Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant

The Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant by the Kentucky Arts Council aims to preserve cultural heritage by funding mentor artists who teach essential skills to less experienced artists. This program supports partnerships between mentor and apprentice folk artists, fostering the continuation of traditional arts within communities. Eligible applicants must be Kentucky residents aged 21 and older for mentors and 16 and older for apprentices, with funding covering stipends, travel, and supplies for up to one year.

Grant Purpose
The purpose of the Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant is to honor traditional artists and encourage the continuation of Kentucky’s living traditional arts by funding mentor artists to teach skills and practices vital to their cultural heritage to less experienced artists within their communities.
Grant Description
The arts council defines folk arts as artistic expression that is shared informally within a folk group, and is essential to that group’s cultural identity. Folk groups include family, regional, ethnic, occupational and recreational groups. Members of a folk group share aesthetics, insider knowledge, language and a similar worldview. Mentor artists and tradition-bearers are exemplary practitioners of a folk group’s art forms. Their mentor status is determined by other members of the group. Apprentices demonstrate a potential to become mentors and commit to learning the art form thoroughly to represent the group’s culture.
The Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant supports mentor and apprentice folk artists working and studying together. Prospective mentor artists and apprentices must apply as partners. Each must demonstrate their connection to the folk group. Apprenticeship grants fund the mentor artist’s stipend, as well as travel expenses and supplies. Apprenticeships last up to one year. All activities and expenses must occur between July 15, 2025, and June 30, 2026

Eligibility

A mentor artist 21 or older, and an apprentice 16 or older, apply together. Applicant artists must be full-time residents of Kentucky for a period of one year immediately prior to the application deadline, and remain a resident of Kentucky for one year following award notification. Applicants must be United States citizens, lawfully admitted to the U.S. for permanent residence or have permission from the Department of Homeland Security to work permanently in the U.S.

Ineligibility

Kentucky Arts Council grant funds may not be used for the following purposes: Purchase of equipment, property, library holdings or acquisitions. Capital improvements, facility construction, structural renovations and restorations. Publications or recordings for commercial purposes. Scholarships or other activities related to academic credit or degrees. Activities intended primarily for fundraising. Food, beverages or other refreshments. Requests designed to reduce or eliminate existing deficits. Interest on loans, fines, penalties and/or litigation costs. Expenses incurred before the starting date of the period covered in the grant request. Investments of any kind. Performances not available to the general public. Programs that have sectarian purposes. Costs such as utility bills (water, electric, gas); non-project (permanent/current) staff salaries or benefits; and rental for currently owned or leased properties (office space or other facilities, car payments and maintenance). Indirect costs unlessper a current federally-negotiated indirect cost rate agreement (official documentation required), or“de minimus” indirect costs not to exceed 10 percent of total modified direct costs.No arts council funds may be used to match another grant from the arts council. In addition, the same matching funds may not be used for more than one arts council grant. In some cases, arts council grants may be used to match National Endowment for the Arts or other federal grants. Call staff for clarification before committing funds for such purposes. The arts council also reserves the right to make special stipulations on how specific grant funds may be spent.