KENTUCKY ARTS COUNCIL NEWS RELEASE Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet

Jan.   15, 2015   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Tom Musgrave   Communications Director   502-564-3757, ext. 489   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Deadline Feb. 15 for apprenticeship grant

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Folk and traditional art has a rich history of being handed down from generation to generation, and in recognition of this heritage, the Kentucky Arts Council (KAC) offers grants to folk and traditional master artists to help them pass knowledge to skilled apprentices.KAC's Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant provides up to $3,000 to a Kentucky master traditional artist to teach skills, practices and culture to a less experienced artist from the same community during the course of a year.Applicants must be folk and traditional artists who are considered masters within their community and who have identified an apprentice from the same community who has potential to become a master. Both master and apprentice must be Kentucky residents.
"Kentucky has a bountiful community of knowledgeable and experienced folk and traditional artists, and their skills need to be passed on to artists who have demonstrated talent at the beginning of their respective careers," said Lori Meadows, arts council executive director. "This program helps pair the right master with the right apprentice, ensuring the survival of their shared art form."Master quilter Patricia Brennan, of Fort Thomas, was a Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant recipient in 2014. She said receiving the award was a blessing and a responsibility."Knowing that you are a master quilter makes you take extra care. I tried really hard to live up to the award, to make sure my quilting was the best I could make it," Brennan said. "It took me to new level of expertise. I learned from my apprentice as well as she learned from me."Brennan added that without the grant money, she and her apprentice, Helen Bailey, would not have been able to produce the quilts they were able to or have the experiences they did."I spent grant money on good materials, and that was wonderful. I don't think we would have been as dedicated or committed to meeting as often if we didn't have that foundation," she said. "We were ambitious in what we were going to do. We wanted to keep that commitment."The grant application deadline is Feb. 15. Visit the Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant page of the arts council's website for more information or contact Mark Brown, arts council folk and traditional arts director, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 502-564-8110, ext. 495.The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, fosters environments for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts.