I am very pleased to join the team at the Association for Cultural Equity (ACE) and I invite you to join me as we explore anew the vastly diverse peoples and cultures that Alan Lomax and his many collaborators documented and shared with the world. Since the establishment of the Alan Lomax Archive, the idea of cultural equity has gradually but firmly taken root as a humanist, social and moral principle. Moreover, the study of World Music, dance, folklore and related disciplines have had profound impacts on the way we experience the world. As we continue this work, we welcome new approaches to field research and documentation of cultural traditions, while we engage in fresh thinking about what defines culture and how it endures, develops, changes and grows. Using new technologies and methods our goals are clear: to recuperate, repatriate, and disseminate embodied cultural knowledge; provide access to the treasures of people and culture; and, as we preserve these precious material resources, we offer them as sources of inspiration, beauty, and awareness for everyone to listen, view, and share.

Jorge Arévalo Mateus, Ph.D.
Executive Director

Originally posted: February 29, 2016