Karen Canning is an ethnomusicologist and educator, and has worked with students and communities in western New York for the past 16 years. She holds a Masters degree in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, with a specialty in indigenous Mexican popular music. Since 1997 she has been Director of the Regional Traditional Arts Program for Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties, a collaborative program of the counties’ arts councils. Karen’s work in this area includes school residencies and public programs on diverse folk arts of our region, such as Hispanic holiday traditions, American folk music, world dance traditions, Native American arts, and occupational folklore. She has been a visiting artist since 2008 at Watkins Glen Middle School, focusing on Mexican “Day of the Dead” foodways and arts. Karen has developed integrated residencies with traditional artists and teachers in several local schools, including Caribbean steel drum construction and performance (Mt. Morris, 2007), square dancing and calling (York, 2009) and Mexican folkloric dance (Geneseo, 2009). She teaches cello and beginning violin at Geneseo Central School, and performs regularly on cello and steel drums.