Students in this course will learn about vital and diverse music and dance traditions that thrive in and among New York's immigrant communities, while gaining first-hand experience with the work of cultural institutions through the New School’s long-standing collaboration with the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD). The course will examine traditional cultural expressions as shared by acclaimed teaching artists and heritage bearers who will visit multiple times throughout the semester. Students will get hands-on experience working with community members on the organization of a public program and participate in several off campus field trips to concerts, restaurants and cultural institutions in the five boroughs. By engaging with methodologies used in public folklore and applied ethnomusicology for program planning, development, and documentation, students will get a taste of contemporary cultural sustainability work, and how it intersects with broader issues of immigration, multiculturalism, representation, and social transformation. The course will culminate with a final event to be held at the New School and the production of documentary video clips based on ethnographic interviews with guest artists. As a course with connections to Lang’s distinctive Civic Liberal Arts curriculum, students should note that we will be working with a wide variety of individuals, and there will also be some travel throughout the city, including to Staten Island and/or Queens. Although we have tried to limit these requirements so that the course is not too difficult to manage, we do ask for a commitment to attending the class sessions, understanding the need for flexibility with our guests’ schedules, and a willingness to consider multiple points of view.