New Jersey Council on Arts offers folks arts apprenticeship grants

TRENTON, N.J. - The New Jersey State Council on the Arts (NJSCA) is now distributing guidelines and applications for its 2002-2003 Folk Arts Apprenticeship Grant Program.

The Folk Arts Apprenticeship grants - intended to support the passing on of the traditional arts and crafts of New Jersey's many different cultural communities - help folk artists develop their skills through an apprenticeship with a master artist or craftsperson of shared community.

To receive an application, artists should contact the NJSCA Folk Arts Program at (609) 292-6130 or (609) 633-1186 (TTY), or access the application from the council's website at www.njartscouncil.org. The NJSCA will hold six application workshops at sites around the state to assist artists with the application process.

According to NJSCA Acting Executive Director David Miller, "The council recognizes that diversity is one of New Jersey's most significant and valuable characteristics, and that our many geographic and demographic settings are interwoven with communities whose traditional folk arts and crafts are valued ways of expressing identity and strengthening group ties. Support for these traditional arts and artists celebrate our diversity, preserve important artforms and help all of us appreciate the importance of art to life and vibrant communities."

The Folk Arts Apprenticeship awards are stipends for apprentices to offset the cost of working with master artists. The masters help these learning folk artists develop their skills in their shared cultural community. This year the council set priorities for support that preserves rare art forms, endangered languages, community-based arts versus those that are acquired in formal ways, and artforms not previously supported in the program.

The apprenticeship grants range from $1,000 to $3,000, and the deadline for submission of applications is April 19. To be eligible an applicant must be 18 years of age. The awards will be announced at the NJSCA's annual meeting in July.

The application process requires that each interested folk arts apprentice apply with a master artist as a team by providing information on their shared artistic, community and cultural backgrounds, their planned scope of work, and audio-visual materials that detail their level of skill and preparation. The teams may carry out their work over the course of 12 months or less, and may also have the opportunity to present their craft and traditions to other audiences as well as to their own communities.

Over the last six years the council's Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program has assisted more than 50 artists, who comprise a wide spectrum of traditional arts and crafts, including Filipino calligraphy and rondalla music; Puerto Rican cuatro building and the traditional jibaro music it plays, and African-derived bomba music; Portuguese folk dance and button accordion music; Native American song and women's dance; Barnegat Bay region decoy-carving; Ukrainian pysanky; Japanese ceremonial kimekomi dolls and taiko music; African American gospel music, folk song and social dance; South Indian mrdangam and tabla drumming; Pinelands region basket-making; Jewish Romaniote chant; West African drumming and dance; Jamaican pottery; Bengali folk song and ritual painting; Irish set dancing, and many other forms of folk art.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts is a division of the New Jersey Department of State. It receives funding through direct appropriations from the State of New Jersey and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Since 1966, its volunteer members and professional staff have worked to improve the quality of life for New Jersey, its people and communities by helping the arts to flourish. Further information regarding the arts is located on an interactive website http://www.jerseyarts.com, and via a toll-free hotline, 1-800 THE ARTS.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 3, 2002, No. 9, Vol. LXX

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