Fifth-generation ballad singer Colleen Cleveland of Brant Lake and Buffalo-based musician and teaching artist Dave Ruch will present “New Audiences for Old Songs,” a series of four workshops around the North Country — including one in Saranac Lake — to introduce some heritage music from Cleveland’s family to local musicians and others who are interested:

¯ View, Old Forge, Thursday, May 4, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

¯ TAUNY Center, Canton, Friday, May 5, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

¯ BluSeed Studios, Saranac Lake, Saturday, May 6, 10:30 a.m. to noon

¯ Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library, Glens Falls, Saturday May 6, 3:30 to 5 p.m.

All four workshops are free and open to the public. Registration is not required, though interested parties can RSVP to the workshop’s Facebook events.

The project aims to expand awareness for and enjoyment of this rare collection of folk songs and traditional ballads from the Adirondack region, the kind of “self-made” music sung by everyday people and passed down through the generations in earlier days. These songs have been kept alive in one family — the Clevelands of Hudson Falls and Brant Lake — and the music is little known today outside a small circle of enthusiasts. The goal of the project is to introduce this material to musicians working in more mainstream genres such as country, bluegrass, old-time, contemporary folk, or even rock and jam bands, so they can bring the music to their audiences.

Colleen Cleveland will sing some of her favorites, as learned from her grandmother. Immediately after the session, a wide selection of the Cleveland family repertoire will be posted on the project’s webpage for all to access, and participating musicians are then free to work up one or more songs in their own style to be presented in their future performances. Ruch will also encourage musicians to submit audio and video recordings to be shared via the webpage and partner organizations’ social media accounts.

The “New Audiences for Old Songs” project has received grant funding from the New York State Council on the Arts.