May 12, 2025
2025 Living Traditions Fellows
May 12, 2025 COLUMBIA, MO – The Missouri Folk Arts Program is excited to announce recipients of the 2025 Missouri Living Traditions Fellowship, an award to recognize the artistic excellence and exceptional lifetime achievement of living traditional artists and community scholars in the Show Me State. This year, Missouri Folk Arts recognizes four individuals for their deep-rooted contributions to traditional arts within their vibrant Missouri communities. Please join us in congratulating Bo Brown (Rogersville); Howard W. Marshall (Fulton); Pablo Sanhueza (Kansas City); and Marideth Sisco (West Plains). Stay tuned to Missouri Folk Arts’ social media to learn about upcoming special events…
May 31, 2024
Sharon Bear Foehner, 2024 Living Traditions Fellow
Sharon Bear Foehner, St. Louis, Mo. Blues Musician Sharon Bear Foehner displays her hand-crafted plaque. May 19, 2024 at Compass, Inc., Columbia, Mo. Photo credit: Lisa Overholser As a child, Sharon Bear Foehner trained as a classical musician, playing bass violin. Then, she picked up the guitar in 1977. Landing in St. Louis ten years later, Foehner quickly found the St. Louis blues and immersed herself in its culture. She points to the tradition’s greats as her mentors, including Bennie Smith, Johnnie Johnson, Oliver Sain, Renee Smith, Jimmy Rodgers, James Crutchfield, and…
May 13, 2024
Missouri Folk Arts Program Announces 2024 Living Traditions Sustainer Fellows
Missouri Folk Arts Program Announces 2024 Living Traditions Sustainer Fellows May 13, 2024 COLUMBIA, MO – The Missouri Folk Arts Program is thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2024 Missouri Living Traditions Sustainer Fellowship, the state’s award to recognize the artistic excellence and lifetime achievement of living traditional artists and community scholars in the Show Me State. The fellowships honor these individuals and their deep-rooted contributions to traditional arts within their vibrant Missouri communities. Three nominees rose to the top of the highly competitive pool. Please join us in congratulating: Gordon McCann (Springfield),…
May 5, 2023
Mexico Ledger: Kenny Applebee
The Mexico Ledger, the only daily newspaper published in Mexico, Missouri and the surrounding rural area, announced on May 5, 2023, that local resident Kenny Applebee was an inaugural Living Traditions Sustainer Fellow. Kenny Applebee (right) accompanies Boone County old-time fiddler Pete McMahan on a bench on the grounds of the Smithsonian’s 1991 Festival of American Folklife. Photo courtesy Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association…
May 5, 2023
Carmen Sofia Dence, Living Traditions Fellow
Carmen Sofia Dence, St. Louis, Mo. Colombian Folkloric Dancer, Choreographer, Costume Maker, Founding Director–Grupo Atlántico Carmen Sofia Dence displays her hand-crafted plaque. Carmen Sofia Dence learned to dance as a child in her local barrio (neighborhood) in Barranquilla, Colombia from her mother, her aunt, local elders, and her peers. In her coastal state, the music and dances are imbued with indigenous, Spanish, and African influences. She is proud to share with others the vitality of dance from her hometown, the site of a spectacular four…
April 28, 2023
Red Latina Online: Carmen S. Dence
Red Latina St. Louis announced on April 28, 2023, that Colombian folkloric dancer Carmen Sofia Dence was an inaugural 2023 Missouri Living Traditions Sustainer Fellow. The online article (in Spanish) is available at this link: https://www.redlatinastl.com/noticia/missouri/758 Carmen Sofia Dence talks to students in Shelby County, Mo., schools during a weeklong residency in 2008. Photo by Susan Eleuterio…
April 28, 2023
Kenny Applebee, Living Traditions Fellow
Kenny Applebee, Mexico, Mo. Old-time Rhythm Guitarist Kenny and Norma Applebee pose with his custom made Living Traditions Sustainer Award. Photo courtesy of Mexico Moose Lodge 1706 Kenny Applebee is widely recognized as a mainstay of old-time music in Missouri. He has “backed” fiddlers on his rhythm guitar for decades at contests, jams, concerts, dances, and the Bethel Youth Fiddle Camp. Applebee picked up the guitar at age 14 and credits a regional flat picker for teaching “all the chords I needed to know.” As an adult, he…
April 24, 2023
Inaugural Living Traditions Fellows
Missouri Folk Arts Program Announces Inaugural Living Traditions Sustainer Fellows April 24, 2023 COLUMBIA, MO – The Missouri Folk Arts Program has chosen the recipients of the inaugural Missouri Living Traditions Sustainer Fellowship, the state’s newest award to recognize the artistic excellence and lifetime achievement of living traditional artists in the Show Me State. The fellowships honor these individuals’ deep-rooted contributions to their art forms and to the vibrant communities in Missouri that the artists support. An independent panel of traditional arts and community specialists selected the honorees from a competitive…