Bau Graves

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About

Bau Graves is Executive Director of the Old Town School of Folk Music, in Chicago, Illinois, the largest community school of the arts in the United States, and among the most active concert presenters in the Midwest. During his tenure, the School has continued its remarkable expansion, opening a new, $17 million, technologically-advanced, acoustically-engineered, LEED gold-certified arts education facility in 2012. Bau Graves is the past Director of the Jefferson Center Foundation, in Roanoke, Virginia, and co-founder of the Center for Cultural Exchange in Maine, where he facilitated the creation of an extended series of programs in close collaboration with ethnic community groups and artists. Bau’s work as a field researcher, arts presenter, community organizer, festival director, tour manager, recording and radio producer has been prolific, winning numerous awards. He has performed and recorded with several jazz and traditional music ensembles, and toured extensively, both in the US and abroad. He holds a Masters degree in ethnomusicology from Tufts University, has published essays concerning cultural issues in both the academic and popular press, and has appeared on and/or produced numerous recordings. Bau Graves’ book about the arts and community, Cultural Democracy, was published in 2005 by the University of Illinois Press. His essay “Why Public Culture Fails at Diversity” appears in the Handbook of Community Music, forthcoming in 2016 from Oxford University Press.

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