Sydney began her duties with AFTA this week, and she is looking forward to the professional and personal opportunities for growth associated with pioneering the Folk Arts Assistant position.
Sydney Nichols
In addition to managing the program’s public-facing social media platforms, she aspires to contribute to and enrich AFTA’s existing collection of regional folklife research and documentation. Hailing from the Arkansas Delta, Sydney is interested in the literary and artistic expressions of the American South. Above all, she believes in resurrecting the region’s neglected stories. Through her work, she hopes to expand her understanding of all forms of Arkansan cultural expression.
“I am overjoyed and humbled to join AFTA,” said Sydney. “I feel so lucky to have found a team that recognizes Arkansas as a place rich in distinctive histories, cultures, and traditions. I cannot wait to learn more about the state that I call home and to extend that opportunity to our diverse audiences.”
As a student at the University, Sydney prioritizes storytelling and community building. She is a founding member of the Honors College Public History Forum, a student-led group founded at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that strives to utilize archives to revive regional histories. Sydney is also the founder and president of the Society of Art Historians, an organization that provides opportunities to discuss fine arts outside of the classroom. For the past year, Sydney has worked remotely for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), contributing to an upcoming exhibit titled The Art of the American Guitar, curated by Dr. Leo G. Mazow, the Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane Curator of American Art.
“Sydney brings a wealth of experience to this position and I’m so glad she’ll help us take our digital outreach to the next level,” says Virginia Siegel, coordinator of Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts. “It’s exciting to see AFTA grow and I know Sydney can help us do that.”
In her spare time, Sydney enjoys reading and writing poetry, tackling large cooking projects, and exploring Arkansas’s bountiful nature and dirt roads. After graduation, she plans to pursue a graduate degree in art history and folklife studies.
Welcome, Sydney!