On June 30, 1988, Austin Friends of Folk Art was formally incorporated as a 501c3 non-profit organization, complete with bylaws, officers and directors, and a mission to promote public appreciation of folk art, which AFFA defines broadly enough to accommodate everything from urban mural art, Feng Shui and Southwest petroglyphs to Moroccan fortune-telling, Oaxacan wood carving and Byzantine icon painting.
They’ve been holding movies nights, excursions, performances and bankrolling folk-art related initiatives ever since. Now they’re thinking of starting a museum. A meeting to envision a Folk Art Museum in Austin, will take place on January 25, 7 p.m. at St. Edwards university, 305 Fleck Hall, 3001 South Congress Ave., Austin. Expert panelists in attendance will include collector Lance Aaron; Gary Hoover, the zealous entrepreneur who founded (and then sold) Bookstop, and who, according to his website, “did an in-depth study of the museum industry and business opportunities, therein”, Marion Oettinger, SAMA’s curator of Latin American Art; UT Prof Ned Rifkin, former director of the Blanton museum; and Sherry Kafka Wagner, design consultant.