Missouri Folk Arts Program Awarded a Missouri Humanities Grant for Speakers Series

Missouri Humanities has awarded a $12,550 grant to the Missouri Folk Arts Program to support an event series that shares the meaning and matter of its Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP), one of the oldest and longest-running efforts of its kind in the country.

“Our Missouri Humanities grant provides us the opportunity to celebrate TAAP’s four decades and, by extension, hundreds of traditional artists who have participated over the years,” says Lisa Higgins, director of Missouri Folk Arts Program. “Every TAAP team from 1985 to the present has illustrated in word and practice how folk art is rooted in the past, practiced in the present, and sustained for the future. This special lecture series offers audiences the opportunity to hear some of those stories.”

The grant-funded speaker series, titled “Forty Years of Missouri’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program – history, context, and impact,” features six events held throughout the state. Featured speakers include early project leaders and a sampling of participating artists, including blacksmiths, storytellers, and traditional dancers. These speakers will draw from their personal experiences in TAAP and from Missouri Folk Arts’ archival collection housed at The State Historical Society of Missouri. Lectures also will be recorded, posted, and archived for greater access to audiences.

The first event is scheduled for Saturday, May 3 at 10 a.m., and features Dr. Howard W. Marshall and Margot McMillen, who were instrumental in establishing Missouri’s apprenticeship program in its crucial, early years.

Marshall and McMillen will speak at Missouri’s Arrow Rock State Historic Site, 39521 Visitor Center Drive, Arrow Rock. The presentation, which is made in collaboration with the Friends of Arrow Rock’s First Saturday Lecture Series, will be held in the historic site’s auditorium and is free and open to all. The venue is fully compliant with ADA Accessibility Guidelines.* Other events in the series are currently under development. Visit mofolkarts.missouri.edu for more info and updates as plans progress.

The Missouri Folk Arts Program’s TAAP has been a catalyst for preservation in the Show-Me State. Since its inception in 1984-85, more than 500 TAAP apprenticeships have helped sustain their traditional arts. TAAP’s first year focused on Missouri’s musical traditions – from old-time and gospel, to blues and jazz. The following year, the range of art forms was divided between music traditions and objects made by hand: saddles, chairs, woven coverlets, white oak baskets, as well as functional pieces constructed via joinery and blacksmithing.

Since then, the project has continued to grow and expand, offering ways to link traditions and generations. The traditional arts are grounded in the humanities, entwining artistic excellence and repertoire with community ideals and traditional knowledge.

“It’s inspiring to see the many relationships and so much community participation that has come from TAAP over these decades,” says Higgins. “TAAP artists tell us that these bonds make a tangible difference in how traditions that are rooted in the past and practiced in the present will be sustained for the future.”

Missouri Humanities is the only statewide agency in Missouri devoted exclusively to humanities education for citizens of all ages. It has served as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities since 1971. For more information about the grants program of the Missouri Humanities, call 314-781-9660 or 800-357-0909 or email clarice@mohumanities.org

The Missouri Folk Arts Program is a partnership between the Missouri Arts Council, a division of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, and the Museum of Art & Archaeology in the College of Arts & Science at the University of Missouri. For more information about the folk arts program, TAAP, or this grant-funded speaker series, contact Lisa Higgins at LisaLHiggins@missouri.edu.

*For additional accessibility accommodations for people with disabilities, please contact Lisa Higgins (higginsll@missouri.edu) at least 10 business days prior to the event or visit.