The 2026 TAAP guidelines and application are available as a printable PDF.
Missouri hosts one of the oldest, continuous statewide folk arts apprenticeship programs in the U. S., established in 1984-1985. In that first year, the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) featured Missouri’s musical traditions, from old-time and gospel, to blues and jazz. The project sponsored ten apprenticeships. In the following year, the range of art forms was nearly equally divided between music traditions and material culture (saddle making, chair building, coverlet weaving, basketmaking, joinery, and blacksmithing).
Since then, over 500 apprentices–in rural, urban, and suburban communities across the Show Me State–have participated in the project.
With grant funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and Missouri Arts Council, mentoring master artists and their apprentices commit to sustaining their artistic traditions and cultural heritage. Applicants for the 41st year of the project are invited to download the application linked below and apply to participate. A panel will review the pool of applicant, considering the excellence, traditionality, and commitment of members of the proposed apprenticeship teams.
In the review process, priority is given to mentoring master artists and apprentices who share cultural communities and have an established relationship. Priority may also be given to living art forms with fewer remaining practitioners. Staff conduct outreach throughout the year to identify new applicants to better represent the spectrum of cultural communities and traditions across the state.
Missouri Folk Arts intends for the application process to be accessible to all. Please notify staff well before the deadline for assistance per the Americans with Disabilities Act, language translation, or issues organizing work samples.
What Are Folk and Traditional Arts?
The National Endowment for the Arts, this project’s major sponsor since 1984, uses the following definition, which Missouri Folk Arts adopts:
The folk and traditional arts embody the expressive culture that grows out of shared activities in everyday life. Rooted in and reflective of the cultural life of a community, folk and traditional arts are constantly evolving, shaped by values and standards of excellence passed from generation to generation, most often within family and community, through demonstration, conversation, and practice. Vital and varied activities may coalesce around a wide range of commonalities, including ethnic heritage, cultural mores, language, religion, occupation, or geographic region. Genres in folk and traditional arts include but are not limited to, music, dance, crafts, foodways, dress/adornment, occupation, ceremony, and oral expression, including stories, poetry, and language.