NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWSHIP

(Redirected from National Heritage Award)
The 'National Heritage Fellowship' is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's "Living Treasure" award, the Fellowship is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. It is a one-time only award and fellows must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States.
The program began in 1982. Each year, fellowships are presented to between ten and fifteen artists or groups at a White House ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Contents
Winners
1982
1987
1988
1997
1999
2005
2006
External links

Winners

Awardees have included Native American basket weavers, African American blues musicians, traditional fiddlers, Mexican American accordionists, and all manner of traditional artisans and performers of numerous ethnic backgrounds.
National Heritage Fellowship winners include:

★ Michael Flatley, Irish American step dancer

★ Shirley Caesar, gospel singer

★ Albertina Walker, gospel singer

★ Charles Brown, African American blues singer and pianist

★ Vi Hilbert

1982

★ Dewey Balfa, Cajun fiddler

1987

★ Wade Mainer, bluegrass banjoist

1988

★ Albert "Sunnyland Slim" Luandrew, blues pianist.

1997

★ Ali Akbar Khan, North Indian classical sarod player

★ Phong Nguyen (Nguyễn Thuyết Phong), Vietnamese musician and ethnomusicologist

1999

★ Zakir Hussain, tabla player

2005

★ Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, Yiddish singer, songwriter, and poet

2006

★ Esther Martinez, Tewa linguist and storyteller

External links

★ National Heritage Fellowships page from National Endowment for the Arts site

★ List of all National Heritage Fellowship winners