EUGENE, Ore. – (Feb 17, 2021) – The Museum of Natural and Cultural History’s Oregon Folklife Network has been awarded a $45,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and $35,000 grant from the Oregon Arts Commission. The grants support Oregon’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and other statewide initiatives to promote the state’s folk and traditional artists. TAAP is also funded in part by the Oregon Historical Society.
Oregon’s 2020-21 TAAP awardees are traditional Guinean drum maker and tuner Alseny Yansane of Eugene; South Indian dancer Jayanthi Raman of Portland; Mexican charro Antonio Huerta of Springfield; Zapotec weaver Francisco Bautista Lopez of Sandy; Gospel singer LaRhonda Steele of Portland and Leather worker Clair Kehrberg of John Day. All will be mentoring apprentices from their own culture groups in the traditional forms noted.
For information on next year’s TAAP application, visit Oregon Folklife Network’s webpage for theTraditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP). The program offers folk and traditional master artists and culture keepers a $3,500 stipend to teach their art form to apprentices from their own communities, Tribes, and religious or occupational groups. The stipend supports master artists in sharing their knowledge, skills and expertise with apprentices of great promise who will be empowered to carry on and strengthen Oregon’s living cultural traditions.
Oregon Folklife Network encourages applications from Oregonians practicing cultural traditions emerging from their heritage or Tribes. This program does not fund historic reenactments or cultural appropriation.
To learn more about application procedures and eligibility or to recommend a TAAP applicant, visit mnch.uoregon.edu/oregon-folklife-network, email [email protected], or call 541-346-3820. Oregon Folklife Network staff members are available to provide application advice and will review and provide feedback on draft applications prior to submission.