About NCTA

Founded in 1933, the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) is the nation’s oldest folk arts organization.The NCTA stresses quality and authenticity in presenting traditional artists to the public in festivals, national and international tours, concerts, radio and television programs, films, recordings and other programs.

Though the NCTA’s activities are national in scope, the Council is very conscious of its local corporate responsibility, striving to contribute significantly to the quality of life in its home state of Maryland.

In the 1930’s the NCTA broke ground by inventing the multi-ethnic folk festival, a radical innovation for presenting the arts of many nations in one event.  NCTA’s work has grown to include a nationwide touring program, the creation and programming of large-scale festivals and special events, the planning of cultural programs in National Parks, and numerous other activities. In the past five years, the NCTA has presented 13 major multi-day festivals, 81 traditional arts concerts and 5 national tours with 146 performances, reaching 26 states, and produced 24 nationally distributed compact disc recordings.  Combined live attendance was 1,989,000 people with an additional national audience of 22,000,000 served through radio, television, films and recordings.  While it emphasizes the presentation of live events, NCTA also produces national radio and television programming, CD recordings and maintains an audio archive of original traditional music recordings.

Major Programs

Work in Maryland/D.C.