2025 NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award Public Ceremony
Join us as we honor the 2025 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellows in a live ceremony in Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress, September 17, 2025, 5:30pm-6:45pm. The NEA National Heritage Fellowship is the nation's highest honor in folk and traditional arts. Each year since 1982, the program recognizes recipients' artistic excellence, lifetime achievement, and contributions to our nation's traditional…
Contributor:
Marsh, Ernie - Baron, Carmen - Mahlay, Oleh - Chauveaux, Tony - Tamayo, Steven - Guerrier, Peniel - Reiko, Adrienne - Saylor, Nicole - Hladyshevsky, Andrew - Thibeaux, Kristen - Deychakiwsky, Nick
Date:2025-09-17
Film, Video
Conversation with Joe Johnson
Joe Zavaan Johnson is a multi-instrumentalist, arts educator, and Black music researcher. He is an Ethnomusicology Ph.D. Candidate at Indiana University-Bloomington where he is completing a dissertation that examines the Black banjo renaissance through the lenses of Black studies, human geography, folklore, and ethnomusicology. Johnson frequently collaborates with grassroots organizations focused on coalition building, community healing, and cultural reparations.
Contributor:
Johnson, Joe - Fenn, John
Date:2025-08-28
Film, Video
Black Banjo Bodylands: (Co-)Constructions of a Musical Instrument
Joe Johnson's presentation theorizes the banjo as a Black diasporic site of ritual, memory, and ancestral resistance. Mobilizing Ana Maurine Laura's concept of "Bodylands," this presentation examines the (co-)constructions of banjos and the Black bodies who activate them as ancestral technology. It highlights how Black practitioners claim the instrument through spiritual, material, and organizational practices by tracing the banjo's trajectory from its 17th-century Caribbean…
Contributor:
Johnson, Joe - Fenn, John
Date:2025-08-28
Film, Video
Homegrown Concert with Artist in Resonance The Creek Rocks
The exciting old time duo The Creek Rocks, the recipients of the 2024 Artists in Resonance Fellowship from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, bring old songs back to the Library in shiny new arrangements! Accomplished singer and banjo player Cindy Woolf and veteran guitarist and singer Mark Bilyeu established the group in 2015. Much of their work has been interpreting…
Contributor:
Bilyeu, Mark - Woolf, Cindy
Date:2025-08-21
Film, Video
Conversation with The Creek Rocks
Accomplished singer and banjo player Cindy Woolf and veteran guitarist and singer Mark Bilyeu established The Creek Rocks in 2015. Much of their work has been interpreting the traditional music of the Ozarks region. The Artists in Resonance Fellowship provided Cindy and Mark the opportunity to immerse themselves in the field recordings of folklorist Sidney Robertson Cowell, who in December 1936 and January 1937…
Contributor:
Cutting, Jennifer - Bilyeu, Mark - Winick, Stephen - Woolf, Cindy
Date:2025-08-21
Film, Video
Conversation with The Henhouse Prowlers Interview
The Henhouse Prowlers are an American four-piece band who have been playing together and promote bluegrass music for 20 years. All four members possess a knack for storytelling, compelling songwriting and intricate instrumentation. Working with the US State Department and under their own nonprofit, Bluegrass Ambassadors, the Prowlers have toured more than 25 countries across the globe. The group's experiences with people and musicians…
Contributor:
Goldfine, Jon - Dollar, Chris - Winick, Stephen - Wright, Ben - Howard, Jake
Date:2025-08-14
Film, Video
The Henhouse Prowlers Bluegrass Concert
After two decades of touring and performing, bluegrass quartet the Henhouse Prowlers proudly look to the future, expressing their passion for music and humanity. Banjoist Ben Wright and upright bassist Jon Goldfine have been the heart of the band since its inception, while guitarist Chris Dollar and mandolinist Jake Howard (who joined 7 and 5 years ago respectively) bring fresh energy to the band's…
Contributor:
Dollar, Chris - Wright, Ben - Howard, Jake - Goldfine, Jon
Date:2025-08-14
Film, Video
El Motor: Coffee and the Heart of Puerto Rico
"El Motor: Coffee and the Heart of Puerto Rico" immerses viewers in the world of Puerto Rican coffee, revealing how this cherished crop serves as both economic lifeline and cultural heartbeat. Through intimate portraits of generational farmers, dedicated harvesters, and innovative processors, "El Motor" uncovers the profound relationship between the land, its people, and the coffee that has shaped Puerto Rico's identity for centuries.…
Contributor:
Atienza, Roberto - Suárez, Mariana - Roig, Luis - Muñoz, Rafael - Pintado, Ignacio - Caraballo, Gessellie - Roig, Tato - Pardue, Douglas - Masini, Angela - Muñoz, Pablo - Beauchamp, Gabriel - Giuliani, Joseph - Rodriguez, Remy - Morales, Bernardo - Arroyo, Gustavo
Date:2025-06-25
Film, Video
Bayou, Buddha, and Padaek: Southern Louisiana's Lao Foodways
"Bayou, Buddha, and Padaek: Southern Louisiana's Lao Foodways" is a two-part documentary that delves into the rich culinary traditions of the Lao Buddhist immigrant community in Louisiana. Through vibrant storytelling and intimate interviews with first, second and third generations, the film uncovers how these unique foodways are woven into the fabric of an existing Cajun and Creole culture, highlighting the fusion of flavors and…
Conversation with Susana Behar
Susana Behar sat down with Stephen Winick to discuss her concert at the Library. For almost 20 years, she has focused her artistic career on the preservation and performance of the Sephardic musical repertoire. Passionate about the richness of traditional music and its connection to cultural memory and storytelling, she has performed across the U.S., Latin America, Canada, Israel, and Japan. In 2017 she…
Contributor:
Winick, Stephen - Behar, Susana
Date:2025-05-22
Film, Video
Susana Behar Ensemble
Susana Behar was born in Havana to a Cuban family with roots in the Sephardic community of Turkey. From an early age, she was immersed in the traditional music of her homeland as well as the evocative kantikas in Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) passed down by her grandparents. In 1965 she emigrated to Venezuela, where she started to explore and perform the music of her adoptive…
Contributor:
Behar, Susana
Date:2025-05-21
Film, Video
The Medical Carnivalesque: Folklore Among Physicians with Lisa Gabbert
This lecture provides an overview of the occupational folklore that exists among physicians in the United States today. Much of this folklore is humorous; it can also be earthy and even quite dark. Gabbert focuses on folklore that emerges in physician-to-physician communication, arguing that the content and themes that emerge are strikingly parallel to the ones identified by Mikhail Bakhtin in his concept of…
Contributor:
Gabbert, Lisa
Date:2025-05-20
Film, Video
Conversation with Lisa Gabbert
This entry in the Benjamin Botkin Folklife Lecture Series offers an overview of the occupational folklore that exists among physicians in the United States today. Much of this folklore is humorous, but it can also be earthy and quite dark. Lisa Gabbert is a Professor of Folklore Studies in the Department of English and Director of the Folklore Program at Utah State University. Her…
Contributor:
Gabbert, Lisa - Groce, Nancy
Date:2025-05-20
Film, Video
Conversation with Ensemble Sangineto
Ensemble Sangineto is one of the most popular folk groups on the Italian scene, comprised of three talented singers and instrumentalists. Adriano and Caterina Sangineto are twins; Adriano plays Celtic harp and Caterina plays bowed psaltery and flute. Jacopo Ventura rounds out the trio on guitar and bouzouki. The group sings in three-part harmony, with Caterina's clear voice taking the lead. The Sanginetos are…
Ensemble Sangineto: Traditional Music from Italy
The ensemble Sangineto is one of the most popular folk groups on the Italian scene, comprised of three talented singers and instrumentalists. Adriano and Caterina Sangineto are twins -- Adriano plays Celtic harp and Caterina plays bowed psaltery. Jacopo Ventura rounds out the trio on guitar. The group sings in three-part harmony, with Caterina's clear voice taking the lead. The Sanginetos are children of…
Documenting Ourselves: Impacts, Outcomes & Insights (Session 4)
The fourth of four sessions in a day-long public symposium on the Library's Community Collections Grant program (2022-2024) featured presentations by awardees on their grant-supported cultural documentation projects. This session featured JW Newson, Douglas Taylor, Tameshia Rudd-Ridge and Jourdan Brunson.
Documenting Ourselves: Impacts, Outcomes & Insights (Session 3)
The third of four sessions in a day-long public symposium on the Library's Community Collections Grant program (2022-2024) featured presentations by awardees on their grant-supported cultural documentation projects. This session featured Tammy Greer and Boots Lupenui.
Contributor:
Lupenui, Boots - Greer, Tammy
Date:2025-04-11
Film, Video
Documenting Ourselves: Impacts, Outcomes & Insights (Session 1)
The first of four sessions in a day-long public symposium on the Library's Community Collections Grant program (2022-2024) featured presentations by awardees on their grant-supported cultural documentation projects. This session featured Myron Jackson and Sandra A.M. Bell.
Contributor:
Bell, Sandra A. M. - Jackson, Myron
Date:2025-04-10
Film, Video
Kohala Mountain Boys: Traditional Music from Hawai'i Island
Led by Boots Lupenui, the Kohala Mountain Boys are committed to uncovering and preserving musical treasures that helped to define the moku of Kohala on Hawai'i Island. Old-time Kohala music is soulful, playful, poetic and fierce, the manifold voice of a vibrant and extraordinary people. We want to recover and share the heirloom songs currently known only to a few isolated and precious old…
Documenting Ourselves: Impacts, Outcomes & Insights (Session 2)
The second of four sessions in a day-long public symposium on the Library's Community Collections Grant program (2022-2024) featured presentations by awardees on their grant-supported cultural documentation projects. This session featured Kamilah Thurmon, Junious Brickhouse and Phanat Xanamane.
Conversation with Boots Lupenui
Led by Boots Lupenui, The Kohala Mountain Boys are committed to uncovering and preserving musical treasures that helped to define the moku of Kohala on Hawai'i Island. Lupenui was selected as a 2022 awardee of the AFC Community Collections Grant to document unrecorded or "heirloom songs" of the Kohala region of the Big island of Hawai'i.
Contributor:
Fenn, John - Lupenui, Boots
Date:2025-04-09
Film, Video
Louis Michot and Leyla McCalla from Louisiana
Louis Michot and Leyla McCalla performed traditional French-language music from Louisiana. Louis Michot is a fiddle player and lead singer for the Grammy-award-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers. He is passionate about Louisiana French and local folklore. These interests fuel his career as a musician. In addition to fiddle and vocals, Louis plays guitar, bass, ti-fer (triangle), and accordion--all the instruments of a typical Cajun band.…
Contributor:
McCalla, Leyla - Michot, Louis
Date:2025-03-26
Film, Video
Conversation with Louis Michot and Leyla McCalla
Louis Michot and Leyla McCalla sit down with Stephen Winick of the American Folklife Center to discuss their personal musical histories prior to their concert at the Library. Louis Michot is best known as the fiddle player and lead singer for the Grammy-award-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers. He is passionate about Louisiana French and local folklore, and about sustainability in the fastest disappearing landmass in…
Contributor:
McCalla, Leyla - Winick, Stephen - Michot, Louis
Date:2025-03-26
Film, Video
Documenting COVID-19
Every American was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. But every American's experience of the COVID-19 pandemic was different. On March 11th, exactly five years since COVID-19 was designated as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, this panel discussion will bring together four documentarians of the COVID-19 pandemic to explore what it means to undertake cultural documentation in various communities during a public health…
Contributor:
Musgrave, Nicole - Peach, Douglas - Martin, Allie - Dellinger, Midge - Vergara, Camilo Jose
Date:2025-03-11
Film, Video
Colleen Power: Cod Liver Oil
Newfoundland singer/songwriter Colleen Power performing "Cod Liver Oil," from a field recording of singer John Myrick, recorded by MacEdward Leach in St. Shott's, Newfoundland, Canada, in 1951. From the MacEdward Leach collection of Newfoundland recordings, 1951 (AFC 1968/013). The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress challenged musical artists to interpret material from its unparalleled archive of ethnographic recordings of traditional folk music.…
Contributor:
Power, Colleen
Date:2025-02-22
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Film, Video2025 NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award Public Ceremony Join us as we honor the 2025 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellows in a live ceremony in Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress, September 17, 2025, 5:30pm-6:45pm. The NEA National Heritage Fellowship is the nation's highest honor in folk and traditional arts. Each year since 1982, the program recognizes recipients' artistic excellence, lifetime achievement, and contributions to our nation's traditional…
Film, VideoConversation with Joe Johnson Joe Zavaan Johnson is a multi-instrumentalist, arts educator, and Black music researcher. He is an Ethnomusicology Ph.D. Candidate at Indiana University-Bloomington where he is completing a dissertation that examines the Black banjo renaissance through the lenses of Black studies, human geography, folklore, and ethnomusicology. Johnson frequently collaborates with grassroots organizations focused on coalition building, community healing, and cultural reparations.
Film, VideoBlack Banjo Bodylands: (Co-)Constructions of a Musical Instrument Joe Johnson's presentation theorizes the banjo as a Black diasporic site of ritual, memory, and ancestral resistance. Mobilizing Ana Maurine Laura's concept of "Bodylands," this presentation examines the (co-)constructions of banjos and the Black bodies who activate them as ancestral technology. It highlights how Black practitioners claim the instrument through spiritual, material, and organizational practices by tracing the banjo's trajectory from its 17th-century Caribbean…
Film, VideoHomegrown Concert with Artist in Resonance The Creek Rocks The exciting old time duo The Creek Rocks, the recipients of the 2024 Artists in Resonance Fellowship from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, bring old songs back to the Library in shiny new arrangements! Accomplished singer and banjo player Cindy Woolf and veteran guitarist and singer Mark Bilyeu established the group in 2015. Much of their work has been interpreting…
Film, VideoConversation with The Creek Rocks Accomplished singer and banjo player Cindy Woolf and veteran guitarist and singer Mark Bilyeu established The Creek Rocks in 2015. Much of their work has been interpreting the traditional music of the Ozarks region. The Artists in Resonance Fellowship provided Cindy and Mark the opportunity to immerse themselves in the field recordings of folklorist Sidney Robertson Cowell, who in December 1936 and January 1937…
Film, VideoConversation with The Henhouse Prowlers Interview The Henhouse Prowlers are an American four-piece band who have been playing together and promote bluegrass music for 20 years. All four members possess a knack for storytelling, compelling songwriting and intricate instrumentation. Working with the US State Department and under their own nonprofit, Bluegrass Ambassadors, the Prowlers have toured more than 25 countries across the globe. The group's experiences with people and musicians…
Film, VideoThe Henhouse Prowlers Bluegrass Concert After two decades of touring and performing, bluegrass quartet the Henhouse Prowlers proudly look to the future, expressing their passion for music and humanity. Banjoist Ben Wright and upright bassist Jon Goldfine have been the heart of the band since its inception, while guitarist Chris Dollar and mandolinist Jake Howard (who joined 7 and 5 years ago respectively) bring fresh energy to the band's…
Film, VideoEl Motor: Coffee and the Heart of Puerto Rico "El Motor: Coffee and the Heart of Puerto Rico" immerses viewers in the world of Puerto Rican coffee, revealing how this cherished crop serves as both economic lifeline and cultural heartbeat. Through intimate portraits of generational farmers, dedicated harvesters, and innovative processors, "El Motor" uncovers the profound relationship between the land, its people, and the coffee that has shaped Puerto Rico's identity for centuries.…
Film, VideoBayou, Buddha, and Padaek: Southern Louisiana's Lao Foodways "Bayou, Buddha, and Padaek: Southern Louisiana's Lao Foodways" is a two-part documentary that delves into the rich culinary traditions of the Lao Buddhist immigrant community in Louisiana. Through vibrant storytelling and intimate interviews with first, second and third generations, the film uncovers how these unique foodways are woven into the fabric of an existing Cajun and Creole culture, highlighting the fusion of flavors and…
Film, VideoConversation with Susana Behar Susana Behar sat down with Stephen Winick to discuss her concert at the Library. For almost 20 years, she has focused her artistic career on the preservation and performance of the Sephardic musical repertoire. Passionate about the richness of traditional music and its connection to cultural memory and storytelling, she has performed across the U.S., Latin America, Canada, Israel, and Japan. In 2017 she…
Film, VideoSusana Behar Ensemble Susana Behar was born in Havana to a Cuban family with roots in the Sephardic community of Turkey. From an early age, she was immersed in the traditional music of her homeland as well as the evocative kantikas in Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) passed down by her grandparents. In 1965 she emigrated to Venezuela, where she started to explore and perform the music of her adoptive…
Film, VideoThe Medical Carnivalesque: Folklore Among Physicians with Lisa Gabbert This lecture provides an overview of the occupational folklore that exists among physicians in the United States today. Much of this folklore is humorous; it can also be earthy and even quite dark. Gabbert focuses on folklore that emerges in physician-to-physician communication, arguing that the content and themes that emerge are strikingly parallel to the ones identified by Mikhail Bakhtin in his concept of…
Film, VideoConversation with Lisa Gabbert This entry in the Benjamin Botkin Folklife Lecture Series offers an overview of the occupational folklore that exists among physicians in the United States today. Much of this folklore is humorous, but it can also be earthy and quite dark. Lisa Gabbert is a Professor of Folklore Studies in the Department of English and Director of the Folklore Program at Utah State University. Her…
Film, VideoConversation with Ensemble Sangineto Ensemble Sangineto is one of the most popular folk groups on the Italian scene, comprised of three talented singers and instrumentalists. Adriano and Caterina Sangineto are twins; Adriano plays Celtic harp and Caterina plays bowed psaltery and flute. Jacopo Ventura rounds out the trio on guitar and bouzouki. The group sings in three-part harmony, with Caterina's clear voice taking the lead. The Sanginetos are…
Film, VideoEnsemble Sangineto: Traditional Music from Italy The ensemble Sangineto is one of the most popular folk groups on the Italian scene, comprised of three talented singers and instrumentalists. Adriano and Caterina Sangineto are twins -- Adriano plays Celtic harp and Caterina plays bowed psaltery. Jacopo Ventura rounds out the trio on guitar. The group sings in three-part harmony, with Caterina's clear voice taking the lead. The Sanginetos are children of…
Film, VideoDocumenting Ourselves: Impacts, Outcomes & Insights (Session 4) The fourth of four sessions in a day-long public symposium on the Library's Community Collections Grant program (2022-2024) featured presentations by awardees on their grant-supported cultural documentation projects. This session featured JW Newson, Douglas Taylor, Tameshia Rudd-Ridge and Jourdan Brunson.
Film, VideoDocumenting Ourselves: Impacts, Outcomes & Insights (Session 3) The third of four sessions in a day-long public symposium on the Library's Community Collections Grant program (2022-2024) featured presentations by awardees on their grant-supported cultural documentation projects. This session featured Tammy Greer and Boots Lupenui.
Film, VideoDocumenting Ourselves: Impacts, Outcomes & Insights (Session 1) The first of four sessions in a day-long public symposium on the Library's Community Collections Grant program (2022-2024) featured presentations by awardees on their grant-supported cultural documentation projects. This session featured Myron Jackson and Sandra A.M. Bell.
Film, VideoKohala Mountain Boys: Traditional Music from Hawai'i Island Led by Boots Lupenui, the Kohala Mountain Boys are committed to uncovering and preserving musical treasures that helped to define the moku of Kohala on Hawai'i Island. Old-time Kohala music is soulful, playful, poetic and fierce, the manifold voice of a vibrant and extraordinary people. We want to recover and share the heirloom songs currently known only to a few isolated and precious old…
Film, VideoDocumenting Ourselves: Impacts, Outcomes & Insights (Session 2) The second of four sessions in a day-long public symposium on the Library's Community Collections Grant program (2022-2024) featured presentations by awardees on their grant-supported cultural documentation projects. This session featured Kamilah Thurmon, Junious Brickhouse and Phanat Xanamane.
Film, VideoConversation with Boots Lupenui Led by Boots Lupenui, The Kohala Mountain Boys are committed to uncovering and preserving musical treasures that helped to define the moku of Kohala on Hawai'i Island. Lupenui was selected as a 2022 awardee of the AFC Community Collections Grant to document unrecorded or "heirloom songs" of the Kohala region of the Big island of Hawai'i.
Film, VideoLouis Michot and Leyla McCalla from Louisiana Louis Michot and Leyla McCalla performed traditional French-language music from Louisiana. Louis Michot is a fiddle player and lead singer for the Grammy-award-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers. He is passionate about Louisiana French and local folklore. These interests fuel his career as a musician. In addition to fiddle and vocals, Louis plays guitar, bass, ti-fer (triangle), and accordion--all the instruments of a typical Cajun band.…
Film, VideoConversation with Louis Michot and Leyla McCalla Louis Michot and Leyla McCalla sit down with Stephen Winick of the American Folklife Center to discuss their personal musical histories prior to their concert at the Library. Louis Michot is best known as the fiddle player and lead singer for the Grammy-award-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers. He is passionate about Louisiana French and local folklore, and about sustainability in the fastest disappearing landmass in…
Film, VideoDocumenting COVID-19 Every American was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. But every American's experience of the COVID-19 pandemic was different. On March 11th, exactly five years since COVID-19 was designated as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, this panel discussion will bring together four documentarians of the COVID-19 pandemic to explore what it means to undertake cultural documentation in various communities during a public health…
Film, VideoColleen Power: Cod Liver Oil Newfoundland singer/songwriter Colleen Power performing "Cod Liver Oil," from a field recording of singer John Myrick, recorded by MacEdward Leach in St. Shott's, Newfoundland, Canada, in 1951. From the MacEdward Leach collection of Newfoundland recordings, 1951 (AFC 1968/013). The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress challenged musical artists to interpret material from its unparalleled archive of ethnographic recordings of traditional folk music.…