Announcing the 2019 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellows

The National Heritage Fellowship is the nation’s highest honor in the Folk & Traditional Arts. Since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded 440 fellowships throughout each state and territory of the nation. Fellows are nominated by the public, and it is the great privilege of the Folk & Traditional Arts staff to manage the nomination and recognition of the National Heritage Fellows. The 2019 recipients are masters of a wide range of folk and traditional art forms: Tejano singing, Basque music, and balafon playing; Spanish colcha embroidery, decoy carving, and leatherworking, as well as storytelling. Each fellowship includes an award of $25,000 and the recipients will be honored at two public events on September 18 and 20, 2019 in Washington, DC.

Please join us in recognizing the 2019 class of National Heritage Fellows!

Dan Ansotegui, Basque musician and tradition bearer from Boise, Idaho
Grant Bulltail, Crow storyteller from Crow Agency, Montana
Linda Goss, African-American storyteller from Baltimore, Maryland
James F. Jackson, leatherworker from Sheridan, Wyoming
Balla Kouyaté, balafon player and djeli from Medford, Massachusetts
Josephine Lobato, Spanish colcha embroiderer from Westminster, Colorado
Rich Smoker, decoy carver from Marion Station, Maryland
Las Tesoros de San Antonio—Beatriz (La Paloma del Norte) Llamas and Blanquita (Blanca Rosa) Rodríguez, Tejano singers from San Antonio, Texas
Bob Fulcher, folklorist and state park manager from Clinton, Tennessee
Fulcher is the recipient of the 2019 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.