:: 2011 NEA National Heritage Fellows

Laverne Brackens Quilter Fairfield, TX	Carlinhos Pandeiro de Ouro Frame drum player & percussionist Los Angeles, CA	Bo Dollis Mardi Gras Indian Chief New Orleans, LA
Jim Griffith Folklorist Tucson, AZ	Ledward Kaapana Ukulele and slack key guitarist Kaneohe, HI	Frank Newsome Old Regular Baptist singer Haysi, VA
Roy and PJ Hirabayashi Taiko Drum Leaders San Jose, CA	Warner Williams Piedmont blues songster Gaithersburg, MD	Yuri Yunakov Bulgarian saxophonist Bloomfield, NJ

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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