Our mission
"Celebrating the arts, music, and heritage of the South from the cultural crossroads of Memphis" is best served by enjoying, living and breathing the very things we are sworn to preserve and protect. We believe that by providing a platform for art, music, and culture we encourage its growth and evolution. When you visit the Center, you visit a stage that comes alive with every show.
History:
In the early 1970s Bill Ferris and Judy Peiser begin making documentary films in the Mississippi Delta. After completing award winning film Gravel Springs Fife and Drum (Produced by David Evans, Bill Ferris and Judy Peiser), Ferris and Peiser formed the Center for Southern Folklore in 1972 as a private non profit organization.
     With support of the National Endowment for theArts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Rockefeller Foundation,Ford Foundation, Tennessee Arts Commission and others the Center produces numerous films, slide shows, radio programs and publications including Ray Lum: Mule Trader, Four Women Artists, and Hush Hoggies Hush: Tom Johnson's Praying Pigs.
