The American Folklore Society
The American Folklore Society

Folk Arts Partnership Professional Development Resource HubWorkshops and Recordings

NEA National Heritage Fellowships: How to Activate Legacy

May 1, 2025
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. EDT

The National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship is the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. The program recognizes recipients’ artistic excellence, lifetime achievement, and contributions to our nation’s traditional arts heritage. Started in 1982 by the late Bess Lomax Hawes, the National Heritage Fellowships have honored 494 artists working in more than 200 distinct art forms. More information about the National Heritage Fellows is available at arts.gov/Heritage.

National Heritage Fellowship recipients are nominated by the public—often by members of their own communities—and then evaluated by a panel of experts in the folk and traditional arts. The panel’s recommendations are reviewed by the National Council on the Arts, which sends its recommendations to the NEA chair. Nominations for the National Heritage Fellowship are accepted annually with an upcoming nomination deadline of May 27th, 2025, for the 2026 class of Fellows. 

In this session, NEA Folk & Traditional Arts staff will provide a brief overview of the Fellowship opportunity and nomination process. We will then listen to your peers’ experiences with past nominations and think together about how to support nominations and Fellows in the communities you serve. Where should you put your effort, and why does it matter? What makes a good nomination? 

Leia Maahs, NEA Folk & Traditional Arts Director 
Headshot of Jennie Terman, who is a white woman with chin-length brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a patterned blouse with a brown cardigan and standing in front of a canvas painted by her father.
Jennie Terman, NEA Folk & Traditional Arts Specialist
Headshot of Lauren DeMarco, who is a white woman with brown hair and brown eyes, and is wearing a black blazer.
Lauren DeMarco, NEA Assistant Grants Management Specialist

Accommodations

This session will be closed captioned and will have Spanish interpretation. We welcome additional requests, which can be emailed to cpatterson@afsnet.org by April 24.

This event is sponsored by the Folk Arts Partnership Professional Development Institute, a collaborative partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, and the American Folklore Society.