Guidelines for Ohio Heritage Fellowship Nomination

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Nomination Deadline: March 15

The Ohio Heritage Fellowship program recognizes Ohio folk and traditional artists who are the finest and most influential masters of their particular art forms and traditions and whose work in the folk and traditional arts have had a significant impact on the people and communities of the state. Awards are given in three categories: Performing Arts, Material Culture (folk art, folk crafts, folk architecture) and Community Leadership. The OAC expects awardees to adhere to cultural artistic traditions and work in order to maintain the aesthetics and preservation of their art form, while contributing to the public visibility of the folk and traditional arts; be actively participating in their art form as a practitioner, a mentor, teacher or community leader; and be creating work that deepens our awareness of the rich and diverse cultural and artistic traditions of the people of Ohio.

A Community can be defined as a group of people who share common cultural elements, such as: ethnicity or tribal heritage, occupation, geographic area or traditional art form.

Ohio Heritage Fellowship Awards are $5,000

Performing Arts

Nominated individuals or groups should have a history of continuing artistic accomplishments and be actively participating in their art form as performers, teachers or both. Criteria in this category include authenticity, artistic excellence, and significance within the tradition of the performing art form.

Material Culture

Nominated individuals or groups should have a history of continuing artistic accomplishments and be actively participating in their art form as artists, teachers or both. Criteria in this category include authenticity, artistic excellence and significance within the tradition of the material culture art form.

Community Leadership

Nominated individuals or groups should have a history of achievements that have had a positive impact on fostering excellence, ensuring vitality, and promoting public appreciation of the folk and traditional arts in Ohio. Nominees must be actively engaged in preserving the folk and traditional arts.

Create a Nomination 

Basic Nomination Guidelines for All Categories:

All Nominees must be residents of Ohio and must be living at the time of their nomination. Self-nomination is not permitted. Nominations remain active for three years and will be reviewed annually. Information may be added to a nomination during this three year period.

Nominations will be reviewed annually by the Ohio Folk Arts Committee, a panel of experts in the folk and traditional arts. The panel makes their recommendations to the Ohio Arts Council for final approval.

All nominations should include the following support materials which are uploaded with the online nomination:

Support materials such as brochures, newspaper and magazine articles, exhibition catalogues and programs may also be submitted as uploaded PDFs.

Nomination form and uploaded support material must be submitted by 5 p.m. on deadline day.

  1. Letters of Support for Nominee. Letters of support should be from community members who are knowledgeable about the traditional art form. A minimum of three letters must be submitted in PDF format.
  2. Work Samples. Upload samples of work (MP3, MP4, JPG, PDF) demonstrating artistic quality and technical ability. This enables the selection committee to evaluate nominees. Committee members may review some or all of submitted material. A Cover Sheet for Work Samples should be submitted as well in PDF format. Work samples that do not adhere to the guidelines may not be reviewed.
    • Folk Craft: Submit five to 10 images of the work of the nominee artist/organization. If possible, include an image that shows the place in which your work is created.
    • Music/Verbal Arts: Submit one audio sample of the nominee artist/organization. Provide a list identifying performers, instruments and the material being presented. Be sure to describe the typical audience and venue for this music/verbal art form on the Cover Sheet for Work Samples. Indicate track number(s) or cue tape to preferred starting point.
    • Dance/Ethnic Theatre: Submit one video sample of the nominee artist/organization that best demonstrates the quality of the work. Provide the title and length of work; provide a list with a description of your dance form or theatre, performers and typical venue on the Cover Sheet for Work Samples. Indicate track number(s) or cue tape to preferred starting point.