Tending the Taproot: Opportunities to Support Folk & Traditional Arts in the United States, “Executive Summary” and “Introduction”

Abstract This piece is the first of a three-part forum published in this issue. Part I is the “Executive Summary” and “Introduction” of The Alliance for California Traditional Arts’ Tending the Taproot: Opportunities to Support Folk & Traditional Arts in the United States report by Amy Kitchener, Shweta Saraswat-Sullivan, and Lily Kharrazi, published in December 2022. Part II is a summary of the Living Cultural Heritage and the Traditional and Folk Arts in the Nonprofit Sector report by Carole Rosenstein, Mirae Kim, and Neville Vakharia commissioned by Alliance for California Traditional Arts. Part III is a forum of essays in response to the two reports by people with diverse engagement with and perspectives on the data and findings: Tayshu Bommelyn, Martha Gonzalez, Debora Kodish, Selina Morales, Elizabeth Peterson, Langston Collin Wilkins, and Andrew Zitcer.