NEA National Heritage Fellows

In-depth profiles of NEA National Heritage Fellows from 1982 to the present. Materials for 1982-2007 biographies courtesy of Documentary Arts. Use of some photographs courtesy of the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives & Collections.

Man in hardhat and yellow shirt etching into stone.
2007

Nicholas Benson

Stone letter cutter and calligrapher
Black man in African shirt and disabled legs singing into a mic on stage.
2007

Sidiki Conde

Guinean dancer and musician
Japanese woman with gray hair and glasses looking down.
2007

Violet de Cristoforo

Haiku poet and historian
Bald black man in a blue shirt looking down.
2007

Roland Freeman

Photo Documentarian, Author, and Exhibit Curator
Native woman with glasses holding designed basket.
2007

Pat Courtney Gold

Wasco sally bag weaver
Balding Hawaiian man in red checkered shirt playing a uke.
2007

Eddie Kamae

Hawaiian musician, composer, filmmaker
Man in white shirt with white hair brushed back playing guitar on stage.
2007

Agustin Lira

Chicano Singer, musician, composer
Native woman with white hair wearing headdress and holding up basket.
2007

Julia Parker

Kashia Pomo basketmaker
Elderly woman with gray hair sitting on porch playing a banjo.
2007

Mary Jane Queen

Appalachian musician
Elderly Black man wearing glasses playing a fiddle.
2007

Joe Thompson

African American string band musician
Man in blue shirt at a loom.
2007

Irvin L. Trujillo

Rio Grande weaver
Older woman with short brown hair in colorful shirt playing drums.
2007

Elaine Hoffman Watts

Klezmer musician