With the support of the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation and the John Hammond Performance Series Endowment Fund, the National Museum of American History has begun its first artist in residence program and music internship program, Making American Music.
Rose Rodgers who graduated from Sociology@UCSantaCruz joins fellow artists and musicians in the program exploring the collections, conducting research and enriching the experience of those visiting the Smithsonian in person and online through original and reworked music.
Information on the Making American Music internship can be found on the National Museum of American History website, “http://americanhistory.si.edu/getinvolved/internship/opportunities/making-american-music“ and the Smithsonian Blog, “http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/antislavery-anthem.”
Watch Rose introduce the interns, The First Ladies, and Dom Flemons, perform the song "A-Tisket, A-Tasket."
Inauguaral Artist in Residence
Dom Flemons is a Grammy winner as well as a founding member of the celebrated Carolina Chocolate Drops. Flemons is known as “The American Songster” since his repertoire of music covers nearly 100 years of American folklore, ballads, and tunes. He is a music scholar, historian, record collector and a multi-instrumentalist (Banjo, Fife, Guitar, Harmonica, Percussion, Quills, and Rhythm Bones). Flemons is currently creating two albums for Smithsonian Folkways Records.
The Interns
Hannah Baker is a graduate of the American Roots Music program at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. She plays guitar and fiddle and is a skilled singer-songwriter with a recently-released debut EP and a passion for historic music research. Her current topic of study is the role of race in American roots music.
Kelly Bosworth is a graduate student in the Ethnomusicology program at Indiana University. She plays guitar and is a singer-songwriter as well as an educator – teaching harmony, folk singing, and guitar. Kelly’s research interests include vernacular music, community music-making, and social justice.
Rose Rodgers is a graduate of the University of California Santa Cruz. She plays flute, sings and is proficient in historical research with primary documents. Her research is currently focused on the role music has played in building communities against social inequality while providing a voice for marginalized peoples.
Libby Weitnauer is a graduate student in the Music Performance program at New York University. She plays violin and sings. She hopes to one day create a music program that combines her passion for Appalachian fiddle music with research into displaced populations throughout American history and how they have used music to connect to each other.
