Since 2002 the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center has been working with recently resettled refugee communities in Central New York to offer the innovative folk arts program Emerging Traditions.

The purpose of this multi-arts program was to introduce our local residents to the history and customs of recent refugee groups now living in our region. Fieldwork for the series was conducted by Dr. Felicia Faye McMahon, folklorist, who has worked with refugee artists from five communities which include DiDinga (Sudan), Dinka (Sudan), Karen (Burma), Albanian-Kosovars and Bosnians of the former Yugoslavia.

The Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center’s folk arts programs are sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.  All programs are free and open to the public.

In the summer of 2005 the Art Center hosted two folk arts festivals in which folk artists from the new ethnic groups were presented along with traditional artists of older communities in our region.

Our program Sunday, July 17th, 2005 featured traditional songs and dances by the DiDinga, no-face corn-husk dolls by Brenda Bush (Oneida Turtle Clan) and elm bark ceremonial rattles by John Webster (Oneida Wolf Clan). Visitors also had the opportunity to watch Karen traditional weaving (tahtah) on backstrap looms by Karen women now living in Utica.

The second program was held on Sunday, August 21st and featured the Odesa Ukrainian Dancers of Syracuse, Albanian folk musician Mehdi Uka, and traditional Bosnian dancers with folk music by the Bosnian MAH Band of Utica. There was also several continuous folk arts demonstrations by folk artists from Bosnia, Kosovo, and Ukraine including filet crochet, pune dore, vyshyvky and pysanky

During the spring and summer of 2006 "Beauty" was the focus of our two folk arts programs.

Our 1st program was held on Saturday, May 20, 2006 and visitors had the opportunity to explore the beauty of traditional Latino, Mandingo-Liberian and Chinese dance, performed by groups from the Spanish Action League, the Refugee Settlement Services in Syracuse and by the CNY Chinese School in Manlius.

Folk arts demonstrations by members of the three cultural groups included Chinese paper cutting and calligraphy, Mexican papercutting and piñata making, and African musical instruments.

Our 2nd program was held on Sunday, August 20, 2007 and included folk artists from the Oneida and Onondaga Nations, and several groups from Africa, including Congo, Ghana and Sudan.

On Sunday, July 1st, 2007 the Art Center hosted performances and demonstrations by Vietnamese, Liberian, Bosnian and Native American folk artists from CNY.  This series explores the evolving traditions of resettled refugee communities in Central NY alongside traditional artists from more established ethnic communities and Native American artists.

On Saturday, September 29, 2007, the Art Center hosted a Fall Folk Arts Festival & Concert. There were alternating performances of traditional Irish music by Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann—Craobh Dugan of Utica and African drumming and dance by Kwasi Owusu Anane and Etse "David" Nyadedzor of Syracuse. There were also participatory demonstrations of folk arts by Melissa McCann (Oneida cornhusk dollmaking), Howard Hall (decoy carving), John Webster (Native American elm bark rattles) and Ron Patterson (lacrosse stick making).

On Wednesday, August 13, 2008 from 7 - 9pm. the Art Center hosted an Evening of Traditional Music & Music performed by three of CNY's cultural communities: Ukrainian-Americans,

Ghanaians and Meskhetian Turks of Russia.

On Sunday, October 5, 2008, a variety folk artists representing the cultural diversity of Central New York participated in the 1st annual Schweinfest The performances and demonstrations included music and dances from southern Sudan and Ivory Coast and traditional arts demonstrations, including Ukrainian-American pysanky, Haudenosaunee cornhusk and cloth no-face dolls, drum making, lacrosse stick making and carved wild turkey yelpers.

Our 1st program was held on Thursday, July 30 from 7 - 9pm. The program featured traditional music and dance performed by groups from CNY’s Jewish and Latino cultural communities including the Keyna Hora Klezmer Band and La Joven Guardia del Teatro y La Danza Latina (The Latino Theater Dance Youth Troupe) of Syracuse. 

On Sunday, October 4, 2009, the Art Center hosted our 2nd annual Schweinfest which included musical and dance performances by Ling Performing Arts, ODESA Ukrainian Dancers, Sudanese Didinga Hill Dancers and Sudanese Dinka Dancers. Demonstrating folk artists included: Valerie Lynn Brown, rush weaving and chair caning; Alf Jacques, Onondaga lacrosse-stick making; Barbara Peterson, African American needlework; Christina Bobesky, Ukrainian embroidery; James Alaak, Sudanese clay cow making; and Akon Koun and Monica Dut, Dinka hair braiding and needlework.

In 2010 we joined up with the Downtown Auburn Business Improvement District's Summer Concert Series. We sponsored 2 of the Wednesday night concerts which were held in Market Street Park in downtown Auburn.

Our 1st program was held on Wednesday, July 14 from 6 - 8pm and included traditional Jewish & Irish music by the Keyna Hora Klezmer Band & Quigsy & The Bird.

Our 2nd program was held on Wednesday, August 11 from 6 - 8pm and included traditional Bosnian music by Mirza Tihic, German zither music by Klaus Raith and Ol Tyme Fiddle music by the Oswego Valley Fiddlers.

The Art Center hosted the 3^rd Annual Schweinfest from 12-4pm on Sunday, October3,2010.  Performances included Irish music by Quigsy & The Bird, Mohawk Cree Flute by Al Cleveland, and storytelling by Belle Wilson and Mary Marquis as well as dance performances by the Sudanese Dinka Community Dancers, EJEDA – Congolese dancers, and Somali Bantu dancers.  Demonstrating folk artists included Annie Green, Algonquin glass beadwork and leather moccasins; Alf Jacques, Onondaga lacrosse stick making; Ada Jacques, Onondaga cornhusk dolls; Akon Kown and Hawa Athin, Sudanese needlework; Al Cleveland, carved wooden flutes; Suldani Ibrahim, Somali Bantu henna; Belle Wilson and Mary Marquis, dried herbs and canned vegetables.