CCG Year of Engagement: Community on the Line

In the fourth episode of the Folklife Today subseries focusing on Community Collections Grantees, AFC Events Coordinator Thea Austen and Folklife Specialist Meg Nicholas chat with Queen Nur and AJ Rivers, about Queen’s CCG project “Community on the Line: The Culture of Urban Soul Line Dancing in the Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware Tri-State Area,” and the public program the team held at the Library in February 2025. The project was designed to “develop a better understanding of the R&B/Soul Line Dance community from the perspective of its culture keepers and initiate a new and original digitized cultural heritage collection at the American Folklife Center. Queen and AJ discuss the deep community connections documented during the project, potential for continuing the work, and reflect on the transformative joy that people felt during the public event at the Library.