:: 1995 NEA National Heritage Fellows

Bao Mo-Li Chinese-American Jing Erhu Player Flushing, NY	Mary Holiday Black Navajo Basketweaver Mexican Hat, UT	Lyman Enloe Old-Time Fiddler Lee's Summit, MO
Donny Golden Irish-American Stepdancer Brooklyn, NY	Wayne Henderson Luthier Mouth of Wilson, VA	Bea Ellis Hensley Blacksmith Spruce Pine, NC
Nathan Jackson Tlingit Alaska Native Woodcarver/Metalsmith/Dancer Ketchikan, AK	Danongan Kalanduyan Filipino-American Kulintang Mu San Francisco, CA	Robert Jr. Lockwood African-American Delta Blues Guitarist Cleveland, OH
Israel López Afro-Cuban Bassist/Composer/Bandleader Miami, FL	Nellie Star Boy Menard Lakota Sioux Quiltmaker Rosebud, SD	Buck Ramsey Cowboy Poet & Singer Amarillo, TX

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

What's this?

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506