Our longstanding Apprenticeship in Folk & Traditional Arts program, dating back to 1988, connects master artists to skilled apprentices for personalized training and mentorship, breathing life into fields that might otherwise be lost while financially supporting the participants. Past apprentices have studied artistic disciplines ranging from conjunto accordion to zydeco dance to Native American storytelling. To date, we’ve served over 370 individuals, representing a diversity of geographies and cultures.
In 2022, the Apprenticeship Program supported nine mentors and apprentice artist pairs in traditional art forms including cartonería, flamenco dancing, conjunto accordion, polychromatic ceramics, comida casera, veena (Indian string instrument), erhu (Chinese fiddle), conjunto accordion tuning, Western swing guitar, and Native American storytelling. Program participants came from throughout the state of Texas, including from Waco, Sugar Land, Brownsville, San Antonio, Argyle, Austin, McKinney, and Wimberly. See this multimedia presentation showcasing the work of 2022 Apprenticeship Program participants for more information.
2022 Apprenticeship program participants highlighted the impact that the Apprenticeship program had in their lives and their ability to preserve traditional art forms. “[The veena] helps my community learn about our lineage and what exactly brought us to where we are,” apprentice Vishnu Dokka of Austin says of his study of the veena with mentor Smt. Rajeswari Pariti. “Learning the erhu has not only given me a better understanding of Chinese culture, but more importantly, it has helped me build my confidence to showcase my culture as an immigrant,” apprentice Eric Wang of McKinney emphasizes. Apprentice Manuel Tovar of Brownsville adds: “I can only hope that [my participation in the Apprenticeship Program] will inspire people through my community to help this music continue to grow with future generations of musicians and music lovers.”
By refining artist mentors’ approaches to their crafts, developing and broadening apprentices’ skills, and encouraging the transmission of knowledge within and between cultural communities, the Apprenticeship Program fostered the continuity of the folk and traditional arts in Texas. In addition to the collaborations between mentors and apprentices, each team presented their work through two virtual showcases broadcast for the general public through Texas Folklife’s YouTube and Facebook pages in August 2022. 662 people attended these virtual showcases. Ben Doyle of Bend Productions oversaw the technical production of the event. Humanities scholars Virginia Grice and Mark Brill moderated the events, putting the nine apprenticeship teams into conversation with each other for a dynamic discussion of folklife traditions in Texas. In doing so, this project inspired exchange and connection within and between participants’ and viewers’ shared and overlapping communities.