Director of Folklife
Dr. Bradley Hanson has served as Director of Folklife at the Tennessee Arts Commission since January 2015. In this role, he oversees the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and the Tennessee Folklife Institute, as well as annual folklife grant programs, Governor’s Folklife Heritage Award nominations, fieldwork and documentation, exhibitions, public programming, and the Folklife Program archive. During his tenure, Hanson has developed partnerships with South Arts, Humanities Tennessee, the Tennessee Folklore Society, and the Tennessee State Museum.
Hanson earned a PhD in Ethnomusicology from Brown University in 2014. Before joining the Tennessee Arts Commission, he worked seasonally as a cultural interpreter for Tennessee State Parks and the Friends of the Cumberland Trail. He is a recipient of the Blanton Owen Fund Award from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, which supported his fieldwork in East Tennessee. In 2023, he completed Appearing in Person, an award-winning documentary about East Tennessee musician Wade Hill.
