The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. It is a one-time only award and fellows must be living citizens or permanent residents of the United States. Each year, fellowships are presented to between nine and fifteen artists or groups at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. The Fellows are nominated by individual citizens, with an average of over 200 nominations per year. From that pool of candidates, recommendations are made by a rotating panel of specialists, including one layperson, as well as folklorists and others with a variety of forms of cultural expertise. The recommendations are then reviewed by the

National Council on the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, with the final decisions made by the chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts. As of 2022, 467 artists in a wide variety of fields have received Fellowships.

History

The program was officially founded in 1982 by Bess Lomax Hawes, the first director of the Folk and Traditional Arts Program at the NEA, following a five-year period of development. In 1982, the monetary award associated with the Fellowship was $5,000; in 1993, it was increased to $10,000 and since 2009, the award amount is $25,000, which is considered "enough to make a difference, but not enough to go to anyone's head". Each recipient receives a certificate of honor, the monetary award, and a congratulatory letter from the President of the United States. The annual recognition events are held in the Fall and consist of an awards ceremony, a banquet, and a concert that is open to the public. Over the years, the awards ceremony has been held at different locations in the US capitol city, including the NEA headquarters, Ford's Theatre,

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

, and for the first time at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

in 1995. Since 2000, the banquet has been held in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress. The concert features musical performances, craft demonstrations, and interviews with the honorees. Masters of ceremonies at the concerts have included folksinger

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notabl ...

, actress

Ruby Dee Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of '' A Raisin in the Sun'' (1 ...

, author

Studs Terkel Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for '' The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral h ...

, journalist Charles Kuralt, and since 1997

Nick Spitzer Nick may refer to: * Nick (given name) * A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat * British slang for being arrested * British slang for a police station * British slang for stealing * Short for nickname Places ...

, the host of public radio program '' American Routes''. Beginning in 2010, the Fellowship concerts have been streamed live on the NEA website and archived on YouTube. In 2000, the NEA instituted the Bess Lomax Hawes Award in conjunction with the Fellowships, "given to an individual for achievements in fostering excellence, ensuring vitality, and promoting public appreciation of the folk and traditional arts". The Hawes Award has been given annually since 2000 to recognize "artists whose contributions, primarily through teaching, advocacy, and organizing and preserving important repertoires, have greatly benefited their artistic tradition. It also recognizes individuals, such as producers and activists, who have comprehensively increased opportunities for and public visibility of traditional artists."

Publications

* A companion volume titled ''American Folk Masters: The National Heritage Fellows'' was published in 1992 to accompany a traveling exhibition (1991–1994) called "America's Living Folk Traditions" that featured the artistry of 36 Fellowship recipients. * A two-volume biographical dictionary of the award winners from the first 20 years was published in 2001, titled ''Masters of Traditional Arts''. *A young readers book featuring five of the National Heritage Fellows entitled ''Extraordinary Ordinary People: Five American Masters of Traditional Arts'' was published in 2006.

Winners

Awardees have included Native American basket weavers, African American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

musicians, traditional

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...

rs,

Mexican American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

ists, and all manner of traditional artisans and performers of numerous ethnic backgrounds. __NOTOC__ National Heritage Fellowship winners are:

1982

* Dewey Balfa, Cajun fiddler *

Joe Heaney Joe Heaney (AKA Joe Éinniú; Irish: Seosamh Ó hÉanaí) (1 October 1919 – 1 May 1984) was an Irish traditional ( sean nós) singer from County Galway, Ireland. He spent most of his adult life abroad, living in England, Scotland and New York ...

, Irish sean-nós singer * Tommy Jarrell, Appalachian fiddler * Bessie Jones, singer, member of the Georgia Sea Island Singers *

George López George T. López (April 23, 1900 – December 23, 1993) was a renowned Santos woodcarver who was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1982. He was born in the small village of Cordova, New Mexico whi ...

, Santos woodcarver * Brownie McGhee, blues guitarist * Hugh McGraw,

shape note Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the noteh ...

singer * Lydia Mendoza,

singer *

Bill Monroe William Smith "Bill" Monroe (; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre take ...

, bluegrass musician * Elijah Pierce, carver and painter * Adam Popovich, Tamburitza musician * Georgeann Robinson, Osage ribbonworker * Duff Severe, saddlemaker * Philip Simmons, ornamental ironworker and

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

* Sanders "Sonny" Terry, blues musician

1983

* Sister Mildred Barker, Shaker singer * Rafael Cepeda, bomba dancer and musician * Ray Hicks,

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, C ...

n storyteller * Stanley Hicks, Appalachian musician and storyteller *

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often in ...

, blues guitarist and singer * Mike Manteo, Sicilian marionettist ( Marionette maker) *

Narciso Martínez Narciso Martínez (October 29, 1911 in Reynosa, Mexico – June 5, 1992 in San Benito, Texas), whose nickname was ''El Huracan del Valle'' ("The Hurricane of the Valley"), - Registration required. was a Mexican folk musician. He began recording i ...

, accordionist and composer * Lanier Meaders, potter from Georgia *

Almeda Riddle Almeda Riddle (November 21, 1898 – June 30, 1986) was an American folk singer. Born and raised in Cleburne County, Arkansas, she learned music from her father, a fiddler and a teacher of shape note singing. She collected and sang traditio ...

, ballad singer * Simon St. Pierre, French American fiddler from Maine * Joe Shannon (piper), Irish piper * Alex Stewart, copper and woodworker * Ada Thomas, Chitimacha basketmaker * Lucinda Toomer, African American quilter *

Lem Ward Lem may refer to: Places * 3836 Lem, an asteroid named after Stanisław Lem * , a municipality in Jutland People Given name or nickname (Alphabetical by surname) * Lemuel Lem Barney (born 1945), American football player * Lem Billings (1916–1 ...

, duck decoy maker and painter * Dewey Williams,

singer

1984

* Clifton Chenier, zydeco accordionist * Bertha Cook, knotted bedspread maker * Joseph Cormier, violinist *

Elizabeth Cotten Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten ( Nevills; January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) was an American folk and blues musician. She was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down. This pos ...

, guitarist and songwriter * Burlon Craig, potter * Albert Fahlbusch,

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion- stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more tr ...

maker and player *

Janie Hunter Janie Hunter (June 7, 1918 – June 14, 1997) was an American singer and storyteller who worked to preserve Gullah culture and folkways in her home of Johns Island, South Carolina. She received a 1984 National Endowment for the Arts National Heri ...

, singer and storyteller *

Mary Jane Manigault Mary Jane Manigault (June 13, 1913 – November 8, 2010) was a sweetgrass basket maker from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. She began sweetgrass basket-weaving at a young age, and the tradition has been continued by her children and grandchildre ...

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families ( Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the ...

basket maker * Genevieve Mougin, lace maker *

Martin Mulvihill Martin Mulvihill (born in Ballygoughlin, County Limerick, Ireland in 1923; died 21 July 1987) was an Irish traditional musician, composer, teacher, and author. He composed roughly 25 tunes in the Irish traditional style. Although his mother Br ...

, fiddler * Howard "Sandman" Sims,

tap dance Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perf ...

r * Ralph Stanley, Appalachian banjo player and singer *

Margaret Tafoya Maria Margarita "Margaret" Tafoya ( Tewa name: Corn Blossom; August 13, 1904 – February 25, 2001) was the matriarch of Santa Clara Pueblo potters. She was a recipient of a 1984 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for ...

, potter *

Dave Tarras Dave Tarras (c. 1895 – February 13, 1989) was a Ukrainian-born American klezmer clarinetist and bandleader, a celebrated klezmer musician, instrumental in Klezmer revival. Biography Early life Tarras was born David Tarasiuk in Teplyk, Ukrain ...

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

clarinetist * Paul Tiulana,

Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik (or Yuit) of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related ...

maskmaker, dancer, and singer * Cleofes Vigil, storyteller and singer * Emily Kau'i Zuttermeister, hula master

1985

Eppie Archuleta Epifania "Eppie" Archuleta (January 6, 1922 – April 11, 2014) was an American weaver and textile artisan at the annual Spanish Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico. While the more traditional Chimayo and Rio Grande tapestries used diamonds and stripes ...

, weaver * Alice New Holy Blue Legs, Lakota Sioux quill artist * Periklis Halkias, clarinetist * Jimmy Jausoro, accordionist * Meali'i Kalama, quilter * Lily May Ledford, Appalachian musician and singer * Leif Melgaard, woodcarver * Bua Xou Mua, Hmong musician * Julio Negrón-Rivera, instrument maker * Glenn Ohrlin, cowboy singer, storyteller, and illustrator * Henry Townsend, blues musician and songwriter * Horace "Spoons" Williams,

spoons Spoons may refer to: * Spoon, a utensil commonly used with soup * Spoons (card game), the card game of Donkey, but using spoons Film and TV * ''Spoons'' (TV series), a 2005 UK comedy sketch show *Spoons, a minor character from ''The Sopranos'' ...

and bones player and poet

1986

* Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin, Creole accordionist * Earnest Bennett, whittler * Helen Cordero, potter * Sonia Domsch, bobbin lace maker * Canray Fontenot, Creole fiddler * John Jackson, songster and guitarist * Peou Khatna, Cambodian court dancer and choreographer * Valerio Longoria, accordionist * Doc Tate Nevaquaya, Comanche flutist * Luis Ortega, rawhide worker * Ola Belle Reed, Appalachian banjo picker/singer *

Jennie Thlunaut Jennie Thlunaut (–1986) was a Tlingit artist, who is credited with keeping the art of Chilkat weaving alive and was one of the most celebrated Northwest Coastal master weavers of the 20th century.Brown, Steven C. ''Native Visions: Evolution in ...

, Chilkat blanket weaver *

Nimrod Workman Nimrod Workman (November 5, 1895 – November 26, 1994) was an American folk singer, coal miner and trade unionist. His musical repertoire included traditional English and Scottish ballads passed down through his family, Appalachian folk songs ...

, Appalachian ballad singer

1987

* Juan Alindato, Carnival maskmaker *

Louis Bashell Louis Bashell (July 1, 1914 – December 17, 2008) was an American polka musician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was known for playing the Slovenian-style polka. He was nicknamed "Milwaukee's polka king". Bashell's band was signed to RCA Victo ...

polka Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The te ...

musician * Genoveva Castellanoz, corona maker * Thomas Edison Ford, cowboy singer and storyteller * Kansuma Fujima, Japanese classical dancer * Claude Joseph Johnson, religious singer and orator * Raymond Kane, slack key guitarist and singer *

Wade Mainer Wade Eckhart Mainer (April 21, 1907 – September 12, 2011) was an American country singer and banjoist. With his band, the Sons of the Mountaineers, he is credited with bridging the gap between old-time mountain music and Bluegrass and is some ...

, bluegrass

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

ist * Sylvester McIntosh, singer and bandleader * Allison "Tootie" Montana, Mardi Gras Indian chief and costume maker * Alex Moore, Sr.,

pianist * Emilio and Senaida Romero, tin embroiderers * Newton Washburn, split ash basketmaker

1988

* Pedro Ayala, accordionist * Kepka Belton, egg painter * Amber Densmore, quilter and needleworker * Michael Flatley, Irish step dancer * Sister Rosalia Haberl,

bobbin lace Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually de ...

maker *

John Dee Holeman John Dee Holeman (April 4, 1929April 30, 2021) was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His music includes elements of Texas blues, R&B and African-American string-band music. In his younger days he was also known for h ...

, dancer, musician, and singer * Albert " Sunnyland Slim" Luandrew, blues pianist and singer * Yang Fang Nhu, weaver and embroiderer * Kenny Sidle, fiddler *

Willie Mae Ford Smith Willie Mae Ford Smith (June 23, 1904 – February 2, 1994) was an American musician and Christian evangelist instrumental in the development and spread of gospel music in the United States. She grew up singing with her family, joining a quartet ...

, gospel singer * Clyde "Kindy" Sproat, cowboy singer and

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

player * Arthel "Doc" Watson, guitarist and singer

1989

John Cephas Cephas & Wiggins were an American acoustic blues duo, composed of the guitarist John Cephas (September 4, 1930 – March 4, 2009) and the harmonica player Phil Wiggins (born May 8, 1954). They were known for playing Piedmont blues. Histo ...

Piedmont blues Piedmont blues (also known as East Coast, or Southeastern blues) refers primarily to a guitar style, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melod ...

guitarist and singer *

The Fairfield Four The Fairfield Four is an American gospel group that has existed for over 100 years, starting as a trio in the Fairfield Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1921. They were designated as National Heritage Fellows in 1989 by the National En ...

, a capella gospel singers * José Gutiérrez, Jarocho musician and singer * Richard Avedis Hagopian, oud player * Christy Hengel, concertina maker * Ilias Kementzides,

lyra Lyra (; Latin for lyre, from Greek ''λύρα'') is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra ...

player * Ethel Kvalheim, rosemaler * Vanessa Paukeigope Morgan,

Kiowa Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and e ...

regalia maker * Mabel E. Murphy, quilter * LaVaughn Robinson,

r and choreographer *

Earl Scruggs Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called "Scruggs style", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-finge ...

, banjo player * Harry V. Shourds, wildlife decoy carver * Chesley Goseyun Wilson, Apache fiddle maker

1990

* Howard Armstrong, string band musician * Em Bun, silk weaver * Nati Cano,

Mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music that dates back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, t ...

musician, leader of Mariachi los Camperos * Giuseppe and Raffaela DeFranco, Southern Italian musicians and dancers * Maude Kegg,

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

storyteller and craftswoman * Kevin Locke, Lakota flute player, singer, and dancer *

Marie McDonald Marie McDonald (born Cora Marie Frye, July 6, 1923 – October 21, 1965) was an American singer and actress known as "The Body Beautiful" and later nicknamed "The Body". Early life Born in Burgin, Kentucky, McDonald was the daughter of Evertt ...

, lei maker *

Wally McRae Wallace D. "Wally" McRae (born February 26, 1936) is an American rancher, cowboy, cowboy poet and philosopher. He runs the Rocker Six Cattle Co. ranch on Rosebud Creek, south of Rosebud, Montana. Biography McRae is a third-generation ranc ...

, cowboy poet * Art Moilanen, accordionist * Emilio Rosado, woodcarver * Robert Spicer, flatfoot dancer * Douglas Wallin, Appalachian ballad singer

1991

* Etta Baker, guitarist * George Blake,

Hupa Hupa ( Yurok language term: Huep'oola' / Huep'oolaa = "Hupa people") are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group in northwestern California. Their endonym is Natinixwe, also spelled Natinook-wa, meaning "Peopl ...

- Yurok craftsman * Jack Coen, flautist * Rose Frank, cornhusk weaver * Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero, singer, guitarist, and composer * Khamvong Insixiengmai, singer * Don King, western saddlemaker * Riley "B.B." King, bluesman * Esther Littlefield, Tlingit regalia maker * Seisho "Harry" Nakasone, musician * Irvan Perez, Isleño décima singer and woodcarver * Morgan Sexton, Appalachian banjo player and singer * Nikitas Tsimouris, bagpipe player * Gussie Wells, quilter * Arbie Williams, quilter * Melvin Wine, Appalachian fiddler

1992

* Francisco Aguabella, drummer *

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

, stoneware potter *

Walker Calhoun Walker Calhoun (May 13, 1918 – March 28, 2012) was an Eastern Band Cherokee musician, dancer, and teacher. He was a medicine man and spiritual leader who worked to preserve the history, religion, and herbal healing methods of his people. With ...

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

musician, dancer and teacher *

Clyde Davenport Clyde Thomas Davenport (October 21, 1921 – February 16, 2020) was an American old-time fiddler and banjo player from Monticello, Kentucky. Davenport was a recipient of a 1992 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for ...

, Appalachian fiddler * Belle Deacon, basketmaker * Nora Ezell, quilter * Gerald R. Hawpetoss, Menominee/

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

regalia maker *

Fatima Kuinova Panir Ibragimova (28 December 1926 – 28 December 2021), better known by the stage name of Fatima Kuinova ( tg, Фатима Куэнова, fa, فاطمه کوینوا), was a Bukharan Jewish Shashmakom singer. She was named "Merited Artist ...

Bukharan Jew Bukharan Jews ( Bukharian: יהודיאני בוכארא/яҳудиёни Бухоро, ''Yahudiyoni Bukhoro''; he, יהודי בוכרה, ''Yehudey Bukhara''), in modern times also called Bukharian Jews ( Bukharian: יהודיאני בוכאר ...

ish singer *

John Naka John Yoshio Naka (August 16, 1914, Fort Lupton, Colorado – May 19, 2004, Whittier, California) was an American horticulturist, teacher, author, and master bonsai cultivator. Life He was born a Nisei Japanese-American, but at age 8 moved back ...

bonsai Bonsai ( ja, 盆栽, , tray planting, ) is the Japanese art of growing and training miniature trees in pots, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of '' penjing''. Unlike ''penjing'', which utilizes traditional techniques to produc ...

sculptor *

Marc Savoy Marc Savoy ( ) (born October 1, 1940) is an American musician, and builder and player of the Cajun accordion. Early life He was born on his grandfather's rice farm near Eunice, Louisiana. His grandfather was a fiddler, who occasionally played ...

, accordion maker/musician * Ng Sheung-Chi, muk'yu folk singer * Othar Turner, fife player * T. Viswanathan, flutist and vocalist

1993

Santiago Almeida Santiago Almeida (July 25, 1911 – July 8, 1999) was a Texas musician influential in the development of the musical genres of ''tejano music, tejano'' and ''conjunto''. Biography Almeida was born in Skidmore, Texas and grew up on a farm. I ...

, conjunto musician * Kenny Baker, bluegrass fiddler * Inez Catalon, French Creole singer * Nicholas & Elena Charles, Yupik woodcarvers, maskmakers, and skinsewers * Charles Hankins, boatbuilder * Nalani Kanaka'ole & Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahel, hula masters * Everett Kapayou, Mesquakie singer * McIntosh County Shouters, spiritual/shout performers * Elmer Miller, bit &

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

maker/silversmith * Jack Owens, blues singer and guitarist * Mone & Vanxay Saenphimmachak, weavers, needleworkers, and loommakers * Liang-xing Tang,

pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ran ...

player

1994

* Clarence Fountain & The Blind Boys, gospel singers *

Liz Carroll Liz Carroll (born September 19, 1956) is an American fiddler and composer. She is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship Award. Carroll and collaborator Irish guitarist John Doyle were nominated for a G ...

, fiddler * Mary Mitchell Gabriel,

Passamaquoddy The Passamaquoddy ( Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'') are a Native American/First Nations people who live in northeastern North America. Their traditional homeland, Peskotomuhkatik'','' straddles the Canadian province of New Brunswick ...

basketmaker * Johnny Gimble,

Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance ...

fiddler * Frances Varos Graves, colcha embroiderer * Violet Hilbert, Skagit storyteller * Sosei Shizuye Matsumoto, Chado tea ceremony master *

D. L. Menard Doris Leon Menard#François90, François 1990, p. 446. (April 14, 1932 – July 27, 2017) was an American songwriter, performer, and recording artist in contemporary Cajun music. He was called the "Cajun Hank Williams". Biography Menard was bor ...

, Cajun songwriter and musician * Simon Shaheen, oud player *

Lily Vorperian ''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. ...

, Marash-style embroiderer * Elder Roma Wilson, gospel blues harmonica player

1995

* Mary Holiday Black,

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest fe ...

basketweaver * Lyman Enloe, fiddler * Donny Golden, Irish step dancer * Wayne Henderson,

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers of ...

* Bea Ellis Hensley, blacksmith * Nathan Jackson, Tlingit woodcarver, metalsmith, dancer * Danongan Kalanduyan, kulintang musician * Robert Jr. Lockwood, Delta blues guitarist * Israel López, bassist, composer, and bandleader * Nellie Star Boy Menard, Lakota Sioux quiltmaker * Bao Mo-Li,

jing erhu The ''jing erhu'' () is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument in the ''huqin'' family of instruments, similar to the ''erhu''. It is so named because it is used in ''jing xi'', or Beijing opera. It is lower in pitch than the '' jinghu'', w ...

player * Buck Ramsey, cowboy poet and singer

1996

* Obo Addy, drummer * Betty Pisio Christenson, egg decorator * Paul Dahlin, fiddler * Juan Gutiérrez, drummer * Solomon & Richard Ho'opi'I, Hawaiian singers * Will Keys, banjo player * Joaquin Flores Lujan, blacksmith * Eva McAdams,

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easte ...

regalia maker *

John Mealing John Mealing (born 5 April 1942 in Yeovil, Somerset) is a British keyboardist, composer and arranger. After leaving the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet in the late sixties,Cornelius Wright, Jr., railroad worksong singers * Vernon Owens, stoneware potter * Dolly Spencer, Inupiat dollmaker

1997

Edward Babb Edward Charles Babb (February 1, 1834 – March 9, 1899) was an American Civil War veteran and businessman who served as the 15th List of mayors of Minneapolis, mayor of Minneapolis. Life and career Babb was born in Westbrook, Maine. After a ...

, shout band leader * Charles Brown, blues pianist, singer and composer * Gladys Clark,

spinner Technology *Spinner (aeronautics), the aerodynamic cone at the hub of an aircraft propeller * Spinner (cell culture), laboratory equipment for cultivating plant or mammalian cells * Spinner (computing), a graphical widget in a GUI * Spinner (MIT Med ...

and weaver * Georgia Harris, Catawba potter * Hua Wenyi, Kunqu opera singer * Ali Akbar Khan, classical

sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the swe ...

player * Ramón José López, santero and metalsmith * Jim & Jesse McReynolds, bluegrass musicians *

Phong Nguyen Gilt is an online shopping and lifestyle website based in the United States, launched in 2007. On January 7, 2016, The company was sold to Hudson's Bay Company for approximately $250 million. Prior to the Hudson’s Bay acquisition, sales were ex ...

(Nguyễn Thuyết Phong), musician and ethnomusicologist * Hystercine Rankin, quilter * Francis Whitaker, blacksmith and ornamental ironworker

1998

* Apsara Ensemble, Cambodian traditional dancers and musicians * Eddie Blazonczyk, musician and bandleader * Dale Calhoun, boat builder * Bruce Caesar, Sac and Fox- Pawnee, German silversmith * Antonio De La Rosa, conjunto accordionist * Epstein Brothers,

Klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

musicians *

Sophia George Sophia George (born 21 February 1964, in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican singer. She is best known for her 1985 hit "Girlie Girlie", which reached number one in Jamaica, topping the RJR chart for 11 weeks, and was also a Top-10 hit in the U ...

Yakama The Yakama are a Native American tribe with nearly 10,851 members, based primarily in eastern Washington state. Yakama people today are enrolled in the federally recognized tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Their Ya ...

– Colville beadworker * Nadjeschda Overgaard, hardanger embroidery needleworker * Harilaos Papapostolou, Greek

Byzantine chant Byzantine music (Greek: Βυζαντινή μουσική) is the music of the Byzantine Empire. Originally it consisted of songs and hymns composed to Greek texts used for courtly ceremonials, during festivals, or as paraliturgical and liturgical ...

er * Claude "Fiddler" Williams, jazz and swing fiddler * Pops Staples, gospel and blues musician

1999

* Frisner Augustin, Haitian drummer * Lila Greengrass Blackdeer,

Ho-Chunk The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hoocągra or Winnebago (referred to as ''Hotúŋe'' in the neighboring indigenous Iowa-Otoe language), are a Siouan-speaking Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iow ...

Black Ash Black ash is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * ''Acer negundo'', native to North America * ''Fraxinus nigra'', native to North America * ''Eucalyptus sieberi ''Eucalyptus sieberi'', commonly known as the silvertop ash or bla ...

basketmaker and needleworker *

Shirley Caesar Shirley Ann Caesar-Williams (born October 13, 1938), known professionally as Shirley Caesar, is an American gospel singer whose career has spanned seven decades. She has won 11 Grammys in addition to Dove Awards and Stellar Awards; Caesar is k ...

, gospel singer * Alfredo Campos, horse hair hitcher * Mary Louise Defender Wilson, Dakotah-

Hidatsa The Hidatsa are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a paren ...

traditionalist and storyteller * Jimmy "Slyde" Godbolt, tapdancer * Ulysses Goode, Western Mono basketmaker * Bob Holt, Ozark fiddler *

Zakir Hussain Zakir Hussain ( ur, , link=no) is the name of: * Zakir Husain (politician), an Indian politician and former president of India * Zakir Hussain (actor), Bollywood actor * Zakir Hussain (field hockey) (1934–2019), Pakistani field hockey player * ...

, tabla player * Elliott "Ellie" Mannette, steel pan builder, tuner and player * Mick Moloney, Irish musician * Eudokia Sorochaniuk, Ukrainian American weaver and textile artist * Ralph W. Stanley, boatbuilder

2000

* Bounxou Chanthraphone, weaver * The Dixie Hummingbirds, gospel quartet * José González, hammock weaver * Nettie Jackson, Klickitat basketmaker * Santiago Jiménez Jr., accordionist * Genoa Keawe, singer and ukulele player * Frankie Manning,

Lindy Hop The Lindy Hop is an American dance which was born in the Black communities of Harlem, New York City, in 1928 and has evolved since then. It was very popular during the swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Lindy is a fusion of many danc ...

dancer and choreographer * Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins, blues piano player * Konstantinos Pilarinos, Orthodox Byzantine icon woodcarver * Chris Strachwitz, record producer and label founder *

Dorothy Thompson Dorothy Celene Thompson (July 9, 1893 – January 30, 1961) was an American journalist and radio broadcaster. She was the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934 and was one of the few women news commentators on radio ...

, weaver * Felipe García Villamil, drummer and santero *

Don Walser Donald Ray Walser (September 14, 1934 – September 20, 2006) was an American country music singer. He was known as a unique, award-winning yodeling "Texas country music legend." Music career Walser was born in Brownfield, Texas and raised ...

, singer and guitarist

2001

* Celestino Avilés, santero * Mozell Benson, quilter * Wilson "Boozoo" Chavis, Creole zydeco accordionist * Hazel Dickens, Appalachian singer and songwriter * João Oliveira dos Santos ( Mestre João Grande), Capoeira Angola master * Evalena Henry,

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño a ...

basketweaver * Peter Kyvelos, oud maker * Eddie Pennington, thumbpicking-style guitarist * Qi Shu Fang,

Beijing Opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...

performer *

Seiichi Tanaka is the first Japan-trained teacher of kumidaiko, or taiko, in the United States and is largely regarded as the father of the art form in North America. Early life Tanaka was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1943 and immigrated to the United States in 19 ...

Taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming ...

drummer and dojo founder * Dorothy Trumpold, rug weaver * Fred Tsoodle,

sacred song leader * Joseph Wilson, folklorist

2002

* Ralph Blizard, fiddler * Loren Bommelyn, Tolowa tradition bearer * Kevin Burke, fiddler * Rose Cree and Francis Cree,

basketmakers and storytellers * Luderin Darbone and Edwin Duhon, Cajun fiddler and accordionist * Nadim Dlaikan, nye (reed flute) player * David "Honeyboy" Edwards, blues guitarist and singer *

Flory Jagoda Flory Jagoda (born Flora Papo; December 21, 1923January 29, 2021) was a Bosnian Jewishborn American guitarist, composer and singer-songwriter. She was known for her composition and interpretation of Sephardic songs, Judeo-Espanyol (Ladino) song ...

, singer, songwriter, and guitarist * Clara Neptune Keezer,

basketmaker * Bob McQuillen,

contra dance Contra dance (also contradance, contra-dance and other variant spellings) is a form of folk dancing made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in the 17th ...

musician and composer * Jean Ritchie, Appalachian musician and songwriter * Domingo Saldivar, Conjunto accordionist *

Losang Samten Losang Samten () is a Tibetan-American scholar, sand mandala artist, former Buddhist monk, and Spiritual Director of the Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Center of Philadelphia. He is one of only an estimated 30 people worldwide who are qualified to ...

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken diale ...

monk and creator of sandpaintings

2003

* Jesus Arriada, Johnny Curutchet, Martin Goicoechea and Jesus Goni, Basque ( Bertsolari) poets *

Rosa Elena Egipciaco Rosa Elena Egipciaco, often referred to as the 'Queen of Mundillo', is a master Mundillo lacemaker and teacher of the Puerto Rican folk art. In addition to being part of the long Mundillo tradition of her hometown of Moca, Puerto Rico, she belongs ...

mundillo Mundillo is a craft of handmade bobbin lace that is cultivated and honored on the island of Puerto Rico and Panama. The term 'mundillo' means 'little world', referring to the cylindrical pillow on which the lace maker ('Mundillista') weaves int ...

(Puerto Rican

) maker * Agnes "Oshanee" Kenmille, Salish beadworker and regalia maker * Norman Kennedy, weaver, singer, storyteller *

Roberto Martinez The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, ho ...

and Lorenzo Martinez, father and son musicians * Norma Miller, swing dancer and choreographer * Carmencristina Moreno, singer, composer, teacher * Ron Poast, Hardanger fiddle maker * Felipe I. Ruak and Joseph K. Ruak, father and son Carolinian stick dancers *

Manoochehr Sadeghi Manoochehr Sadeghi (born April 13, 1938) is a Persian-American naturalized citizen, born in Tehran, Iran. He is considered a Grandmaster or Ostad of the santur, a Persian hammered dulcimer. He has been lecturing, teaching, recording and ...

santur The santur (also ''santūr'', ''santour'', ''santoor'') ( fa, سنتور), is a hammered dulcimer of Iranian origins.--- Rashid, Subhi Anwar (1989). ''Al-ʼĀlāt al-musīqīyya al-muṣāhiba lil-Maqām al-ʻIrāqī''. Baghdad: Matbaʻat al-ʻU ...

player *Nicholas Toth, diving helmet builder

2004

* Anjani Ambegaokar, Kathak dancer * Charles "Chuck" T. Campbell, Gospel steel guitarist * Joe Derrane, Irish-American button accordionist * Jerry Douglas,

Dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson (guitar company), Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. ...

player * Gerald "Subiyay" Miller, Skokomish tradition bearer, carver, basket maker * Chum Ngek, Cambodian musician and teacher * Milan Opacich,

Tamburitza Tamburica ( or ) or tamboura ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", tamburica, тамбурица, little tamboura; hu, tambura; el, Ταμπουράς, Tampourás; sometimes written tamburrizza or tamburitza), refers to a family of long-necked lute ...

instrument maker * Eliseo Rodriguez and Paula Rodriguez, husband and wife straw appliqué artists * Koko Taylor, blues musician * Yuqin Wang and Zhengli Xu, Chinese rod puppeteers

2005

* Eldrid Skjold Arntzen, rosemaler * Earl Barthé, building artisan * Chuck Brown, musical innovator * Janette Carter, country musician *

Michael Doucet Michael Louis Doucet (born February 14, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known as the founder of the Cajun band BeauSoleil. Early life Doucet was born in Scott, Louisiana, to a Cajun family. Family parties in the 1950 ...

, Cajun fiddler, composer, band leader * Big Joe Duskin, blues and boogie-woogie pianist * Jerry Grcevich,

musician, prim player * Wanda Jackson, country, rockabilly and gospel singer *

Grace Henderson Nez Grace Henderson Nez (May 10, 1913 – July 14, 2006) was a Navajo weaver, known for her traditional designs. Her main styles were old designs from the 19th century and Ganado style. Some of her work was demonstrated at the Hubbell Trading Post, ...

weaver *

Herminia Albarrán Romero Herminia Albarrán Romero is a Mexican-American artist known for her papel picado (Mexican paper cutting) and altar-making. She received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2005, which is the United States' ...

, paper cutting artist * Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, Yiddish singer, songwriter, and poet * Albertina Walker, gospel singer * James Ka'upena Wong, Hawaiian chanter

2006

* Charles M. Carrillo, santero * Delores Elizabeth Churchill,

Haida Haida may refer to: Places * Haida, an old name for Nový Bor * Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands * Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia Ships * , a ...

cedar bark weaver * Henry Gray, blues piano player and singer * Doyle Lawson, gospel and bluegrass singer, bandleader * Esther Martinez, Tewa linguist and storyteller *

Diomedes Matos Diomedes Matos is a Puerto Rican musician and master instrument maker who is most famous for building string instruments. He built his first guitar at age 12 and later studied and mastered construction techniques for several traditional string ...

, master string instrument maker * George Na'ope, hula master * Wilho Saari, kantele player *

Mavis Staples Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress, and civil rights activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers (she is the last surviving member of that band). Duri ...

, gospel, rhythm and blues singer * Nancy Sweezy, folklorist and potter * Treme Brass Band, New Orleans brass band

2007

* Nicholas Benson, stone letter cutter and calligrapher * Sidiki Conde, Guinean dancer and musician * Violet Kazue de Cristoforo, Haiku poet and historian * Roland Freeman, photo documentarian, author, and exhibit Curator *

Pat Courtney Gold Pat Courtney Gold (January 22, 1939 – July 11, 2022) was a Wasco Native fiber artist and basket weaver from the Columbia River area of Oregon. She graduated with a BA in mathematics and physics from Whitman College and worked as a mathemati ...

, Wasco sally bag weaver *

Eddie Kamae Edward Leilani "Eddie" Kamae (August 4, 1927 – January 7, 2017) was one of the founding members of Sons of Hawaii. He was a 'ukulele virtuoso, singer, composer, film producer and primary proponent of the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance. Biog ...

, Hawaiian musician * Agustin Lira, Chicano singer and musician, * Julia Parker, Kashia Pomo basketmaker *

Mary Jane Queen Mary Jane Prince Queen (February 20, 1914 – June 29, 2007) was an American ballad singer and banjo player. She was once called a "walking archive of mountain music" for her knowledge of the traditional music of Appalachia. Queen was born in Ja ...

, Appalachian musician * Joe Thompson, string band musician * Irvin Trujillo, Rio Grande weaver * Elaine Hoffman Watts, Klezmer musician

2008

* Horace Axtell, Nez Perce drum maker, singer, tradition-bearer * Dale Harwood, saddlemaker * Bettye Kimbrell, quilter * Jeronimo E. Lozano, Peruvian retablo maker * Oneida Hymn Singers of Wisconsin * Sue Yeon Park, Korean dancer and musician * Moges Seyoum, Ethiopian liturgical minister and scholar * Jelon Vieira, Capoeira master *Dr. Michael White, traditional jazz musician and bandleader * Mac Wiseman, Bluegrass musician * Walter Murray Chiesa, traditional arts specialist and advocate

2009

* Birmingham Sunlights, five-man, four-part

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howeve ...

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

group * Edwin Colón Zayas, Puerto Rican cuatro * Chitresh Das, Kathak dancer and choreographer * LeRoy Graber, German-Russian

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

basketmaker Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...

from

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

* "Queen" Ida Guillory, Zydeco musician and singer * Dudley Laufman, Contra and

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Alle ...

dance caller and musician * Amma D. McKen,

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

Orisha Orishas (singular: orisha) are spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. ...

singer *

Joel Nelson Joel Nelson is a cowboy poet. He is a recipient of a 2009 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government ...

, Cowboy poet * Teri Rofkar, Tlingit weaver and basketmaker * Mike Seeger, folk musician, cultural scholar *

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro Sophiline Cheam Shapiro ( km, ឝភីរោ ជាម សុភិលីន; born 1967) is a Cambodian dancer, choreographer, and educator. Early life At the age of eight, Shapiro was forced to live in the countryside of Cambodia after her fam ...

, Cambodian classical dancer and choreographer

2010

* Yacub Addy, Ghanaian drum master, preserves music of the

Ga people The Ga-Dangbe, Gã-Daŋbɛ, Ga-Dangme, or GaDangme are an ethnic group in Ghana, Togo and Benin. The Ga and Dangbe people are grouped respectively as part of the Ga–Dangme ethnolinguistic group. The Ga-Dangmes are one ethnic group that lives ...

* Jim "Texas Shorty" Chancellor, Texas fiddler * Gladys Kukana Grace,

Lauhala ''Lauhala'', ''lau'' meaning "leaf" in the Hawaiian language, refers to the leaves of the hala tree ''( Pandanus tectorius)''. Uses The hala tree is of great cultural, health and economic importance in many Pacific Islands. The fruit of the tree ...

(palm leaf) weaver * Mary Jackson, Gullah sweetgrass basketweaver * Delano Floyd "Del" McCoury, Bluegrass guitarist and singer *

Judith McCulloh Judith McCulloh (August 16, 1935 – July 13, 2014) was an American folklorist, ethnomusicologist, and university press editor. Early life and education McCulloh was born in Spring Valley, Illinois, on August 16, 1935 to Henry and Edna Binkel ...

, Folklorist and editor * Kamala Lakshmi Narayanan,

Bharatanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...

Indian dancer * Mike Rafferty, Irish flute player * Ezequiel Torres, Afro-Cuban drummer and drum-builder

2011

* Laverne Brackens, Quilter *

Carlinhos Pandeiro de Ouro Carlinhos Pandeiro de Ouro Carlos de Oliveira, better known as Carlinhos Pandeiro de Ouro, is a Brazilian percussionist best known for playing the pandeiro, a tunable tambourine, played with a different technique than in North American music, and ...

, Frame drum player and percussionist * Bo Dollis, Mardi Gras Indian Chief * Jim Griffith, folklorist * Roy and

PJ Hirabayashi Patti Jo "PJ" Hirabayashi is one of the pioneers of the North American Taiko movement. She is the founder of TaikoPeace, President of Kodo Arts Sphere America (KASA), and co-founder of Creatives for Compassionate Communities-a grassroots art-iv ...

Taiko drum are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming ...

leaders *

Ledward Kaapana Ledward Kaapana (born August 25, 1948) is a Hawaiian musician, best known for playing in the slack key guitar style. He also plays steel guitar, ukulele, autoharp and bass guitar, and is a baritone and falsetto vocalist. Early life Born on Augu ...

Ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

and slack key guitarist * Frank Newsome,

Old Regular Baptist The Old Regular Baptist denomination is one of the oldest in Appalachia with roots in both the Regular and Separate Baptists of the American Colonies and the Particular Baptist of Great Britain. This group has seen a marked decline in its member ...

singer * Warner Williams,

songster *

Yuri Yunakov Yuri Yunakov is a Turkish- Bulgarian Roma musician, who is famous for participating in the development of Bulgarian wedding music, and introducing it to the United States. He grew up in a Muslim family in Thrace, and started playing music as a ...

, Bulgarian saxophonist

2012

* Mike Auldridge,

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson (guitar company), Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. ...

player * Paul & Darlene Bergren,

dog sled A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing. Traditionally in Greenland and th ...

and snowshoe designers and builders * Harold A. Burnham, master

shipwright Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...

* Albert B. Head, traditional arts advocate * Leonardo "Flaco" Jiménez, accordionist * Lynne Yoshiko Nakasone, dancer * Molly Neptune Parker,

basketmaker * The Paschall Brothers, gospel quartet *

Andy Statman Andy Statman (born 1950) is a noted American klezmer clarinetist and bluegrass/ newgrass mandolinist. Life and career Statman was born in New York City and grew up in the borough of Queens. Beginning at age 12, he learned to play banjo and g ...

clarinetist, mandolinist, and composer

2013

Sheila Kay Adams Sheila Kay Adams is an American storyteller, author, and musician from the Sodom Laurel community in Madison County, North Carolina. Background A seventh-generation ballad singer, storyteller, and claw-hammer banjo player, Sheila Kay Adams w ...

, Storyteller and musician *

Ralph Burns Ralph Joseph P. Burns (June 29, 1922 – November 21, 2001) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Early life Burns was born in Newton, Massachusetts, United States, where he began playing the piano as a child. In 1938, he atten ...

, Pyramid Lake Paiute storyteller * Verónica Castillo, Ceramicist and clay sculptor * Séamus Connolly, Irish fiddler and scholar * Nicolae Feraru,

Cimbalom The cimbalom (; ) or concert cimbalom is a type of chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box on legs with metal strings stretched across its top and a damping pedal underneath. It was designed and created by V. Josef Schunda in 1874 in ...

player * Carol Fran, Swamp blues singer and pianist (both French Creole and English singer) * Pauline Hillaire, Lummi artist, teacher, and storyteller * David Ivey, Sacred Harp singer * Ramón "Chunky" Sánchez, Chicano musician

2014

* Henry Arquette, Mohawk basketmaker * Manuel "Cowboy" Donley, Tejano musician and singer * Kevin Doyle, Irish step dancer * The Holmes Brothers, blues, gospel, and R&B band * Yvonne Walker Keshick, Odawa quill artist * Carolyn Mazloomi, quilting community advocate * Vera Nakonechny, Ukrainian embroiderer and bead worker * Singing & Praying Bands of Maryland and Delaware, African-American religious singers * Rufus White, Omaha traditional singer and drum group leader

2015

Rahim AlHaj Rahim AlHaj ( ar, رحيم الحاج, born c. 1968) is an Iraqi American oud musician and composer. Early life AlHaj was born in Baghdad, Iraq and began playing the oud (an Arabic lute) at age nine. Early on, it was evident that he had a remark ...

, oud player & composer * Michael Alpert,

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

musician and tradition bearer * Mary Lee Bendolph, Lucy Mingo, and

Loretta Pettway Loretta Pettway (born 1942) is an American artist and quilt maker of the Gee's Bend Collective from Boykin, Alabama. Her quilts are known for their bold and improvisational style. In 2006 her quilts "Roman Stripes" variation and Medallion ap ...

— quilters of Gee's Bend * Dolly Jacobs, circus aerialist * Yary Livan, Cambodian ceramicist * Daniel Sheehy, ethnomusicologist/folklorist *

Drink Small Drink Small (born January 28, 1933) is an American soul blues and electric blues guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He is known as The Blues Doctor and has been influenced by a variety of musical styles including gospel and country mus ...

, blues artist * Gertrude Yukie Tsutsumi, Japanese classical dancer * Sidonka Wadina, Slovak straw artist/egg decorator

2016

* Bryan Akipa, Dakota flute maker and player * Monk Boudreaux, Mardi Gras Indian craftsman and musician *

Billy McComiskey Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pygmy hippo), a pet of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge * Billy, a young ...

, Irish button accordionist * Artemio Posadas, Master Huastecan son musician and advocate *

Clarissa Rizal Clarissa Rizal (June 4, 1956 – December 7, 2016) was a Tlingit artist of Filipino descent. She was best known as a Chilkat and Ravenstail weaver, but she also worked in painting, printmaking, carving, and sculpting. Personal life Riza ...

, Tlingit ceremonial regalia maker *

Theresa Secord Theresa Secord (born 1958) is an artist, basketmaker, geologist and activist from Maine. She is a member of the Penobscot nation, and the great-granddaughter of the well-known weaver Philomene Saulis Nelson. She co-founded, and was the director ...

, Penobscot Nation ash/sweetgrass basketmaker * Bounxeung Synanonh, Laotian khaen player * Michael Vlahovich, master shipwright * Leona Waddell, white oak basketmaker

2017

* Norik Astvatsaturov, Armenian repoussé metal artist * Anna Brown Ehlers, Chilkat weaver * Modesto Cepeda, bomba and plena musician *

Ella Jenkins Ella Jenkins (born August 6, 1924) is an American folk singer and actress. Dubbed "The First Lady of the Children's Folk Song" by the ''Wisconsin State Journal'', she has been a leading performer of children's music for over fifty years. Her alb ...

, children's folk singer and musician * Dwight Lamb, Danish

button accordion A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons. This differs from the piano accordion, which has piano-style keys. Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs categorize it as a free reed aero ...

ist and Missouri-style fiddler * Thomas Maupin, old-time buckdancer *

Cyril Pahinui Cyril Pahinui (April 21, 1950 – November 17, 2018) was a slack-key guitarist and singer of Hawaiian music. Biography He was born in Waimānalo at the foot of the Ko'olau mountains on the Hawai'ian island of Oahu. He was the son of the Hawa ...

, Hawaiian slack key guitarist * Phil Wiggins, acoustic blues harmonica player *

Eva Ybarra Eva Ybarra (born March 2, 1945) known as the "Queen of the Accordion", is a professional conjunto musician. Early life Ybarra was born on the west side of San Antonio, Texas, one of nine children. Her father was a truck driver. As a child, she ...

, conjunto accordionist and bandleader

2018

* Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim, Palestinian embroiderer * Eddie Bond, Appalachian fiddler * Kelly Church, Gun Lake Band Potawatomi black ash basket maker * Marion Coleman, African American quilter * Manuel Cuevas, Mexican-American rodeo tailor * Ofelia Esparza, Chicana ''altarista'' (Day of the Dead altar maker) * Barbara Lynn, African American R&B guitarist * Don and Cindy Roy, French-American musicians * Ethel Raim, advocate for customary music and dance

2019

* Dan Ansotegui, Basque musician and tradition bearer * Grant Bulltail, Crow storyteller * Linda Goss, African-American storyteller * James F. Jackson, leatherworker * Balla Kouyaté, balafon player and

djeli A griot (; ; Manding: jali or jeli (in N'Ko: , ''djeli'' or ''djéli'' in French spelling); Serer: kevel or kewel / okawul; Wolof: gewel) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. The griot is a rep ...

* Josephine Lobato, Spanish colcha embroiderer * Rich Smoker,

decoy A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''ende kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to lu ...

carver * Las Tesoros de San Antonio: Beatriz "La Paloma del Norte" Llamas and Blanquita "Blanca Rosa" Rodríguez, Tejano singers * Bob Fulcher,

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

2020

* William Bell, soul singer and songwriter *

Onnik Dinkjian Onnik Dinkjian ( hy, Oննիկ Տինքճեան; born 1929) is a French-born American-Armenian musician and singer. He is the father of Ara Dinkjian and has appeared with his son as well as other Armenian musicians such as Roupen Altiparmakian pl ...

, Armenian folk and liturgical singer * Zakarya and Naomi Diouf, West African diasporic dancers * Karen Ann Hoffman, Iroquois raised beadworker * Los Matachines de la Santa Cruz de la Ladrillera, traditional religious dancers * John Morris, old-time fiddler and banjo player * Suni Paz, Nueva Canción singer and songwriter * Wayne Valliere, birchbark canoe builder * Hugo N. Morales, radio producer and radio network builder

2021

* Cedric Burnside, Hill Country blues musician * Tagumpay De Leon, Rondalla musician * Anita Fields, Osage ribbon worker *

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cu ...

, Mexican-American band * Joanie Madden, Irish flute player * Reginald McLaughlin, tap dancer * Nellie Vera Sánchez, Mundillo master weaver * Winnsboro Easter Rock Ensemble, Easter Rock spiritual ensemble * Tom Davenport, filmmaker, documentarian, and media curator

2022

Michael Cleveland Michael Cleveland (born September 18, 1980) is an American bluegrass fiddle player. Early life Cleveland was born in Henryville, Indiana. He was born completely blind and a childhood ear infection caused him to lose 80% of his hearing in one ea ...

, bluegrass fiddler * Eva Enciñias,

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura a ...

artist * Excelsior Band, brass band musicians * Stanley Jacobs, quelbe flutist and bandleader * The Legendary Ingramettes, gospel musicians * Francis Palani Sinenci, Hawaiian hale builder * Tsering Wangmo Satho, Tibetan opera singer and dancer * C. Brian Williams, step artist and producer * Shaka Zulu, Black masking craftsman, stilt dancer and musician * TahNibaa Naataanii,

(Diné) textile artist and weaver

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage
List of all NEA National Heritage Fellowships through 2019, by recipient name
Awards established in 1982 Arts awards in the United States Fellowships 1982 establishments in the United States National Endowment for the Arts