:: 2012 NEA National Heritage Fellows

Mike Auldridge Dobro Player Silver Spring, MD	Paul & Darlene Bergren Dog Sled and Snowshoe Designers and Builders Minot, ND	Harold A. Burnham Master Shipwright Essex, MA
Albert B. Head Traditional Arts Advocate Montgomery, AL	Leonardo "Flaco" Jiménez Tejano Accordion Player San Antonio, TX	Lynne Yoshiko Nakasone Okinawan Dancer Honolulu, HI
Molly Neptune Parker Passamaquoddy Basketmaker Princeton, ME	The Paschall Brothers Tidewater Gospel Quartet Chesapeake, VA	Andy Statman Klezmer Clarinetist, Mandolinist, Composer Brooklyn, NY

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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National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
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Washington, DC 20506