2003 Grant Awards: Folk & Traditional Arts Infrastructure Initiative

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

Alabama State Council on the Arts
Montgomery, AL
$15,000
To support a bilingual fieldworker and related costs. This project will provide field documentation that is crucial to the development of new traditional arts programming in Latino communities in Alabama.

Appalshop, Inc.
Whitesburg, KY
$30,000
To support a folk arts coordinator position and related costs. The coordinator will be responsible for working with music education, presentation and apprenticeships for youth and adults in a five-county area of eastern Kentucky and southwest Virginia.

Arizona Commission on the Arts
Phoenix, AZ
$20,000
To support the creation of a statewide Arizona Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and related costs. The program will support four apprenticeship teams, a time-honored way for master artists to pass their skills on to apprentices within their community.

Arts Center of Cannon County
Woodbury, TN
$31,000
To support a folklorist position and related costs. Responsibilities will include a community scholar initiative, programming, technical assistance and heritage tourism development.

Bayou Civic Club, Inc.
Larose, LA
$30,000
To support a folklorist position and related costs. Activities will include establishing a cultural facility and providing technical assistance, as well as coordinating and documenting the maritime, music, crafts and Native-American traditions along Bayou Lafourche.

Center for Cultural Exchange
Portland, ME
$30,000
To support a community programs coordinator and related costs. The coordinator will oversee community cultural initiatives, supervise staff and volunteer community coordinators and conduct field research among Maine's ethnic communities.

City Lore, Inc.
New York, NY
$45,000
To support the continuation of the documentarian position and related costs. Responsibilities will be to continue the field research for all of City Lore's initiatives, including Place Matters and the People's Poetry Gathering.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
Harrisburg, PA
$35,000
To support regional Folk Arts Support Centers and a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the state's Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. The Folk Arts Support Centers are locally based, independent organizations that have formed a network to promote the practice of the folk and traditional arts across the state.

Cultural Resources, Inc.
Rockport, ME
$20,000
To support a mid-coast regional folklorist and related costs. Activities will include the development of a traveling exhibit program, technical assistance and a retail outlet for artists' work.

Division of the Arts, Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism
Baton Rouge, LA
$35,000
To support Phase VI of Louisiana Voices. The program offers a blend of high- and low-tech resources that, in addition to providing lessons in folklife, provide teachers with strategies to meet Social Studies and English Language Arts content standards.

Florida Division of Historical Resources
Tallahassee, FL
$30,000
To support a statewide outreach coordinator's position and related costs. Activities will include the completion of an eight-part radio series, the Florida Folklife Apprenticeship Program and Folklife Days.

Fresno Arts Council, Inc.
Fresno, CA
$30,000
To support an executive director's position and related costs at the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA). Located at the Fresno Arts Council, the director will coordinate and support folk arts programs throughout the state of California.

Indiana University
Bloomington, IN
$30,000
To support a Master Artist Apprentice Program and related costs. The program will identify up to 10 master artists and will pair them with apprentices with whom they can share their artistic traditions.

Institute for Community Research, Inc.
Hartford, CT
$25,000
To support the basic costs of the statewide folk arts program, including the partial salary of the program director. Program activities include fieldwork, documentation, technical assistance and special projects in education and marketing.

Kentucky Arts Council
Frankfort, KY
$33,000
To support a folklorist position and other related costs. The position will oversee three areas of expanded outreach by the Kentucky Folklife Program.

Lincoln Arts Council
Lincoln, NE
$30,000
To support a folklorist position and related costs. Activities will include identifying scholars and folk artists in immigrant and refugee communities, identifying venues for exhibitions and performances, and linking these communities with educational and research resources.

Maine Arts Commission
Augusta, ME
$25,000
To support the Community Folklorist-in-Residence and the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship programs. The programs are designed to bring recognition to local artistic traditions and to honor and support the artists who continue to practice these traditions.

Maryland State Arts Council
Baltimore, MD
$26,000
To support the third year of Maryland Traditions. Folklorists will be placed in two cultural institutions that serve rural and underserved regions presently challenged by demographic and cultural shifts.

Massachusetts Cultural Council
Boston, MA
$25,000
To support the Folk Arts and Heritage Program. Core activities include fieldwork, public access to documentation and continuation of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.

Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI
$35,000
To support research, documentation and public presentations of the Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship and Michigan Heritage Awards programs. Activities will include a publication documenting the Heritage Awards program and small exhibits about both programs.

Missouri State Council on the Arts
St. Louis, MO
$20,000
To support the creation of a pilot folk arts education program. Activities will include curated folk arts residencies for public schools.

National Council for the Traditional Arts
Silver Spring, MD
$35,000
To support the second year of a manager's position at the Blue Ridge Music Center (BRMC) near Galax, Virginia. The primary responsibilities for this position continue to be facility planning, management, programming and establishing the BRMC as a resource for the community.

National Organization for Traditional Artists Exchange
Honolulu, HI
$25,000
To support a folklorist position and related costs. Responsibilities will include coordination of school and community programs on four rural islands, as well as documentation of traditional artists to be showcased on the Pacific Visions radio series.

Nebraska Humanities Council
Lincoln, NE
$30,000
To support the Nebraska Folklife Program. The program's mission is to research, document, support and present Nebraska folklife and traditional arts.

New Mexico Arts Division
Santa Fe, NM
$35,000
To support the Folk Arts Apprenticeship and Community Fieldworker Network programs. Practitioners in the apprenticeship program will be sought in the course of the folk arts coordinator's fieldwork, with the assistance of the Community Fieldworker Network.

North Dakota Council on the Arts
Bismarck, ND
$35,000
To support a statewide Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and related costs. The program provides grants that allow master traditional artists to pass their knowledge and skills to apprentices in an intensive one-on-one teaching/learning situation.

Ohio Arts Council
Columbus, OH
$20,000
To support the continuation of the Ohio Folk Arts Initiative. Project activities will include workshops, fieldwork/archive updates, continuation of the Ohio Heritage Fellowship Program, and expansion and updating of the Web site.

Oregon Historical Society
Portland, OR
$30,000
To support a folklife coordinator's position and related costs. The coordinator will oversee the Folklife/Folk Arts Education Initiative which will include a summer teacher's institute, outreach to rural artists and communities, and design and development of educational materials.

Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
Providence, RI
$20,000
To support the Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program and related costs. The program fosters the sharing and passing on of traditional skills within cultural communities.

South Carolina Arts Commission
Columbia, SC
$40,000
To support the continuation of the corridor fieldwork coordinator position, the Institute for Community Scholars and the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Initiative. The continuation of these programs will create long-lasting partnerships at the local and state level, and models for folklife documentation efforts in the state.

South Carolina Traditional Arts Network
Columbia, SC
$20,000
To support an executive director's position and related costs. Responsibilities include policymaking and funding, as well as planning, organizing and coordinating activities for the organization, such as conference planning, membership development and marketing.

South Dakota Arts Council
Pierre, SD
$25,000
To support the Traditional Arts Program. The program includes a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, an annual apprenticeship exhibit and fieldwork focused on folk arts and folklife on the Missouri River.

Tennessee Arts Commission
Nashville, TN
$31,000
To support a folklife program assistant position and related costs. The position will include management of informational and archival resources, fieldwork, constituent services and grant management.

Texas Folklife Resources
Austin, TX
$20,000
To support the Apprenticeship in the Folk Arts Program and related costs. The program encourages master traditional artists to pass on their skills to young learners, particularly within their own ethnic or regional communities.

Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, Inc. (aka TAUNY)
Canton, NY
$25,000
To support an executive director's position and related costs. Responsibilities include policy making and funding, as well as planning, organizing and coordinating activities for the organization, such as a local cultural tourism project and development of a core of volunteers.

University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL
$35,000
To support a folklorist position and related costs. Responsibilities will include development and implementation of educational programs and events, Web site development, development of a Heritage Center and a survey of local Hispanic communities.

Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA
$40,000
To support a folklorist position and related costs. A folklorist based in south Georgia will enhance efforts of the Georgia Folklife Program to document, support and interpret folk arts throughout the state.

Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy (aka VFH)
Charlottesville, VA
$25,000
To support a fieldwork survey of Virginia's eastern shore and the continuation of the Folklife Apprenticeship Program and related costs. The program will support 10 apprenticeship teams.

Washington State Arts Commission
Olympia, WA
$25,000
To support the creation of a statewide Latino Infrastructure Initiative. Fieldwork and community meetings will take place statewide, identifying artists and establishing support networks.

West Plains Council on the Arts, Inc.
West Plains, MO
$30,000
To support a folklorist position and related costs. Responsibilities include identifying, locating and creating a database of traditional arts practitioners in the region, and increasing performance and exhibition programming.

West Valley City
West Valley City, UT
$25,000
To support a folklorist position and related costs. Activities include identifying and documenting traditional artists, technical assistance, program development, and coordinating and promoting cultural events.

Wisconsin Arts Board
Madison, WI
$40,000
To support Wisconsin Folks. The project is an online curriculum for students, resource for educators and hiring directory for artists.

Wisdom of the Elders, Inc.
Portland, OR
$30,000
To support a cultural coordinator position and related costs. Activities will include creating the Turtle Island Storytellers Network, a project designed to identify, employ, archive and promote Native historians and storytellers.

TOTAL FOLK ARTS INFRASTRUCTURE GRANTS: 43
TOTAL FOLK ARTS INFRASTRUCTURE DOLLARS: $1,241,000

National Endowment for the Arts
webmgr@arts.endow.gov