About the Fund

(Scroll down to learn more about Alex “Tink” Wilson.)

A fund to honor the legacy of Alex "Tink" Wilson was established in 2012 in cooperation with the Wilson Family to support folklife programs in and around the Boulder, Colorado, area.

For the first five years the Alex "Tink" Wilson Legacy Fund operated as part of Boulder International Folk Dancers (BIFD). In September 2017 a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, the Alex Wilson Legacy Fund, was established and the BIFD-related fund closed. The Alex Wilson Legacy Fund operates independently.

Regular Grant Cycle

Since its inception, the Fund has supported a wide range of projects in folk and community music, folk dance, and story through small grants (usually $500 to $1500) to individuals and organizations in the Boulder, Colorado, and Front Range areas. Please note that all funds granted prior to 2018 were given when the Fund was part of BIFD.

Read project reports…

Alex’s Virtual Folk Arts Series

For 2021, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board launched an exciting new program: Alex’s Virtual Folk Arts Series 2021. This was series of five live-streamed performances between May and October that participants were able to enjoy from the comfort of their homes. The later performances included a live audience component, too.

It's not too late to see some of the performances on YouTube . . .

How the Fund Operates

The Fund is run by a group of three Board members, each with a three-year term. Board Members 2024-25: Terrilyn Olson, President; Dyann Slosar, Secretary; and Caroline Fuller, Treasurer.

In addition, at any given time there is a six-member Advisory Group, which supports the Fund's Board of Directors, helps to promote the Fund, and serves as a source of new candidates as members rotate off the Board.

Questions about the Fund…

Support the Fund

Get Involved

Donate

Contributions to the Fund are welcome in any amount. The Alex Wilson Legacy Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Checks should be written to The Alex Wilson Legacy Fund and sent to: Alex Wilson Fund, c/o Admin. Office, 1328 S Vine St, Denver, CO 80210, or you may donate online using the link below and a credit card.

Each donor will receive our sincere gratitude along with a receipt for funds given, which is sufficient for the donor to claim the donation as a tax-deductible contribution.

Donate

Volunteer

The Fund is run by a group of three Board members, each with a three-year term.

In addition, at any given time there is a six-member Advisory Group, which supports the Fund's Board of Directors, helps to promote the Fund, and serves as a source of new candidates as members rotate off the Board. Each year, when one Board member's term is up, he or she is replaced by a new member from the Advisory Group and a new person is brought onto the Advisory Group.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Alex Wilson Fund Advisory Board, please email the Board, with contact information and a sentence or two about why you or the person you are nominating would make a good addition to the Advisory Group.

About Alex "Tink" Wilson

Alex “Tink” Wilson (July 28, 1929-May 13, 2012) was a guiding light of the folk dance and singing community In Boulder, Colorado.

Born Alexander Ross Wilson in Syracuse, New York, he was known for years as Tink among his many friends in Colorado, where he resided for 55 years. Late in life he asked his friends to start calling him Alex rather than Tink. Alex came to Colorado to pursue rock climbing, skiing, folk dancing, and singing, which he had been introduced to during his undergraduate years at Syracuse University. Throughout his life he worked in the building trades until his retirement at age 79 as a carpenter with the Boulder County Government.

What he will be best remembered for is his contribution to the international folk dance community and to the many ways folk song thrives in Boulder. He led a weekly international folkdance recreational group for many years, teaching attendees dances that he learned by attending workshops and out-of-state folkdance camps. He attended other recreational folkdance groups in Boulder as well. He became a highly accomplished folk dancer, particularly in Hungarian and Scandinavian styles. He traveled to Hungary and Romania to study traditional dance. He performed in Narodno Ethnic Folk Dance Ensemble and the Boulder Scandinavian Dancers. He loved to sing, regularly participated in song-circle groups in the area, had a huge repertoire of folk and old-time songs, and at any party he would always have a harmonica ready.

Alex provided inspiration for the founding the of the Village Arts Coalition (now the Boulder Dance Coalition) in 1989 and leasing the Pearl Street (dance) Studio a year later. As a skilled carpenter he rebuilt the interior of that drab, cinderblock building into a pleasant dance space for the folkdance community in Boulder. He was passionate about including all who wanted to dance as well as encouraging those who wavered on the sidelines. He brought wonderful creativity to designing events, ranging from dance parties with titles like, “A Festival on the Danube,” to dance workshops, to a three-day “Celebration of 45 Years of the Good Life in Boulder” in 2004.

“There are thousands of ways for people to be miserable,” he wrote in 1988. “We have only to look about us and see the circumstances of people’s everyday lives. I love to conceive and create moments, events, environments that delight people, that enlarge and deepen their view of life, that make life glow, that make people feel good about themselves and others… grounded in the reality of folklife.”