We’re thrilled to share that CCV’s associate director Josh Kohn received globalFEST’s Trouble Worldwide Award on January 11, 2026 at Lincoln Center. This honor recognizes a non-performing professional working in the U.S. who has made a bold and lasting impact on the global music field through innovation, risk-taking, and tireless commitment.
This award is named after Alex Nova, who—through her tireless, joyful efforts on behalf of bringing people together through music—left an indelible mark on the global music field. It is presented to an industry professional who exemplifies her spirit: artist-centered, innovative, risk-taking, and generous.
Read Josh’s Acceptance Speech
I’ve always been an imperfectionist. I talk too fast, move too quickly, and rarely pause long enough to sit with majesty. I learned early on that perfection—if it exists at all—usually comes at the cost of the very grit that makes something worth paying attention to. I saw that clearly at my first public event, 25 years ago, as an intern with the National Council for the Traditional Arts, standing on the National Mall watching the late great Flaco Jiménez—gold-toothed, leather-jacketed, utterly unapologetic—play a July 4th concert. He was anything but polished. And he was unforgettable.
Since that day, I’ve committed myself to these artists and cultural communities. I work at the intersection of arts management, public presentation, and public folklore—a messy straddling of worlds that don’t naturally sit together. One foot in systems and schedules, the other in living traditions that don’t bend easily to deadlines, contracts.
A few years ago, a longtime colleague and friend—Jon Lohman, then the State Folklorist of Virginia—asked me to join an organization he was building from scratch. He called it the Center for Cultural Vibrancy, even though, at the time, it existed only in his head. Together, we shaped a center with no geographic limits, following cultural threads wherever they led—often toward artists and traditions overlooked by the presenting world.
We often joke about something my first boss, the larger than life Joe Wilson, would say in his endearing hillbilly drawl: “Sometimes the folk ain’t pretty.” It became both a shared laugh and a truth we leaned on. When you work with artists whose commitment is to community and tradition—not commercial appeal—you learn quickly that beauty doesn’t always arrive neatly packaged.
At CCV, we often find ourselves fighting for the survival of cultural traditions: Kitchen Band music in the Cayman Islands, quartet gospel singing, and most recently, the Saami family of Karachi—the last great masters of the Khayal vocal tradition and an exceedingly rare form of traditional qawwali—who will take the stage here in just a few minutes. I can say without hesitation: you will be blown away. Theirs is truly rare air.
These traditions are imperfect—and that’s precisely why they matter. They endure because they are carried by people who are accountable to one another. They don’t fit neatly into our hyper-digitized world because they were never meant to. Their excellence isn’t measured in efficiency or scalability, but in care, continuity, and responsibility to the communities that shaped them. That can look unruly. Imperfect. But that friction is the evidence of integrity. It tells us this work hasn’t been hollowed out to make it easier to consume.
So when Joe Wilson said, “Sometimes the folk ain’t pretty,” he wasn’t apologizing. He was naming a kind of excellence—in imperfection, in messiness. And the truth is, it isn’t a mess at all.
So while the folk might not be pretty… they sure are damn beautiful.
This honor is because of them—the artists. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of your evening.
About Josh Kohn’s work at CCV
At CCV, Josh leads programs that bring culturally rooted arts to life. He oversees the Baltimore Old Time Music Festival, a major celebration of Appalachian and string-band traditions. He helped launch the virtual educational portal World Cultural in Context, connecting artists with students around the globe. And he works closely with Ustad Naseeruddin Saami and the Saami Brothers of Karachi, Pakistan, to expand the reach of the family’s nearly 800-year-old Sufi devotional traditions through unique apprenticeship programs and public performances. When the spirit moves him, Josh also produces concerts throughout the Baltimore region.
About the globalFEST Awards
The awards aim to promote the global music field as a whole, and to highlight the significance of extraordinary work being done each and every day, season by season, show by show. It also hopes to encourage future generations of artists and arts leaders who will improve upon, develop, and grow cultural programming in the United States and beyond.
globalFEST believes that music can be a driving force toward a society that values cultural diversity as a source of unity rather than division. By moving international music to the center of the performing arts field, globalFEST fosters a robust and sustainable ecosystem for global music in the U.S. globalFEST’s programs catalyze creative and artistic networks that break down cultural and social boundaries to support and share the world’s music through performance, touring, and media.
