North Carolina Heritage Award

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The North Carolina Heritage Award is an annual award given out by the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, in recognition of traditional artists from the U.S. state of North Carolina. The award was created in 1989.^[1]

Since 1989, the North Carolina Heritage Award has honored North Carolina's most eminent folk artists. Recipients of the Heritage Awards range from internationally acclaimed musicians to folks who quietly practice their art in rural and family settings. A dozen North Carolinians have gone on to receive the National Heritage Fellowship Awards presented by the National Endowment for the Arts. These awards deepen our awareness of the rich and diverse cultural traditions of people in North Carolina. The Heritage Award has become one of the most important and influential programs developed by the Folklife Program of the North Carolina Arts Council.

Recipients receive a cash award and are honored in a ceremony that highlights their achievements. The Award ceremonies are a notable celebration and educational event for North Carolinians, drawing large and enthusiastic audiences.

From the Award’s beginning, the Folklife Program of the North Carolina Arts Council engaged talented photographers — Rob Amberg, Cedric N. Chatterley, Mary Anne McDonald, Roger Haile and Bill Bamberger — to document the artistry of award recipients.^[2] Their images and the program book articles celebrate and commemorate the skills, values, aesthetics, and meaning of traditional arts in North Carolina.

The Folk Heritage Award recipients from 1989–1996 are also featured in a special issue of the North Carolina Folklore Journal.

Recipients[]

1989[]

• Dorothy Auman and Walter Auman, potters
• Etta Baker (1913–2006), Piedmont blues guitarist and singer
• Thomas Burt, Piedmont blues guitarist, banjoist, and singer^[3]
• Thomas Hunter, fiddler
• , basketmaker
• Doug Wallin, ballad singer
• Eva Wolfe, basketmaker

1990[]

• The Badgett Sisters, gospel singers
• Walker Calhoun, Cherokee musician and dancer
• Earnest East, fiddler
• Benton Flippen (b. 1920), fiddler
• Wilma McNabb, weaver
• Dellie Norton, ballad singer
• Sally Parnell, rag-rug weaver

1991[]

• Effie Rhodes Bell, quilter
• Lela Brooks, Tobacco twine crocheter
• Burlon Craig, potter (Some biographical information is in the Catawba Valley Pottery article)
• Menhaden Chanteymen, performers of worksongs ^[4]
• Hazel Rhodes Reece, quilter
• Quay Smathers^[5]
• Thurman Strickland, baksetmaker
• Joe Thompson, fiddler
• Odell Thompson, fiddler

1992[]

• Obadiah Carter, RandB musician ^[6]
• Bertie Dickens, old-time banjo player ^[7]
• Emma Dupree, herbalist and healer ^[8]
• The "5" Royales, R&B artists
• Leonard Glenn, banjo and dulcimer maker
• Ray Hicks, storyteller
• Algia Mae Hinton, blues guitarist and buck dancer
• Lauchlin Shaw, fiddler
• A. C. Overton, old-time banjo player

1993[]

• Louise Anderson, storyteller ^[9]
• Julian Guthrie, boatbuilder
• Bea Hensley, blacksmith
• George Higgs, blues musician
• Mary Jane Queen, ballad singer
• George SerVance Jr., woodcarver
• Luke Smathers and Harold Smathers, stringband musicians

1994[]

• Carroll Best, banjo player
• Aaron Buff, chair maker
• Robert Dotson, flatfoot dancer
• John Dee Holeman, blues guitarist and buck dancer
• Quentin "Fris" Holloway, bluesman and buck dancer
• Vernon Owens, potter
• Amanda Swimmer, potter
• Elsie Trivette, rug maker
• Doc Watson, guitarist and singer

1995[]

• The Branchettes: Lenna Mae Perry and Ethel Elliot, gospel singers
• Raymond Coins, stone and wood carver
• Homer Fulcher, Julian Hamilton Jr., decoy carvers
• Big Boy Henry, blues guitarist and singer ^[10]
• Virgil Ledford, woodcarver
• Jim Shumate, bluegrass fiddler
• Ora Watson, fiddler

1996[]

• Robert H. Bushyhead, storyteller and language preservationist
• Verlen Clifton and Paul Sutphin, stringband musicians and singers
• Nell Cole Graves, potter
• Elizabeth "Lee" Graham Jacobs, quilter ^[11]
• Dock Rmah, Jarai traditional musician
• Earl Scruggs, banjo player

1998[]

• Bessie Killens Eldreth, singer
• Louise Bigmeet Maney, potter
• Smith McInnis, Fiddler
• Ossie Clark Phillips, weaver
• Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, country musician
• Arliss Watford, woodcarver
• The Wilson Brothers, gospel singers

2000[]

• Faircloth Barnes, gospel singer and preacher ^[12]
• Amanda Crowe (1928–2004), Cherokee wood carver
• Marvin Gaster, old-time banjo player
• Bobby McMillion, singer, musician, and storyteller
• Melvin Lee Owens, potter
• James Allen Rose, model boat builder

2003[]

• The Briarhoppers, bluegrass musicians
• Celia Cole Perkinson and Neolia Cole Womack, potters
• Emmet Parker Jones, wheelwright
• Bishop Dready Manning, gospel musician
• Oscar "Red" Wilson, stringband musician
• Jerry Wolfe, stickball carver

2007[]

• Senora Lynch, potter

2013[]

• Bobby Hicks, fiddle player
• Susan Morgan Leveille, weaver
• Bill Myers, band leader, The Monitors
• Arnold Richardson, Haliwa-Saponi artist

2014[]

• William E. Meyers, jazz saxophonist and educator ^[13]

2016[]

• Sheila Kay Adams, ballad singer, storyteller
• H. Ju Nie and H. Ngach Rahlan, Montagnard-Dega weavers
• Jamie Lewis, and Houston Lewis, boat builders
• Maceo Parker, funk musician
• Marc Pruett, banjo

2018[]

• (Performer and instructor of South Indian dance)
• Glenn & Lula Bolick (Potters, musicians, and storytellers)
• (Western North Carolina fiddler)
• (Soul, R&B, and jazz trumpet player)
• Tony Williamson (Multi-genre mandolinist rooted in bluegrass)

See also[]

• National Heritage Fellowship

References[]

External links[]

• Carolina Heritage Award
• North Carolina Arts Council