2007 Grant Awards: Access to Artistic Excellence

[ August 14, 2006 deadline ]

Dance | Design | Folk & Traditional Arts | Literature | Local Arts Agencies
Media Arts | Museum | Music | Musical Theater | Presenting | Theater
Visual Arts

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

Folk and Traditional Arts

Alabama Folklife Association, Inc.
Birmingham, AL
$25,000
To support statewide folk arts activities. Project activities will include policy development, acquisitions for the Archive of Alabama Folk Culture, planning of the 2008 Community Scholars Institute, and development of Alabama folk culture for the 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

Alliance for California Traditional Arts (Consortium)
Fresno, CA
$35,000
To support the Traditional Arts Development (TAD) Program. A collaboration with the California Arts Council, the program will consist of technical assistance through a consultancy and mentoring program.

Alliance for California Traditional Arts
Fresno, CA
$30,000
To support the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. The project will foster the continuance of significant traditional arts within cultural communities while providing public visibility for those artists and art forms.

Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga (Consortium)
Chattanooga, TN
$25,000
To support a Native American festival. A collaboration with the Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park, the event will celebrate, promote, and preserve the folk and traditional arts of Southeast-affiliated Native American tribes.

Angkor Dance Troupe, Inc.
Lowell, MA
$10,000
To support the integration of Cambodian culture and history curriculum in middle and high schools. The project will culminate in a full classical dance performance at each of the Lowell public schools.

Appalshop, Inc. (aka WMMT-FM) (Consortium)
Whitesburg, KY
$30,000
To support the 25th Anniversary National Heritage Fellowship project. Collaborating with the Kentucky Arts Council, the event will showcase a series of films featuring recipients of the NEA National Heritage Fellowship.

Arkansas State University
State University, AR
$25,000
To support the Arkansas Folklife Program. The project will include fieldwork, public presentations, and technical assistance to organizations and individuals.

Arts Center of Cannon County
Woodbury, TN
$25,000
To support the restoration, production, and distribution of video documentaries created in the 1970s by filmmakers Sol Korine and Blaine Dunlap. The films Raw Mash, Mouth Music, and Showdown at the Hoedown, are part of the Southbound series, an 11-part documentary about the roots of Southern music.

Bangor Folk Festival (aka American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront)
Bangor, ME
$35,000
To support the 2007 American Folk Festival. The event showcases performances by national and regional artists and will include music, singing, dancing, and workshops.

Barnegat Bay Decoy and Baymen's Museum, Inc. (aka Tuckerton Seaport)
Tuckerton, NJ
$20,000
To support the Tuckerton Seaport Artist in Residence and Apprenticeship Program. The program features residencies in decoy carving and basketry, and a boat building apprenticeship program.

Borenya West African Drum and Dance
Rogue River, OR
$10,000
To support a series of lecture-demonstrations, performances, residencies, and workshops. Activities will be led by Amazones, a group of female master drummers from Guinea, West Africa.

Boys & Girls Harbor, Inc. (aka Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts)
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the archiving and preservation of folk arts materials. Core activities will include the implementation of the Raices Collection database, a general preservation survey, and a three-year strategic plan.

Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc.
Brooklyn, NY
$20,000
To support Brooklyn Maqam: Arab Music Traditions in Brooklyn. The project will include fieldwork resulting in concerts featuring Brooklyn-based traditional music artists hailing from Egypt, Yemen, Palestine, Morocco, and Lebanon.

Cambodian-American Heritage, Inc.
Fort Washington, MD
$10,000
To support instruction in Cambodian music and Cambodian classical and folk dances. The project will culminate with a concert in observance of the Cambodian New Year.

Center for Southern Folklore
Memphis, TN
$15,000
To support preservation of the Rev. L. O. Taylor Collection. Core activities will include indexing and transferring to digital format 16-mm film footage, audio discs, and photographs contained in the collection.

Center for Traditional Music and Dance, Inc. (Consortium)
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the Ashkenazic Dance Project. A collaboration with the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, activities will include a research symposium, a workshop, and an Internet-based resource for the distribution of educational videos and annotations on Askkenazic dance.

Center for Traditional Music and Dance, Inc.
New York, NY
$30,000
To support the Community Cultural Initiative (CCI) in Peruvian, Chinese, and Ukrainian communities. The program is designed to nurture and preserve community-based artistic documentation and the presentation of projects in immigrant and ethnic neighborhoods throughout the New York metropolitan area.

City Lore, Inc.
New York, NY
$30,000
To support the Poetry Dinners project. The project will include field research on ethnic poetry traditions in New York City, a series of oral poetry presentations in ethnic restaurants, and the creation of a Web site highlighting ethnic poetry traditions.

Cowan Community Action Group, Inc. (aka Cowan Community Center)
Whitesburg, KY
$20,000
To support folk arts activities at the Cowan Community Center. Activities will include an after-school music program, artist residencies, and summer and fall gatherings.

Curators of the University of Missouri at Columbia (Consortium)
Columbia, MO
$25,000
To support the Missouri Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. A collaboration with the Missouri State Council on the Arts, the project will bring together masters and apprentices who are committed to conserving their artistic traditions and cultural heritage.

Davis & Elkins College
Elkins, WV
$25,000
To support the Traditional Arts Program. Activities will include the West Virginia Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program, concerts, and the Old-Time Fiddler's Reunion.

Eldridge Street Project, Inc.
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the 9th Annual Egg Rolls & Egg Creams Festival. The event celebrates traditions and art forms from the Chinese and Eastern European Jewish communities.

Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA
$25,000
To support the third Northwest Native Carvers Gathering and exhibition. The event brings together carvers to share and develop skills, discuss issues related to their art, and document and celebrate their traditions.

First Peoples Fund
Rapid City, SD
$30,000
To support the Community Spirit Award Celebration. The event will recognize Native American artists nationwide who have made significant and sustained contributions to their communities through their leadership, teaching, and artistic endeavors.

Florida Division of Historical Resources
Tallahassee, FL
$25,000
To support folk arts outreach activities. Core activities will include fieldwork, the Folklife Apprenticeship Program, and the Folklife InReach Educational Program.

Fort Collins Museum Foundation
Fort Collins, CO
$15,000
To support the Fourth Annual Crossroads at the Council Tree Native American Music Festival. The project will consist of a series of performances by Native musicians at local elementary and middle schools.

Fort Wayne Dance Collective, Inc. (on behalf of Three River Jenbe Ensemble)
Fort Wayne, IN
$20,000
To support workshops on traditional West African drum and dance. The project will feature master drummer Alsyco Diabate and master dancer Moustapha Bangoura.

Four Bands Community Fund
Eagle Butte, SD
$20,000
To support the Preserving & Promoting Lakota Folk & Traditional Arts project. The project will include training, technical assistance, and a Lakota folk and traditional art exhibition.

Historical Association of Southern Florida
Miami, FL
$10,000
To support fieldwork in the Caribbean, South American, Central American, and African American communities in Miami-Dade County. Fieldwork will result in the creation of an Artists Access Implementation Plan, outlining strategies, and/or processes that will be used to strengthen artist access to museum resources.

Homowo African Arts & Cultures
Portland, OR
$20,000
To support Under the Mango Tree, a tour of Ghananian music and dance. Led by 1996 NEA National Heritage Fellow Obo Addy, the tour will travel to rural communities in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

Institute for Community Research, Inc.
Hartford, CT
$20,000
To support the Southern New England Apprenticeship Program. A collaboration with the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, the program will bring together master artists and apprentices from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

Institute for Community Research, Inc.
Hartford, CT
$25,000
To support the 17th year of the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Program. Activities will include fieldwork, programming, and training.

International Bluegrass Music Museum, Inc. (Consortium)
Owensboro, KY
$10,000
To support continuation of the Video Oral History Project. A collaboration with the Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music, the project will document the lives, stories, and musical performances of artists designated as Bluegrass Music's First Generation.

Jamestown Fine Arts Association Incorporated (aka The Arts Center)
Jamestown, ND
$10,000
To support the Third Annual Culture Festival and artist residencies. Folk artists residencies will take place in schools during the curriculum year preceding the festival.

Japanese American National Museum
Los Angeles, CA
$10,000
To support preservation of the Kawakami Collection. The collection includes pieces of issei (first-generation Japanese American immigrant) laborer clothing and accessories used on plantations in Hawaii from 1910 to 1940.

Khmer Arts Academy
Long Beach, CA
$15,000
To support the Classical Dance Training & Performance Program. The program consists of master/apprentice training and public performances throughout the Long Beach Cambodian community.

Kunqu Society, Inc.
Whitestone, NY
$5,000
To support lecture-demonstrations and a performance in the art of Kunqu. The project will raise awareness of a form of traditional Chinese theater proclaimed by UNESCO as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.

Kuumba House, Inc. (aka Kuumba House Dance Theatre)
Houston, TX
$5,000
To support instruction in South African dancing, drumming, mask making, and storytelling. Activities will culminate in a performance of Amasiko in celebration of the African American holiday of Kwanzaa.

La Troupe Makandal, Inc. (Consortium)
Brooklyn, NY
$10,000
To support the Haiti Drum and Dance project. In collaboration with the 18 May Committee, the project will consist of a series of performances during the 2008 Black History Month celebration.

La Troupe Makandal, Inc.
Brooklyn, NY
$10,000
To support Krik! Krak! The project will include instruction in traditional Haitian drum and dance.

Lancaster County Educational Foundation (aka Educational Foundation of USC Lancaster)
Lancaster, SC
$30,000
To support a Catawba Indian pottery exhibition with a focus on 1997 NEA National Heritage Fellow Georgia Harris. The exhibit will include pottery, photographs, audio displays, a digital online component, and teaching materials.

Latino Public Broadcasting
Los Angeles, CA
$20,000
To support the production of a documentary film titled Mariachi High. The film captures a year in the life of a high school mariachi band as the students prepare to compete for a national championship title.

Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education (aka National Network for Folk Arts in Education) (Consortium)
New York, NY
$20,000
To support expansion of the Let's Go Arlington: Community Explorations Folklife and Education Project. A collaboration with the Arlington Cultural Affairs Division, the project is designed to train both traditional artists and K-12 teachers in representing traditional arts in classroom, workshop, and residency settings.

Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education (aka National Network for Folk Arts in Education)
New York, NY
$45,000
To support a national initiative to include folk arts as a basic element of K-12 arts education. The effort will integrate the folk arts and artists into school curricula by connecting educators and students to folklorists, folk artists, and folk arts materials.

Los Pleneros de la 21, Inc.
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the Puerto Rican Music Project. Activities will include concert performances, lectures, workshops, classes for young people and adults, and residencies.

Los Reyes de Albuquerque Foundation
Albuquerque, NM
$20,000
To support Nuevomexicano folk traditions and performances of the Entriega de los Novios. Nuevomexicano presentations will be held at senior and nursing centers, adult and child day-care centers, and meal sites for the homeless. The Entriega de los Novios will be presented at middle and high schools.

Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance
Old Town, ME
$25,000
To support a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. The project will support basketmakers and apprentices in the ancient traditions of ash and sweetgrass basketry among the Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Penobscot tribes in Maine.

Mind-Builders Creative Arts Co. (Consortium)
Bronx, NY
$10,000
To support the Community Folk Culture Program. In collaboration with Community Works, young people ages 12-18 are trained as beginner folklorists who reach folk artists and traditions found in their families, the surrounding neighborhoods, and the borough of the Bronx.

Mississippi Action for Community Education, Inc.
Greenville, MS
$15,000
To support folk arts fieldwork in the Mississippi Delta. Folklorists will identify and document undiscovered traditional artists for future programming; restructure, authenticate, and professionalize the Delta Blues Festival; and create a database of regional traditional cultural resources.

Moanalua Gardens Foundation, Inc.
Honolulu, HI
$10,000
To support the 30th anniversary of the Prince Lot Hula Festival. The festival showcases the richness and beauty of Hawaii's host culture in a garden-like setting.

National Council for the Traditional Arts (aka NCTA) (Consortium)
Silver Spring, MD
$50,000
To support the Music from the Crooked Road: Mountain Music of Virginia tour. The event will feature Appalachian music and dance concerts in West Coast communities.

New York Folklore Society, Inc.
Schenectady, NY
$15,000
To support the Mentoring and Professional Development Program. The project will provide professional development to folklorists and folk artists, ongoing mentoring to community-based organizations, and training for community scholars in fieldwork methodology.

North Carolina Folklife Institute (Consortium)
Durham, NC
$25,000
To support the Community Folklife Documentation Institute. A partnership with the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the project will provide training in the documentation and presentation of local and regional folklife traditions for community organizations, arts councils, and institutions.

Oklahoma Historical Society (Consortium)
Oklahoma City, OK
$25,000
To support a documentation of Oklahoma's folklife. A collaboration with the Oklahoma Folklife Council, the project will include programming and project development.

Philadelphia Folklore Project
Philadelphia, PA
$30,000
To support the Folk Arts House program. The project will support technical assistance workshops for traditional artists, grassroots groups, and artist-run programs and will feature local artists presenting their work in small settings.

Point Community Development Corporation (aka Point CDC) (Consortium)
Bronx, NY
$25,000
To support a permanent exhibition titled From Mambo to Hip Hop. A collaboration with Public Arts Films, the exhibition will include photographs about mambo, salsa, and hip hop; screenings of the documentary film From Mambo to Hip Hop: A Bronx Tale; an interactive kiosk; and live performances.

Radio Bilingüe, Inc. (Consortium)
Fresno, CA
$25,000
To support live broadcasts of the 2007 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The project, a collaboration with WLCH-FM is designed to make the festival and artist works available to underserved, low-income Latino communities via Radio Bilingüe's six stations, affiliates across the United States, and on its Web site.

Redbird
Simi Valley, CA
$5,000
To support the 7th Children of Many Colors Intertribal Native American Powwow. The festival will consist of traditional songs, dances, music, art, and public ceremonies of indigenous peoples.

South Carolina Traditional Arts Network
Belton, SC
$10,000
To support the Backyard Folklife Gathering project. The gatherings will bring together traditional artists, educators, and community leaders in an informal setting to celebrate the South Carolina's rich cultural heritage.

Stockbridge-Munsee Community
Bowler, WI
$10,000
To support a Native American Traditional Arts Program. Participants will have the opportunity to learn a variety of Native American art forms, including beading, regalia crafting, quill work, native dance, and basketmaking.

Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, Inc. (aka TAUNY)
Canton, NY
$15,000
To support a traveling exhibition titled TAUNY Goest to the Fair. The exhibit will feature traditional arts and artists of the Adirondack North Country region of New York State.

Utah State University
Logan, UT
$20,000
To support the 2008 Mountain West Songfest & Symposium. The project will include concerts, workshops, and lectures on vocal music from a variety of traditions, from the roots music of ethnic communities to popular and art music created by contemporary composers.

Vermont Folklife Center
Middlebury, VT
$25,000
To support the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. The project will ensure the continuity of folk and traditional arts by supporting projects that pair dedicated apprentices with accomplished older artists in face-to-face settings.

Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy (Consortium)
Charlottesville, VA
$25,000
To support the Folklife Apprenticeship Program. A collaboration with the Virginia Commission on the Arts, the program will ensure that Virginia's folkways receive new life and vibrancy by engaging new learners and reinvigorating master practitioners.

Ward Foundation, Inc. (aka Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art)
Salisbury, MD
$20,000
To support instruction in the skills of duck decoy carving. Resulting work will be judged at the 2007 Chesapeake Wildfowl Expo, the Ward Museum's fall water fowling event.

Wisdom of the Elders, Incorporated (Consortium)
Portland, OR
$20,000
To support Stories of the Original Inhabitants. A collaboration with Northwest Heritage Resources, the project will consist of storytelling apprenticeships, culminating in a symposium at the Northwest Indian Storytellers Association (NISA) Festival.

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506