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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.
Event schedule:
May 3, Arrow Rock: Legacy staff Howard W. Marshall, PhD & Margot McMillen talk about the earliest days of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, from grantwriting to documentation at the Missouri Cultural Heritage Center
June 7, Arrow Rock: Colombian folkloric dancer, choreographer, and costume designer Carmen Sofia Dence discusses her years of participation in the apprenticeship program and its impact on her dance troupe Grupo Atlántico St. Louis.
July 5, Arrow Rock: Blacksmith Pat McCarty of Washington Forge discusses his participation in the apprenticeship program and demonstrates blacksmithing.
August 2, Arrow Rock: Storyteller Angela J. Williams, accompanied by her mentor Dr. Gladys Caines Coggswell, discusses the impact of the apprenticeship program on her self-confidence and career.
September 21, Springfield: At the Shoe Tree Listening Room, Missouri’s First State Folklorist Barry Bergey talks about the first two years of the apprenticeship program, its impact in Missouri and beyond.
October 4, Jefferson City: In the Capitol Rotunda, Missouri’s Second State Folklorist Amy Skillman talks about her two-year stint coordinating components of the apprenticeship program and the impact of the project on artists.
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.
