Winifred Lambrecht

After doing fieldwork in Peru and Egypt, Winifred Lambrecht taught in New York at CUNY and the School for Visual Arts. She moved to Rhode Island and became director of a cultural program at the RI State Council for the Arts, writing grants to support her activities with the state’s and the region’s ethnic and occupational communities. She also worked with the Smithsonian Institute and maintains affiliations with several festivals directed by the National Council for the Traditional Arts.

Lambrecht has managed a number of international cultural exchanges and continues to document and present traditional artists from a variety of cultural communities. She has collaborated on – or produced/directed – a series of documentary films in countries including Tanzania, Mexico, Armenia and the US. She contributes regularly to such publications as Parabola Magazine and the Journal of American Folklore.

Lambrecht’s recent activities include:

• Joined the board of PVD World Music, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting African and African-based culture through music and film.

• Founded and curated Galerie le Domaine, a Providence art gallery focused on regional artists, 2018–26.

• Worked with Peter O’Neill on acquisition of traditional music footage featured in the film The Tree of Iron (Tanzania 1986), The Music Archives, Wesleyan University.

• Served on grant review panel for the Connecticut Museum of History and Culture, Southern New England Apprenticeship Program, 2022–26.

• Participated in 2024 forum “Global impact of local and regional traditional art apprenticeship programs” at the American Folklore Society Meeting, New Mexico.

• Served on board of Providence nonprofit New Urban Arts, 2021–24.

• Served as contributing editor at Parabola, a journal dedicated to mythology, belief systems, and the search for meaning (1976–2025).

• Ongoing: writing book reviews for The Journal of Folklore Research and The Journal of American Folklore.