Iowa Arts News is a monthly publication of the Iowa Arts Council. If you would like to subscribe, please send us a blank e-mail.
Traditional Arts Tie Cultures Together
Across
Iowa, artists who bring their ethnic traditions to light through music, dance,
visual arts, cooking or crafts work to keep their culture alive and garner appreciation
through public exposure and understanding. These artists offer a glimpse into
art forms that are held sacred, admired and celebrated, or simply conducted so
they will not be lost.
The
Iowa Arts Council works to support traditional artists by offering the Traditional
Arts Apprenticeship program. This program encourages the preservation of Iowa’s
diverse cultures through the arts by providing grants to Master Artists to teach
qualified Apprentices. The deadline for the 2005-2006 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship
Program grants is December 1, 2005.
The Master Artist-Apprentice relationship is special in that highly creative skills are taught and learned individually. There are no classes that teach these skills, only what is in the mind of the Master Artist who is compelled to keep the tradition alive by passing it on to the apprentice.
Examples
of these Master Artist-Apprentice projects include Tai Dam dancing, Mexican Folklorico
dance and Norwegian woodcarving.
“The focus of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship projects funded by the Iowa Arts Council can vary greatly depending on the culture from which they stem,” said Riki Saltzman, program coordinator. “Our goals are to promote the passing of these traditions from one generation to the next so that all Iowans have an opportunity to enjoy them.”
Dwight
Lamb is a fiddler and accordion player from Onawa, Iowa, near the Nebraska border.
As a recipient of the 2005 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program grant, Lamb
now works with Apprentice Roger Simmons to continue the tradition passed on to
him by his father and grandfather.
“I like that the program gives me an opportunity to teach some of these wonderful old pieces to younger musicians,” Lamb said. “Many of these tunes were never written down and were just passed on in this manner. Some of these tunes are hundreds of years old and are wonderful.”
More information on the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program »
