Huib Schippers is new director of Folkways recordings

Folkways Recordings has a new skipper at the helm.

Huib Schippers, director of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Musician, scholar, educator and former record-store manager Huib Schippers is the new director and curator of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings effective June 13. Schippers, currently the director of the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre in Australia, replaces Daniel E. Sheehy, who announced his retirement after 15 years leading the award-winning label. Sheehy will continue with Folkways as Director Emeritus while he pursues a new Guggenheim Fellowship.

“I feel honored to be entrusted with such an iconic label, which has exceptionally dedicated staff, artists and listeners,” said Schippers. “This position resonates with all the things I hold dear: great music, great ideas, great people and a great mission. I look forward to forging a future for Smithsonian Folkways that continues to celebrate diversity, the voices of the unheard, the sounds that make us learn and think and the music that inspires a greater understanding of the people, the communities and the cultures around us.”

Schippers, originally from the Netherlands, explained how to pronounce his name: Huib sounds like “how” with a “b” sound at the end, and “Schippers” sounds like “sh-kippers,” not unlike the captain of a ship.

A leading voice in arts research, Schippers is the founding director of the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre at Griffith University in Brisbane, where he has fostered a strong, practice-led research culture, resulting in a number of signature events that have challenged traditional approaches to musical activities. A native of the Netherlands, Schippers has had a multifaceted career, including Indian classical performance and teaching, journalism, retail record-store management, arts policy, project management, education and academic research. He has published numerous articles, chapters and books, including Facing the Music: Shaping Music Education from a Global Perspective and the upcoming Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures: An Ecological Approach.

Listen to a playlist featuring Huib Schippers’ “Folkways Moments”

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