National Endowment for the Arts  
Lifetime Honors
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:: 1982 NEA National Heritage Fellows


Dewey Balfa
Cajun Fiddler
Basile, LA
 


Joe Heaney
Irish Singer
Brooklyn, NY
 


Tommy Jarrell
Appalachian Fiddler
Mt. Airy, NC
 


Bessie Jones
Georgia Sea Island Singer
Brunswick, GA
 


George López
Santos Woodcarver
Cordova, NM
 


Brownie McGhee
Blues Guitarist
Oakland, CA
 


Hugh McGraw
Shape Note Singer
Bremen, GA
 


Lydia Mendoza
Mexican American Singer
Houston, TX
 


Bill Monroe
Bluegrass Musician
Nashville, TN
 


Elijah Pierce
Carver/Painter
Columbus, OH
 


Adam Popovich
Tamburitza Musician
Dolton, IL
 


Georgeann Robinson
Osage Ribbonworker
Bartlesville, OK
 


Duff Severe
Western Saddlemaker
Pendleton, OR
 


Philip Simmons
Ornamental Ironworker
Charleston, SC
 


Sanders "Sonny" Terry
Blues Musician
Holliswood, NY
 

 

NEA National Heritage Fellowships Banner

In 1982 the National Endowment for the Arts established the NEA National Heritage Awards as a way of honoring American folk artists for their contributions to our national cultural mosaic. Modelled after the Japanese "National Living Treasures" concept, the idea began with Bess Lomax Hawes, then director of the Folk Arts Program.

Profile materials for 1982-2007 courtesy of Documentary Arts. Use of some photographs courtesy of the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives & Collections

Contact Liz Auclair in the NEA’s Public Affairs office at auclaire@arts.gov for high-resolution images of the 2013 Fellows for press purposes.

NEA Heritage Fellows
1982-Present: 
BY YEAR | ALPHA

 

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