belmont DeVilliers neighborhood. She has authored two books, and is a host and co-producer of The Pensacola Network Show. Mrs. Reshard is a past chair of Visit Pensacola, and serves on the boards of Pensacola Community Action Network, Historic Brownsville Community, and the Belmont DeVilliers Neighborhood Association, as well as other committees. She holds a M.S. in community economic development from Southern New Hampshire University.
Dr. Natalie Underberg-Goode
Term: 1/1/19 - 1/1/23
Dr. Natalie Underberg-Goode is Associate Professor of Digital Media and Folklore at the University of Central Florida Nicholson School of Communication and Media, specializing in the use of digital media to preserve and disseminate folklore and cultural heritage. She is the co-author of Digital Ethnography: Anthropology, Narrative, and New Media, as well as more than 20 articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings. Her research has been presented at many national and international conferences. In addition to research, Dr. Underberg-Goode has developed core courses for the Digital Media and Latin American Studies programs and electives for the Film and Texts and Technology programs at UCF. She currently teaches courses on digital storytelling and research.
Brian Zepeda
Tribal Council Liaison, Seminole Tribe of Florida
Naples
Term: 8/1/21 – 1/1/24
Brian Zepeda has served for 10 years as a Seminole Tribal Council Liaison. He has also served as the Operations Manager for the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum for 13 years. He headed the Florida Seminole Tourism department for 4 years and has served on the board of numerous museums and history foundations. He served on the Florida Governor’s Council on Indian Affairs from 1998 until 2004. Zepeda is also a successful native artist who teaches all Seminole arts including woodcarving, sewing, silverwork, leather work, storytelling, songs, hunting and history. He has spoken at international conferences on balancing the need to protect Seminole culture while also sharing aspects of it with the public. He has been featured in National Geographic Magazine, First American Art Magazine, Florida World Magazine, in the book, “Just Above the Water: Florida Folk Art” and in the Cherokee Nation Museum of Oklahoma’s exhibit, “Beadwork Storytellers.” Zepeda has served as a consultant for the History Channel, Discovery Channel, Nat Geo Wild, WPBT and WGCU. Zepeda’s art can be seen in the collections of The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, The Historical Museum of Southern Florida, The National Museum of the American Indian and The Museum of Florida History as well as numerous private collections.
