Awards of up to $3,000 for Apprentices to train with Artist Mentors in the Folk and Traditional Arts of Texas

Texas Folklife has made the 2021 application for the Apprenticeships in the Folk Arts Program available to the public. The application along with program guidelines, a video overview of the program, and additional information are available on the Texas Folklife site. Deadline for applications is Tuesday, December 1, 2020, at 5:PM.

Texas Folklife’s Apprenticeship Program provides awards of up to $3,000 for artist mentors to offer intensive, one-on-one training in a specific traditional art form or cultural practice to dedicated apprentices for six to eight months. With support and assistance from Texas Folklife, each selected artist team implements a self-designed and directed work plan and presents a final public presentation that showcases the results of its training.

What are the Folk & Traditional Arts?
Folk and traditional arts are transmitted, engaged, and reinvigorated within communities whose members often share a common heritage, language, religion, occupation, or region. The folk and traditional arts not only are rooted in and reflective of but actively shape a community’s values, aesthetic ideals, and life experiences. Expressing this common ethos, these artistic traditions are typically passed on from one generation to the next, or from one community member to another, through extended periods of observation, demonstration, conversation, and practice.

An artist mentor is someone who is recognized by their community and peers for expertise in a particular traditional art form. As someone who studies under an artist mentor, an apprentice demonstrates an intention to enhance their established skills and cultural understanding of the art form as well as a long-term commitment to carrying the tradition forward.

Who Can Apply?
Texas Folklife welcomes applications from all folk art traditions that have been brought to, taken root in, or are indigenous to Texas. From conjunto accordion, horse saddlery, and chair caning to Micronesian stick dancing, West African dance-drumming, and Native American healing arts, the Apprenticeship Program has awarded apprenticeships to over 250 practitioners of a diverse selection of cultural practices.

Artist mentors and apprentices should apply together and submit one application. Apprentices must reside in Texas; artist mentors may reside in Texas or the four surrounding states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. There are no age requirements for an artist mentor or apprentice to apply.

Program Summary:
Applications are due December 1, 2020 by 5:PM. A review panel made up of folk and traditional arts specialists as well as past program participants will meet in December to evaluate applications. Applicants will be notified of their awards in January 2021. Program awardees will participate in an interview with Texas Folklife in which they will discuss their experience with the tradition, its significance to their community, and demonstrate skills, techniques, or lessons learned during their apprenticeship. Each artist team will also showcase the results of its training in a public performance at the conclusion of the apprenticeship period.

Texas Folklife’s Apprenticeship Program supports the continuity, transmission, and celebration of our state’s extraordinary cultural traditions,” said Executive Director Charlie Lockwood. “Especially during these challenging times, the undertaking of artists and tradition bearers is critical to the health and well-being of communities across Texas. We are committed to supporting the creative resilience of folk and traditional artists as they embrace adaptive approaches to passing on their craft, and sharing that work with the public in exciting new ways.” 

This program is made possible in part by the board and members of Texas Folklife and from a State Partnership award from the National Endowment from the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art, in partnership with the Texas Commission on the Arts. Additional support provided by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division, believing an investment in the Arts is an investment in Austin’s future.

About Texas Folklife:
Texas Folklife is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to the presentation and preservation of the diverse cultures and living heritage of the Lone Star State. Since 1984, Texas Folklife has honored the cultural traditions passed down within communities, explored their importance in contemporary society, and celebrated them by providing accessible and joyful arts experiences.


Media information: Charlie Lockwood (512) 441-9255 / clockwood@texasfolklife.org

Program information: Pete Breithaupt (512) 441-9255 / apprenticeships@texasfolklife.org