SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS TAPS NEW LEADER

Maureen Loughran, the archivist and scholar who produces the public radio series American Routes, has been named the director and curator of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

A public ethnomusicologist by training, Loughran has spent a decade with American Routes, writing and editing on a wide variety of important figures in American music, including Loretta Lynn, documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker, go-go pioneer Chuck Brown and East Harlem salsoul crooner Joe Baatan.

She's also produced radio presentations of the National Folk Festival, the National Endowment for the Arts’ annual National Heritage Fellows concert and the Midnight Preserves series at Preservation Hall.

“As a producer, archivist, scholar and educator, Loughran possesses the knowledge, skills and experience to lead Smithsonian Folkways in the years ahead,” said Tony Seeger, chair of the Folkways Advisory Board and a former director of the label. “She brings to the position an in-depth understanding of diverse musical traditions as well as a keen awareness of what it takes to enable broad audiences to appreciate them.”

The Smithsonian Folkways director and curator also oversees the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, comprising an incomparable record of folk and traditional cultural expression from around the world.

Loughran’s experience includes work in archives, both internationally at the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin and nationally at the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress. She served as deputy director of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance in New York, where she oversaw grants, managed artist relations and produced public programs, including its annual concert at Lincoln Center.