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Zoe van Buren
Folklife Director
(828) 250-3123
Email Zoe
About the apprenticeship program
The North Carolina In These Mountains Appalachian Folklife Apprenticeship program supports 12-month apprenticeships in the folk and traditional arts of the many cultural communities within North Carolina’s Appalachian Regional Commission counties. The apprenticeship program application will focus on the traditional folk arts and culture of North Carolina’s Appalachian communities as part of the In These Mountains project sponsored by South Arts.
About folklife and traditional arts
Folklife is the expressive arts, practices, and lifeways that emerge from within a community. Folklife that is passed through generations grows into the traditional arts of that community. Traditional arts are often deeply rooted in a geographic location and its religious, ethnic and occupational groups, or they are carried with immigrant and migrant communities as they establish themselves in new homes. Folklife and Traditional Arts are typically taught through one-on-one interaction in a community setting. Folklife is an essential and enduring part of how communities form their identity, learn from their pasts, and decide their futures. Folklife is a living and dynamic experience expressed through art, music, dance, celebration, work, story, dress, sense of place, and belief. No community is without it, and we are all its carriers.
What is a mentor artist and an apprentice?
A mentor artist is a tradition bearer committed to the perpetuation of a traditional art form or practice of his or her cultural heritage. Mentor artists are recognized by fellow artists and their own community members as skilled and dedicated practitioners. Applying mentor artists should demonstrate expertise, teaching experience, long engagement with their art form or practice, and deep knowledge of their tradition.
An apprentice is a dedicated student who has been chosen by a mentor artist for a sustained period of study in the mentor’s art form or practice. The apprentice should have some past experience with the mentor’s tradition before beginning an apprenticeship, so that the time together will help develop the apprentice on their own path to mastery. Apprentices and mentors may be family members, and apprentices may have studied under the mentor artist previously. The strongest pairings will share a common community or religious, ethnic, or occupational group. The strongest applicants for apprenticeships will also have the intention to continue the transmission of their art form by training others in the future. Teams of two or three apprentices are eligible to study with one mentor artist if such a learning style is preferable within the tradition.
All applicants must be 18 years or older.
The Appalachian Folklife Apprenticeship program is designed to encourage the continued transmission, practice, and development of the region’s many folklife traditions, especially those that face endangerment. Only apprenticeship pairs within Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) counties are eligible to apply. In North Carolina, these counties are: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Davie, Forsyth, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, McDowell, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Stokes, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yadkin, and Yancey Counties.
Ineligible art forms and activities include the work of contemporary studio craft artists and revivals by mentor artists from outside of the activity’s originating cultural community. While mentors must represent a tradition known and practiced within their North Carolina community, apprentices may come from different backgrounds or cultural communities.
Requirements
The mentor receives a grant award of $7,000. The apprentice receives a grant award of $3,000. Alternative distributions of funding may be considered upon request. Multiple mentor artists or multiple apprentice artists are permitted. In such a situation, the grant award is shared among the recipients (for example, if there are two apprentices, each would receive $1,500). Applicants will describe who is responsible for any supply costs. Typically, the apprentice is expected to cover the cost of supplies.
Apprenticeships will take place from July 1, 2022 through June 31, 2023.
Applications will be reviewed by a panel, and two mentor/apprentice pairings will be selected each year.
Submit your application through the GO Smart grant portal. The mentor(s) and apprentice(s) must submit all materials as a single application. If you are not able to access GO Smart and need to submit a hardcopy through mail or email, please contact Folklife Director Zoe van Buren first at zoe.vanburen@ncdcr.gov or 828-250-3123.
What Makes a Strong Application?
When your application is reviewed by a panel, they will consider both your application materials and the context of your proposed apprenticeship.
Sending Support Materials
Please submit work samples for each individual included in this application. Select work samples that clearly demonstrate the nature of your practice. Applicants are welcome to submit supporting video of themselves at work or in conversation together. For all individual work samples, indicate which artist each sample refers to.
If you need assistance uploading work samples, or need to provide work samples through email or mail, please contact Folklife Director Zoe van Buren for assistance or mailing instructions at zoe.vanburen@ncdcr.gov or 828-250-3123.