MARYLAND TRADITIONS HONORS INDIVIDUALS WHO UPHOLD STATE’S LIVING HERITAGE IN THE ARTS ON DEC. 3

MARYLAND TRADITIONS HONORS INDIVIDUALS WHO UPHOLD STATE’S
LIVING HERITAGE IN THE ARTS ON DEC. 3

Maryland Traditions will host the 2011 ALTA (Achievement in Living Traditions and Arts) Awards Ceremony and Concert, recognizing outstanding leaders who strive to maintain the living traditions of folklife and art in Maryland.

WHO: Maryland Traditions, the folklife program of the Maryland State Arts Council.

WHAT: ALTA Awards Ceremony and Concert, honoring recipients of 2011 ALTA Awards.  ALTA Awards, named for folklorist and community leader Dr. Alta Schrock, annually honor the people places and traditions that best epitomize Maryland’s cultural heritage.

2011 honorees include:

• “Person:” Rich Smoker, Master Decoy Carver;
• “Place:” Patterson Bowling Center Duckpin Bowling Lanes;
• “Tradition:” The Singing & Praying Bands of Maryland.

The evening will include a concert with some of Maryland’s legendary traditional performing artists,  including Warner Williams, a piedmont blues singer and 2011 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) National Heritage Fellow. The “Godfather of Go-Go” Chuck Brown, 2005                   recipient of the NEA Heritage Fellowship, will perform with master blues harmonica player Phil Wiggins, past recipient of the Maryland Traditions Apprenticeship Award, and longtime sideman of the late piedmont bluesman John Cephas. Although both Brown and Wiggins are both           Washington DC natives, this will be their first time performing together on stage.

WHEN:           December 3, 2011

                        7:00 p.m.

WHERE:        Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center

                        7995 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD.

For tickets to the ALTA Awards Ceremony, call the Montgomery College’s Cultural Arts Center box office at (240) 567-5775. The event is free of charge, but tickets must be reserved.