Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation is a private operating organization based in Bowling Green, KY. It was established in 2011, officially becoming a 501(c)3 on December 14th, 2016, to create public programs that raise Cultural & Ethnic awareness of Black Traditional Music, Traditional Art, Folklore, Oral Histories, and The Black Experiences in America. Standing on the foundation of the blues people’s legacy, JDBHPF works to celebrate and preserve blues music while highlighting the many events in American history that have cultivated our communities and musical expressions.
The foundation’s mission as a platform is to be a focal point for research, archiving, and raising awareness of African American Traditional Music and the Black experience, as well as philanthropists whose donations fund lessons for the community on preserving their culture and heritage through many mediums and expressions. We aim to conserve African American Traditional Music, Folklore, Folklife, Folk Art, and Foodways.
The organization also works to build a database of collections created by in-house and community patrons through our African American Folklorist program, which trains participants to document the folklore, folklife, history, and heritage of their family, culture, and music. In a bid to fulfill our mission, we’ve embarked on developing learning and engagement of Black Music, such as Blues, String Music, Jug Bands, Black spirituals, Gospel, and other traditional music, along with its connection to the generation of folk members that participate in the traditions.
Blues People, Music, and Folklore is the first phase of a multilevel curriculum designed for public schools, private schools, homeschools, higher education and community organizations. It is a lesson plan developed for teaching artists to incorporate in a traditional classroom or implemented in homeschool, library, or museum activities. The design makes it available to teachers or instructors with no music or broadcast training; they can still use the curricula with minor adjustments. However, it is specific to teaching artists and teachers experienced in, but not limited to, traditional black music, i.e., the blues, folklore, folk studies, and cultural works. A basic understanding of Broadcasting, interviewing, and using digital recorders, WAV, MP3, and other audio/video technology is required.
The culmination of this program is the production of a festival session that will exhibit the presentation and the performance of documented ethnographic interviews, original blues songs, and a narrative stage.
Course Objective:
- Cultural & Historical Understanding
Students will gain foundational knowledge of African American Traditional Music—particularly the Blues—and its relationship to Black folklore, oral history, folk art, and community heritage. They will examine how historical events, migrations, and Black experiences shaped the cultural expressions preserved by Blues People. - Ethnographic & Media Documentation Skills
Students will develop introductory skills in applied folklore documentation, including interviewing, oral history collection, basic broadcasting, and audio/video recording (WAV, MP3, digital recorders). They will learn to document family, community, and musical traditions in alignment with the African American Folklorist program’s methodology. - Creative Cultural Production & Public Presentation
Students will collaboratively create original cultural materials—such as Blues songs, narrative-stage performances, and ethnographic interview presentations—and participate in a culminating festival session that showcases their applied learning, creativity, and cultural stewardship.
If you’re excited to join this program — which includes our hands-on “Build a 12-Bar Blues in A” workshop — we’d love to have you.
Sign up here for $1200
