Now Accepting Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant Applications  

Do you know a tradition-bearer who is ready to teach someone in their cultural group? They might be a good candidate for the Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant. This program provides up to $4,000 to a Kentucky mentor folk or traditional artist to teach skills, practices and culture to a less experienced artist from the same community during the course of a year. The application is now open, and the deadline to apply is March 28, 2025. 

Last year, the Kentucky Arts Council awarded 13 mentor artists, marking the most apprenticeships awarded in one year since the program began in 1992.

Click here to see participants.

• James Scott Gilbert (Allen Co.), who will teach white oak basketry to Micah Wiles (Pulaski Co.) 
• Angelique Shah (Bullitt Co.), who will teach central Kentucky quilting traditions to Chaney Williams (Hardin Co.) 
• Barry Lanham (Daviess Co.), who will teach clogging dance traditions to Erin Rouse (Daviess Co.) 
• Mary Reed (Estill Co.) who will teach morel mushroom hunting and foodways to John Allen (Estill Co.) 
• Jim McGee (Jefferson Co.), who will teach clawhammer banjo traditions to Todd Childers (Jefferson Co.) 
• Steven Beverly (Henry Co.), who will teach bluegrass music to Grayson Rogers (Owen Co.) 
• Julia Purcell (Jefferson Co.), who will teach traditional banjo and guitar styles to Jodie Koch (Jefferson Co.) 
• Brenda Bear (Lewis Co.), who will teach community research and mural painting traditions to Suzanne Pick (Lewis Co.) 
• Mitch Barrett (Madison Co.), who will teach Appalachian storytelling to Maizie Gover-Barrett (Madison Co.) 
• Hasan Davis (Madison), who will teach Black Appalachian oral tradition and storytelling to Malcolm Davis (Madison Co.) 
• Cynthia Main (Madison Co.), who will teach broom making to Bethany Marker (Jefferson Co.) 
• Joseph Daniel Graham (Scott Co.), who will teach violin making to Jackson Albensi (Scott Co.) 
• Sue Massek (Washington Co.), who will teach Appalachian banjo and songwriting to Heidi Hess-Bynum (Hardin Co.) 

Kentuckians’ folk arts are important in their everyday lives, whether their tradition has been here for generations or if it just arrived. Folk art forms such as dance, music, crafts and foodways are usually taught face-to-face within a community. 

Kentucky Arts Council Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grants are possible thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts. Four of the apprenticeships in the Appalachian region — Mary Reed’s, Brenda Bear’s, Mitch Barrett’s and Hasan Davis’ — were fully funded by South Arts’ In These Mountains program. 

Click here to learn more. Contact Mark Brown, Folk and Traditional Arts Director at [email protected] / 502-892-3115 for more information or assistance.