Labor Heritage Foundation

The Labor Heritage Foundation is a non-profit organization which preserves and disseminates information and artifacts about the labor history of the United States.

History

The genesis of the Labor Heritage Foundation was in June 1979. Joe Glazer, a composer, musician and educator active in the American labor movement. Glazer invited 14 other labor musicians to the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Spring, Maryland to share musical and written compositions, and to discuss the effective use of music, song, poetry and chants in labor activism. The three-day event became an annual one, becoming known as the Great Labor Arts Exchange (GLAE).

Over the next five years, the concept of "labor culture" and how the labor movement and the arts interacted which Glazer and others held expanded. In 1984, Glazer incorporated the Labor Heritage Foundation as a parent body for GLAE as well as to curate and promote the culture of the American labor movement.

The Labor Heritage Foundation is governed by a five-member board of directors.

In 1986, the foundation hired its first executive director. The executive director, a full-time position, oversees the day-to-day operations of the foundation.

The Labor Heritage Foundation shares office space with the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. Its programs continue to be held at the Meany Center (now known as the National Labor College).

Programs

GLAE remains the largest and most prominent program of the Labor Heritage Foundation. ...
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