Taking place in our nation’s capital, the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship awards ceremony and concert honors extraordinary practitioners of the folk and traditional arts in the United States. The NCTA has had the honor of producing this NEA honorific for 34 years. You can read more about this marvelous event here.
The 2018 NEA National Heritage Fellows are:
- Palestinian embroiderer Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim from Milwaukie, OR
- Appalachian old-time fiddler Eddie Bond from Fries, VA
- Anishinabe (Gun Lake Band) black ash basketmaker Kelly Church from Allegan, MI
- African-American quilter Marion Coleman from Castro Valley, CA
- Rodeo tailor Manuel Cuevas from Nashville, TN
- Chicana altarista (Day of the Dead altar maker) Ofelia Esparza from Los Angeles, CA
- R&B musician Barbara Lynn from Beaumont, TX
- Franco-American musicians Don & Cindy Roy from Gorham, ME
- Traditional music and dance advocate Ethel Raim from New York, NY (Raim is the recipient of the 2018 Bess Lomax Hawes NEA National Heritage Fellowship in recognition of an individual who has made a significant contribution to the preservation and awareness of cultural heritage.)
The awards ceremony takes place on Wednesday, September 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Library of Congress, and the concert takes place on Friday, September 28 at 8 p.m. at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall. The concert will also be live streamed and archived after the event for those who cannot attend in person. Watch the webcast here.