ETSU announces new Institute for Appalachian Music and Culture

The Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies has a new institute, the Institute for Appalachian Music and Culture.

Ron Roach, chair of the Department of Appalachian Studies, discussed what this new institute will bring.

“The Center for Appalachian Studies was founded in 1984. It was one of the original Center of Excellence in the state,” Roach said. “It was originally made up of three units: the Regional Resources Institute, which runs our Governors school and other grant programs, the Archives of Appalachia, and the Reece Museum.”

Roach said that the department itself has been doing ongoing research around music and culture.

“For example, we have the world-renowned bluegrass program in our department, bluegrass, old-gime and roots music studies,” Roach said.

Roach said that Appalachia is a region that is notable for rich culture and history.

“Someone once said that music was Appalachia’s greatest gift to the world,” Roach said. “But that is only one aspect of Appalachian history and culture. To just continue the research and scholarship, we formed a fourth part of our center, which is called the Institute for Appalachian Music and Culture.”

The idea of the Institute had already been in development for several years.

“It is really a part of a university wide push to just accelerate our research, scholarship and creative activity here on campus,” Roach said. “For example, the university started the ETSU Research Corporation last year.”

Roach explained that at ETSU has creativity everywhere on campus, whether it be documentary film, record albums, books or the Encyclopedia of Appalachia, which was printed 15 years ago.

“Increasingly, we have seen the need for an institute that will pull all of these efforts together and will centralize and form a destination for people,” Roach said, “and just to continue to help us with our mission to preserve, study and extend the rich history and culture of Appalachia.”

For more information about the new Institute for Appalachian Music and Culture, contact Ron Roach at roachr@etsu.edu.