The West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program offers a $3,500 award to West Virginia master traditional artists or tradition bearers working with qualified apprentices on a year-long in-depth apprenticeship in their cultural expression or traditional art form. These apprenticeships of traditional music, dance, craft, foodways, storytelling, and more—in any cultural community in the Mountain State—facilitate the transmission of techniques and artistry of the forms as well as their histories and traditions. Artists and their proposed apprentice must apply together.
Our 2022-2023 Folklife Apprenticeship Program will run from September 1, 2022-September 1, 2023.
Read posts about the West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program and meet past and current apprentice teams here.
For more details, eligibility information, and an application, download our Folklife Apprenticeship Guidelines and Folklife Apprenticeship Application documents:
2022 Folklilfe Apprenticeship Guidelines
2022 Folklife Apprenticeship Application
The deadline to submit an application to the West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program has been extended to August 8, 2022.
On April 19, 2022, The West Virginia Folklife Program hosted a showcase at the historic MacFarland-Hubbard house in Charleston to celebrate midwife Angelita Nixon of Putnam County and her apprentice Christine Weirick of Fayette County, West Virginia. As participants of the 2020-2021 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, they explored the creative expression and storytelling aspects of homebirth midwifery.
Find all the Folklife Apprenticeship videos here on YouTube.
The West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
