Ed Eugene Carriere of the Suquamish Tribe is featured in one of the series of tribute films put out by the National Endowment for the Arts in early May.
The films celebrate the lives of nine people awarded the 2023 NEA National Heritage Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts. They are available for viewing on the NEA’s YouTube channel and arts.gov/heritage.
“Our nation is strengthened through the meaningful practices and expressions of traditional artistry of the 2023 National Heritage Fellows,” NEA chair Maria Rosario Jackson said. “These stunning tribute videos help to share their stories—America’s rich and diverse stories—with audiences around the…world. Each fellow embodies a spirit of dedication and generosity that contributes to our nation’s living cultural heritage and gives hope to future generations in ways that only the arts can.”
Each of the vignettes provides a unique insight into the National Heritage Fellows:
Learn how Carriere’s great-grandmother and more than 225 generations of his ancestors from the Suquamish Tribe taught him the 4,500-year-old art of Salish basketry. From Indianola, Carriere weaves the tale of using the clam-gathering baskets he creates to pass on the deep-rooted cultural and artistic heritage of the Salish Sea and its peoples to the next generation.
Other films are on Hill Country blues; African quilt storytelling; Joe DeLeon “Little Joe” Hernández and his 70 albums and five Grammies; Hawaiian barkcloth art; Wampanoag Tribe traditional art; tune in to Nick Spitzer’s American Routes program; sculpture from New Mexico; and Chinese pipa plucking.
Fellowship recipients are nominated by the public, often by members of their own communities, and then judged by experts in the folk and traditional arts. The deadline to submit a nomination for 2025 is May 28. Go to the NEA website for more. Since 1982, the NEA has awarded nearly 500 fellowships recognizing artists in over 200 art forms. Each fellowship includes a $25,000 award.
Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is an independent federal agency whose funding and support give Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. The NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s cultural heritage, and promote equal access to arts nationwide. For details go to arts.gov
