Make a Nomination

To honor and preserve our nation's diverse cultural heritage, the National Endowment for the Arts annually awards NEA National Heritage Fellowships to master folk and traditional artists. These fellowships recognize lifetime achievement, artistic excellence, and contributions to our nation's traditional arts heritage.

Nominees must be worthy of national recognition and have a record of continuing artistic accomplishment. They must be actively participating in their art form, either as practitioners or as teachers. Fellows are selected according to criteria of artistic excellence, significance within the particular artistic tradition, and contributions to living cultural heritage.

In addition, one NEA National Heritage Fellowship will be given to an individual who has made major contributions to the excellence, vitality, and public appreciation of the folk and traditional arts. The nominee should be worthy of national recognition and must be actively engaged in preserving the folk and traditional arts. Named after the influential advocate, educator, and producer of the folk and traditional arts, Bess Lomax Hawes, this award recognizes:

• An artist whose contributions, primarily through teaching, advocacy, organizing, and preserving important repertoires, have greatly benefited their artistic tradition.
• An individual such as a producer or advocate whose efforts have significantly increased opportunities for and public visibility of traditional arts and artists.

The NEA National Heritage fellowship category is not open to application. Fellowships are awarded to living individuals on the basis of nominations from the public. Nominations may be for individuals or for a group of individuals (e.g., a duo). The recipients must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States. Posthumous nominations will not be considered.

Each award is $25,000 and may be received once in a lifetime. No payment will be made to the estate or heirs of a deceased recipient.

How to Submit a Nomination

Online:

Nominations are accepted by mail or by using our online nomination form. Please see the description of a complete nomination package below. A complete package should not exceed 20 pages in length. Individuals may be nominated specifically for the Bess Lomax Hawes NEA National Heritage Fellowship, and all nominees will be considered for this award.

An individual may submit one or more nomination(s) in each round of the NEA National Heritage Fellowships. Each nomination should have a separate nomination package. No one may nominate him/herself.

A complete nomination package includes:

• A letter with a narrative statement that details the reasons that the nominee(s) should receive a NEA National Heritage Fellowship. Describe the nominee's contributions to his or her particular artistic tradition and explain why this individual or group deserves national recognition.
• A resume or a short biography that outlines the career of the nominee(s).
• Contact information for the nominator and nominee(s).
• Clearly labeled, recent samples of the work of the artist(s). Visual artists must be represented by digital images; performing artists by videotape, audiotape, CD, or DVD. The content of digital images should be labeled clearly on a separate list. Tapes should be cued to the segment to be reviewed. Other documentation may be added as desired.
• References and links to recent articles written about the nominee(s), if any, or hard copies if not available online.
• A list of major public appearances or exhibitions by the nominee(s) and the titles of published works, if any.
• A maximum of five letters that demonstrate expert and/or community support for this nomination.

Submit your nomination online or send your complete nomination package to:

NEA National Heritage Fellowships
Folk & Traditional Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Room 720
Washington, DC 20506-0001

Phone: 202/682-5587
E-mail: schielec@arts.gov

NOTE: Support material will not be returned except under the most special circumstances. Please do not send the only copy. You may submit additional material in support of your nomination at any time. However, if the review process for the current round of fellowships has started, the staff will retain your material for consideration in future years.

Deadline for Nominations

Nominations must be submitted online or received (not postmarked) by mail at the Arts Endowment no later than 5:30 p.m., October 1, 2008. Fellowships will be announced in the spring of 2009.

Review of Nominations

Nominations submitted to the Arts Endowment by the deadline are reviewed by an advisory panel of folk and traditional arts experts and at least one knowledgeable layperson. Panel recommendations are forwarded to the National Council on the Arts, which then makes recommendations to the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Chairman reviews the Council's recommendations and makes the final decision on all the award recipients.

Nominations that are not selected will be reviewed annually for the next four years.

Folk and Traditional Arts

The folk and traditional arts, which include music, crafts, dance, storytelling, and others, are those that are learned as part of the cultural life of a community whose members share a common ethnic heritage, language, religion, occupation, or geographic region. These traditions are shaped by the aesthetics and values of a shared culture and are passed from generation to generation, most often within family and community through observation, conversation, and practice.

Notice concerning delivery of First-Class and Priority mail

The National Endowment for the Arts continues to experience lengthy delays in the delivery of First-Class mail. In addition, some or all of the First-Class and Priority mail we receive may be put through an irradiation process. Support material (e.g., CDs, videos) put through this process has been severely damaged. Until normal mail service resumes, please consider using a commercial delivery service, particularly if you are sending time-sensitive material.

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