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The Folkus Project was created in the fall of 2000 as a community arts organization presenting folk music concerts and workshops in the Syracuse (N.Y.) area. Its founder and programming director was Joe Cleveland, one of Syracuse's hardest working advocates of folk music. "Folk music is not a money-making endeavor," said Cleveland at the time, "and so we can't depend on venues that are trying to earn a living to sponsor it. Folk and other non-commercial musics are all about grassroots, community support. With the Folkus Project, we now have a way to harness that support to make music in and around the Salt City." The Folkus Project was created with the help and support of Syracuse's legendary Happy Endings
Cake & Coffeehouse. For the 10-plus
years that it existed, Happy Endings, and Today, the Folkus Project is a legally registered nonprofit organization, sponsoring folk/acoustic shows at May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society on East Genesee Street in Syracuse (just this side of Dewitt). Also, Folkus helps present and promote a monthly "second Saturday" series at the Westcott Community Center (corner of Euclid Avenue and Westcott Street). Between Labor Day and Memorial Day each year, approximately 30 shows are presented. In addition, occasional workshops are sponsored (such as banjo performance workshops by Tony Trischka), in coordination with concert appearances by artists who do such things. Though Joe Cleveland is no longer directly involved in Folkus — he remains a close advisor, while pursuing a theology degree in Boston — the Folkus Project is going strong. Its current board of directors includes:
We are almost always searching for new volunteers and board members. Won't you join us? Folk music exists outside of the commercial mainstream and needs the focused attention of a community to survive. E-mail volunteer@folkus.org.
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owners
Shelby and John Crowley (shown
at right), provided Syracuse's most welcoming, supportive, and
stable home for folk and acoustic music. The Folkus Project's concert
presentations today, though no longer staged at Happy Endings, directly
continue a legacy begun by John and Shelby and the whole Happy Endings
cosmos. (Shelby passed away in September 2005. All of Syracuse folkdom misses her.)