2024-2025 Central Appalachian Living Traditions Folk and Traditional Arts Experiences
Grantees Announced
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Image: Jim Grant demonstrates woodturning on a lathe at the Floyd, Virginia, Living Traditions Festival. Credit: Rob Simmons/Floyd Community Center for the Arts.
Baltimore – February 27, 2024 – Mid Atlantic Arts’ Central Appalachian Living Traditions (CALT) program is proud to announce the 2024-2025 recipients of the CALT Folk and Traditional Arts Experiences grant. The CALT Experiences program funds public-facing projects and events in the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC)-designated counties in Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. These programs unite community members around traditional arts and cultural knowledge to increase public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of living traditions.
Non-profit organizations and individual folk arts practitioners will receive support between $1,000 and $10,000 with no match requirement.
The 2024-2025 grantees are:
Ohio
- Southern Ohio Folklife – Performing and Tracing the Blues (Portsmouth, OH)
Virginia
- Floyd Community Center for the Arts, Inc. – Second Annual Floyd Living Traditions Festival: Homegrown and Handed Down! (Floyd, VA)
- Handmade Music School – Handmade Music School Shares Living Traditions at FloydFest 2024 (Floyd, VA)
- L. Renée – Black Appalachian Inheritances: McDowell County, West Virginia, Stories (Harrisonburg, VA)
- MidMountain – Fatal Femme Agency: Reclaiming the Appalachian Murder Ballad (Natural Bridge Station, VA)
- Montgomery Museum of Art & History – Cultural Crossroads in Traditional Appalachian Music and Dance (Christiansburg, VA)
West Virginia
- Aristotle Jones – Appalachian Soul Man: “Streets of Osage” Musical Storyteller Tour through Ohio and Virginia (Morgantown, WV)
- Augusta Heritage Center, Inc. – Post-Pandemic Reconnection: Fiddler’s Reunion and Square Dances (Elkins, WV)
- Dakota Carper – Growing Callers: Community Music and Square Dance Initiative (Capon Bridge, WV)
- Huntington Museum of Art, Inc. – Look-Listen-Move Arts Integrated Tour (Huntington, WV)
- Huntington Old Time Dance and Music, Inc. – Teaching a Diverse Population to Square Dance and Play Old-Time Music Through Hands-On Classes and Dances (Huntington, WV)
- Putnam County Parks and Recreation – Putnam County Music Festival (Hurricane, WV)
- RiffRaff Arts Collective, Inc. – CultureFest in our Communities: Expanding Impact, Deepening Understanding, Connecting Youth to Cultural Roots (Princeton, WV)
- River House, Inc. – FolkLife Series III (Capon Bridge, WV)
- Step by Step, Inc. – Appalachian Blues Camp (Charleston, WV)
- West Virginia Humanities Council – An Archival and Ethnographic Survey of the Mountain Weavers Guild (Charleston, WV)
The grant review process was overseen by a panel of folk and traditional artists and arts professionals based in the ARC counties. The 2024-2025 panelists were:
- Fameika Elliot: Foodways educator and founder of food justice organization Rooted East Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
- Susan Feller: Fiber artist and Tamarack Foundation Board Member (Augusta, WV)
- Matt Lamb: Creative Director of Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center (Windber, PA)
- Edwin Martell: Former Portsmouth City Councilman and community arts advocate (Portsmouth, OH)
- Kiran Singh Sirah: “Storytelling for Change” artist, folklorist, and former President of the International Storytelling Center (Johnson City, TN)
Learn more about the Central Appalachian Living Traditions Folk and Traditional Arts Experiences program and past grantees here.
About Mid Atlantic Arts
Mid Atlantic Arts supports artists, presenters, and organizations through unique programming, grant support, partnerships, and information sharing. Created in 1979, Mid Atlantic Arts is aligned with the region’s state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts. We combine state and federal funding with private support from corporations, foundations, and individuals to nurture diverse artistic expression while connecting people to meaningful arts experiences within our region and beyond. To learn more about Mid Atlantic Arts visit www.midatlanticarts.org.
Contact:
Mackenzie Kwok
Communications and Social Media Manager
Mid Atlantic Arts
mkwok@midatlanticarts.org
410.539.6656 x123