Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Application Deadline Extended: October 31, 2022

Oregon Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program Announces New Application Deadline Extended to October 31, 2022

Photo is of John Meade (left), a 2021-2022 TAAP awardee who teaches Appalachian banjo and fiddle tunes.

EUGENE, Ore. – (Sept 28, 2022) – The University of Oregon’s Oregon Folklife Network has been awarded a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts plus $40,000 from Oregon Arts Commission to support Oregon’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.

Oregon Folklife Network is accepting applications until October 31, 2022 for the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) for projects in 2023. The program offers folk and traditional master artists and culture keepers a $3,500 stipend to teach their art form to apprentices from their same communities, Tribes, sacred or occupational groupsThe stipend supports master artists in sharing their knowledge, skills and expertise with apprentices of great promise who will be empowered to carry on and strengthen Oregon’s living cultural traditions. Artist may make public presentations through the Museum of Natural and Cultural History.

Oregon’s 2022 TAAP awards supported hip-hop emcee and educator, Mic Crenshaw (Portland); Hindustani and Rajasthani vocal and instrumental music performer and teacher, Nisha Joshi (Portland); Appalachian old-time musician and scholar, John Meade (Albany), Irish musician, singer and linguist, Brian Ó hAirt (Portland); and Persian Santoor maestro, Hossein Salehi (Beaverton). All mentored apprentices from their own culture groups in the traditional forms noted, with OFN providing technical support as needed for socially distanced teaching, learning, and presenting.

Oregon Folklife Network encourages applications from Oregonians practicing cultural traditions emerging from their heritage or Tribes. This program does not fund historic reenactments or cultural appropriation.

To learn more about application procedures and eligibility or to recommend a TAAP applicant, visit our website, email ofn@uoregon.edu, or call 541-346-3820. Oregon Folklife Network staff members are available to provide application advice and will review and provide feedback on draft applications prior to submission.Completed applications are due no later than 5 pm on October 31 at the Oregon Folklife Network, 242 Knight Library, 6204 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-6204. NOTE: This is NOT a postmark deadline.

First Peoples Fund Honors TAAP and Roster Artist, Roberta J. Kirk

Congratulations to Roberta J. Kirk for her First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Award! This award honors Roberta Kirk for her beautiful traditional beadwork and regalia as well as her devotion and service to her community and tribe. She has been a master artist in OFN’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and is on the Culture Keepers Roster.

(Rapid City, SD) – First Peoples Fund, a national organization supporting Native American artists and culture bearers, has named four outstanding individuals from across the country as recipients of the 2020 Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award. A nationwide committee selected the honorees, and the prestigious award includes a $7,500 grant.

“Throughout their lives these culture bearers have quietly, selflessly shared their knowledge, skills and traditions,” says Lori Pourier, president of First Peoples Fund. “Through the Community Spirit Awards, First Peoples Fund honors their generosity and shines a light on their work to restore and pass on ancestral knowledge and traditions, connecting their peoples to their greatest assets.”

Award recipients come from a wide range of tribes and creative disciplines:

  • Roberta Kirk (Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon/Diné) Warm Springs, Oregon– beadwork, leatherwork, fashion design, culinary arts
  • Corine Pearce (Redwood Valley Rancheria Little River Band of Pomo Indians) Sequim, Washington – basketry, weaving
  • Virgil “Smoker” Marchand (Colville Tribe/Arrow Lakes) Omak, Washington – painting, sculpture
  • TahNibaa Naataanii (Navajo) Shiprock, New Mexico – weaving

Named after First Peoples Fund’s founder, the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award (CSA) recognizes exceptional artists who have shown a continued commitment to perpetuating their art and sharing it within their communities. These practicing artists embody the Collective Spirit®, and are nominated for the award by their students, mentees, fellow artists and community members.

First Peoples Fund is a national organization based in Rapid City, South Dakota dedicated to honoring and supporting Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian artists and culture bearers across the country. First Peoples Fund has been honoring culture bearers with the Community Spirit Award for over 20 years and over 100 artists from Maine to Alaska have been honored.

For further information about First Peoples Fund or to apply for support through one of our programs, please visit www.firstpeoplesfund.org  or contact us at First Peoples Fund, P.O. Box 2977, Rapid City, SD 57709-2977.

Contact: Amber Hoy, Program Manager of Fellowships (605) 348 – 0324 amber@firstpeoplesfund.org