OFN is now accepting applications for our Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) through March 3, 2014. Traditional artists of exceptional merit qualify for $3,000 grants, which enable them to pass their expertise on to someone of great promise within their same cultural community. The mentoring artist and his or her apprentice apply together as a team and must demonstrate how traditional their art form is, how significant it is to the community they share, how strong their ties are to that cultural community, and the excellence of the quality of their work based on work samples, like images, videos, support letters, and press.
Some of the many traditional folk arts of Oregon include McKenzie River Drift Boat building, Southeast Asian dance, Norwegian cooking and baking, Northwest logger poetry, Native American basket weaving, Middle Eastern embroidery, Irish or old time fiddling, African-American gospel singing, saddle making and rawhide braiding for working cowboys, and more. OFN encourages applications from Oregonians engage in those or other forms of traditional culture learned within their heritage communities.
DEADLINE: OFN must receive your application in our office by 5 pm, MARCH 3, 2014—NO EXCEPTIONS. This is NOT a postmark deadline!
CONTACT US FIRST: Please contact us first if you think you might want to apply. And visit our website, or contact Bruno Seraphin (ofn@uoregon.edu, 541-346-3820) for more information about the program and previous TAAP master artists.
APPLICATIONS: Please download a fillable application form at the Oregon Folklife Network website. OFN staff are available to advise applicants and even help fill out applications.
The National Endowment for the Arts provides funding for TAAP, recognizing traditional artists and raising awareness of the diverse heritage treasures present in the United States. The Oregon Folklife Network receives this competitive funding, which increases public investment in preserving cultural traditions and those who practice them.
Contact:
Bruno Seraphin
Graduate Research Fellow, Folklore MA Candidate
541-346-3820 or ofn@uoregon.edu