folk and traditional arts apprenticeship program

The Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program honors and encourages the preservation of North Dakota's diverse living traditions by providing funding of up to $4,500 for master traditional artists to pass on their skills and knowledge to an apprentice(s) over an extended period of time.

Traditional and folk arts are shared creative expressions of identity passed from generation to generation within a family, community, region, tribe, ethnic group, occupation, or religion. Forms of traditional expression include craft, technical skill, music, dance, and ritual celebration. These art forms are usually passed from one individual to another informally, by word of mouth or by example.

Potential applicants are encouraged to work with people they already know within their own tribal, ethnic, or occupational group or community. Proposals may include unestablished master/apprentice partnerships or already established informal teaching/learning relationships. Most apprenticeships are based on a one-on-one teaching and learning situation. However, for traditions like dance that might require group instruction, a master artist may have up to four apprentices in one application. The Apprenticeship Program also encourages multiple apprentices from the same immediate family learn from a master who is not within the immediate family.

A master may apply for and receive more than one grant if circumstances warrant, especially if the projects involve different artforms.

The grant awards are to be used for a master artist's instruction fee and the cost of supplies and travel for the master and/or apprentice. The length of each apprenticeship will vary according to the proposed work plan, but most apprenticeships last between four and ten months.

Program Outcomes:

• Folk and traditional art forms are passed on between two or more individuals in an ongoing, structured relationship between a master and an apprentice(s).
• North Dakota communities are enriched because folk and traditional art forms are practiced, preserved, and shared.
• Greater public awareness, increased knowledge, and documentation of folk arts is achieved.