When folk music speaks: Ben Hunter at TEDxRainier

Folk music is about storytelling. Stories that speak to who we are. Stories about nature, friendships, relationships, love, legends. Stories that define us a community. Ben Hunter, folk musician and community organizer plays his stories through music and talks about the communal role of folks music as a means to fight the growing trend of human disconnection.

Benjamin graduated from Whitman College with a BA in music. With a passion for the folk culture, he has positioned his efforts around initiatives that drive that folk infrastructure. Raised in a global landscape, Ben's teaching style embraces the diversity found in SE Seattle and he hopes to channel that combination of culture and tradition into his own style. A professional violinist/fiddler, Ben plays locally and nationally in genres of bluegrass, blues, gypsy jazz, classical, and various world styles.

In 2011, he founded Community Arts Create (CAC), a Seattle based not-for-profit that uses the arts as a vehicle for community development and engagement. Ben founded CAC with the idea that art has an incredible ability to guide positive community development. CAC strives to build community through self-discovery and shared experience. It works to enhance a richer way of life by creating harmony through creative expression within Seattle's very diverse culture. Simply put, CAC partners with the community to create cultural competency through art of all forms. "Building community through the arts one experience at a time."

This talk was given November 9, 2013 in Seattle at TEDxRainier, a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)