Filmmakers

Folklorist Jens Lund was born in Denmark and grew up in suburban Stamford, Connecticut. He holds a Ph.D. in folklore and American Studies from Indiana University, an M.A. in American Studies from Bowling Green State University, and has worked as a freelance contract field researcher in folklore and oral history in twenty-three states. Jens has taught at five universities, was director of the Washington State Folklife Council, and developed and managed Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission’s Folk and Traditional Arts in the Parks Program, from which he retired in 2014. He is the author of Folk Arts of Washington State (1989), Flatheads and Spooneys (1995) and numerous articles and reviews. Lund has worked extensively in cultural tourism and developed Washington’s first highway audio heritage tours. He is the recipient of the American Folklore Society’s Benjamin A. Botkin Prize, for significant lifetime achievement in public folklore, and the Ethnic Heritage Council of the Pacific Northwest’s Spirit of Liberty Award, for naturalized citizens who have made significant contributions to ethnic heritage and the community at large. Jens Lund lives in Olympia, Washington.