:: 1997 NEA National Heritage Fellows

Edward Babb Shout Band Leader Jamaica, NY	Charles Brown Blues Pianist & Composer Berkeley, CA	Gladys Clark Cajun Spinner & Weaver Duson, LA
Georgia Harris Catawba potter Atlanta, GA	Hua Wenyi Chinese Kunqu Opera Singer Arcadia, CA	Ali Akbar Khan North Indian Sarod Player & Raga Composer San Anselmo, CA
Ramón José López Santero & Metalsmith Santa Fe, NM	Jim & Jesse McReynolds Bluegrass Musicians Gallatin, TN	Phong Nguyen Vietnamese Musician & Scholar Kent, OH
Hystercine Rankin African American Quilter Lorman, MS	Francis Whitaker Blacksmith/Ornamental Ironworker Carbondale, CO

In 1982 the National Endowment for the Arts established the NEA National Heritage Awards as a way of honoring American folk artists for their contributions to our national cultural mosaic. Modelled after the Japanese "National Living Treasures" concept, the idea began with Bess Lomax Hawes, then director of the Folk Arts Program.

Profile materials for 1982-2007 courtesy of Documentary Arts. Use of some photographs courtesy of the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives & Collections

NEA Heritage Fellows
1982-2012: 
BY YEAR | ALPHA

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