Register March 6 – 23 for NEA National Heritage Fellowships: Updated Nomination Process

Tuesday, March 24, 2026, 2:30 – 3:30 PM Eastern Time
Registration for this event will be open March 6 – March 23, 2026.

This event is intended for Members of the American Folklore Society and cohort members of the Folk Arts Partnership Professional Development Institute. Not sure if you’re an AFS Member? Log into your membership portal to check or renew. Not a member of AFS or the FAP PDI? Reach out to Heritage@arts.gov for questions about making a nomination.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is now accepting nominations for the 2027 NEA National Heritage Fellowships, 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 Chairman. Nominations for the National Heritage Fellowship are accepted annually with an upcoming nomination deadline of May 11^th, 2026, for the 2027 class of Fellows. 

In this session, NEA Folk & Traditional Arts staff will provide a brief overview of the Fellowship opportunity, outline the nomination process including new updates, and take questions. More information about how to make a nomination is available at https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/make-a-national-heritage-fellowship-nomination.

Presented by: 

Zack Bekowies, NEA Assistant Grants Management Specialist 

Zack Bekowies is an Assistant Grants Management Specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts. Zack received his Ph.D. in Romance Languages & Literatures from the University of California, Berkeley in 2023, where he studied the cults of personality around Fascist Italy’s Benito Mussolini and communist Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu as systems of communicative visual culture. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, playing games, and, when possible, traveling.

Jennie Terman, NEA Folk & Traditional Arts Specialist

Jennie Terman is Folk & Traditional Arts Specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts. Prior to joining the NEA, Terman led discussion classes in ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland; worked at arts and culture festivals in Washington, D.C.; served as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Pocahontas County Opera House in West Virginia; and taught language and culture through music and dance in Japan. She holds a M.A. in ethnomusicology with a graduate certificate in museum scholarship and material culture, and a certificate in arts and culture strategy. She likes to spend the rare free time she has in the woods and/or playing music.

Erin Waylor, NEA Programs & Partnerships Coordinator

Erin Waylor is currently a coordinator at the National Endowment for the Arts, helping to provide management of the Folk & Traditional Arts, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works, and Dance arts disciplines. She is also a lead team member on agency ad hoc groups for Freedom 250/America250 and Native Arts. Prior to becoming a coordinator, Erin was Challenge America specialist and an assistant grants management specialist at the NEA. Erin earned a M.A. in arts administration from American University in Washington, DC, and an undergraduate degree from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA. In her free time, she loves attending live music and theater productions.

Interpreters

ASL interpretation will be provided by Sherry Hicks, MFA and Shaundra Dunn, a member of the ASL Collective at Indigenous Ways.

Accommodations

This session will be closed captioned and will provide ASL and Spanish interpretation. Email pro.dev@afsnet.org with the subject “NEA NHF Webinar Accommodations” by March 17 to let us know how we can provide accommodations to support your full participation.

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.