Exemplary practitioners of a wide variety of visual and performing folk arts recognized
for their achievements by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Approximately
twelve National Heritage Fellows are named each year. They come from every region of
the United States and represent a remarkable diversity of ethnic, religious, linguistic, and
occupational groups.
The program began in 1982; by 1994 there were more than 175 Fellows. A few, like
Riley “B.B.” King (rhythm and blues musician), Earl Scruggs (bluegrass banjo player),
and Arthel “Doc” Watson (Appalachian guitarist and singer), were already well known
before being named National Heritage Fellows. But since the Fellows embody particular,
locally meaningful traditions, most of them are known mainly within their regional or
ethnic groups. Bua Xou Mua, for instance, is a Hmong shaman, dancer, and musician in
Portland, Oregon; Mabel Murphy is a quilter from Fulton, Missouri; Ethel Kvalheim a
Norwegian rosemal painter from Stoughton, Wisconsin; and Valerio Longoria is an
accordionist from San Antonio, Texas. There are weavers, like Eppie Archuleta of
Alamosa, Colorado; and Jennie Thlunaut of Haines, Alaska; potters, like Helen Cordero
of Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico; and Burlon Craig of Vale, North Carolina; and bobbinlace makers, like Sonia Domsch of Atwood, Kansas, and Sister Rosalia Haberl of
Hankinson, North Dakota. Several National Heritage Fellows are storytellers—Ray
Hicks, a Jack tale teller from Banner Elk, North Carolina, and Cleofes Vigil, teller of
Hispanic stories, from San Cristóbal, New Mexico, are two. The youngest Fellow to date
(1993) is Michael Flatley, an Irish American step dancer selected in 1988 when he was
only thirty years old.
The startling diversity of musicians—reflecting the diversity of folk music in
America—is hard to communicate other than by enumeration; on one instrument alone,
the violin or fiddle, there were eleven different traditional styles represented by 1993;
including Howard Armstrong (African American), Kenny Baker (bluegrass), Dewey
Balfa (Cajun), Joseph Cormier (Cape Breton), Clyde Davenport (Cumberland), Canray
Fontenot (Black Creole), Tommy Jarrell (Appalachian), Simon St. Pierre (French
American), Kenny Sidle (Anglo American). Performers of traditional ethnic music, like
Nikitas Tsimouris (Greek bagpipe player), Khamvong Insixiengmai (Laotian American
singer), and Richard Hagopian (Armenian American oud musician), conserve in America
outstanding musical traditions that are threatened in their homelands.
The National Endowment for the Arts selects National Heritage Fellows from
nominations made by American citizens. Nominations consist of an essay or cover letter
describing the artist’s career and life, the traditionality of his or her art, its community
basis, and other related aspects such as artistic quality and significance. Nominations are
accompanied by sample documentation of the artist’s performance (audio or video tape
recordings) or material art (slides or photos). Letters of support—often from scholars
knowledgeable about the particular tradition—are usually solicited by the nominator. A
national panel of experts reviews the nominations and makes its recommendations to the presidentially appointed National Council on the Arts. The National Council, in turn,
passes its own recommendations to the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts,
who makes the final decision. In September, each year’s new Fellows are brought to
Washington, DC, to receive $5,000 fellowships and to take part in a special recognition
ceremony and a concert and display of their work.
Steve Siporin
References:
Hunt, Marjorie. 1991. Masters of Traditional Arts. National Geographic 179 (1):74–101.
Siporin, Steve. 1992. American Folk Masters: The National Heritage Fellows. New York: Harry
N.Abrams.