2025-2026 Central Appalachian Living Traditions Folk and Traditional Arts Experiences Grantees Announced
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Image: Colonial Garden Walk led by Todd McCree of Great Escape Farms. This lecture was held at Fort Edwards and discussed the importance of plants both edible and medicinal. Credit: Monica Wilson/The River House.
Baltimore – July 1, 2025 – Mid Atlantic Arts’ Central Appalachian Living Traditions (CALT) program congratulates the recipients of the 2025-2026 CALT Folk and Traditional Arts Experiences grants. This program, made possible by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, supports public-facing projects and events in the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC)-designated counties in Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. Funded projects will encourage broad public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of living traditions and/or grow and disseminate artistic skill and cultural knowledge within the community.
This year, grantees may choose to use awarded funds for general operating expenses, instead of their proposed projects. This flexibility is intended to help grantees sustain their ongoing work in support of traditional arts practice in Central Appalachia during this difficult time in arts funding.
The 2025-2026 grantees are:
Ohio
- Cannabis Museum – Grassroots: An Archive of Oral Histories from Appalachia Ohio’s Cannabis Culture (Athens, OH)
- Nicole Musgrave – Piecing Together: Quilt Classes for Survivors of Domestic Violence in Southeast Ohio (Glouster, OH)
- Caroline Murphy – The Athens Quilt Trail (Athens, OH)
- Stuarts Opera House – The Happy Hollow Hootenanney (Nelsonville, OH)
- Trillium Project – River Giants: Puppets from Appalachian Folklife (Portsmouth, OH)
- Zondra Wilson – Traditional African American and Appalachian Quilt making and Storytelling (Youngstown, OH)
Virginia
- Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation – Blue Ridge Music Center Backstories (Galax, VA)
- Floyd Community Center for the Arts, Inc. – Third Annual Floyd Living Traditions Festival (Floyd, VA)
- Live, Work, Eat, Grow – Edges of Appalachia: Seasonal Foraging Traditions in and Around the Garden (Blacksburg, VA)
- Ellen and Eugene Ratcliffe – Revitalizing the Square Dancing Tradition in Highland County and Beyond (Monterey, VA)
- Malcolm Smith, PhD – Southwest Virginia Clawhammer Masters Internet Map (Laurel Fork, VA)
- Springhouse Community School – Wayzgoose 2025: A Celebration of Printing and Irish Traditions in Appalachian Culture (Pilot, VA)
West Virginia
- Augusta Heritage Center – Coming Together in the Kitchen: A Cultural Cooking Series for Teens and Adults (Elkins, WV)
- Cacapon Music and Dance Foundation – Capon Bridge Square Dance – The Next Generation (Capon Bridge, VA)
- Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center, Fairmont State University – Accessing the Archives: New Works and Old Traditions at the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center (Fairmont, WV)
- Infamous Arts Collective – Punched Tin Workshop with Folk Flair (Buckhannon, WV)
- Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN) – Woodland Arts of the Central Appalachian Headwaters (West Virginia and Kentucky)
- RiffRaff Arts Collective – Culturefest in Our Communities Year Two: Deepening Connections, Expanding Impact, and Strengthening Cultural Bonds (Princeton, WV)
- The River House – FolkLife Series: Folkways and Oral Traditions of the Appalachians (Capon Bridge, WV)
- Sistermoon Farm – Tomato Jam 2025 (Shenandoah Junction, WV)
- Speak Storytelling – Engaging Deaf and Hard of Hearing Communities at Speak Storytelling Concerts, Visual Vernacular Workshops, and Outreach Events (Shepherdstown, WV)
The grant review process was overseen by a panel of folk and traditional artists and arts professionals who have lived and worked in Appalachia. The 2025-2026 panelists were:
- Laiken Blankenship – Editor, Goldenseal magazine, musician (Charleston, WV)
- Caleb Brown – Documentarian, Appalachian State University (Boone, NC)
- Lucretia VanDyke – Herbalist, author (Asheville, NC, and New Orleans, LA)
- Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth – Folklorist, Director and Curator of Gordon Art Galleries, Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA)
Learn more about the Central Appalachian Living Traditions Folk and Traditional Arts Experiences program and past grantees here.
About Mid Atlantic Arts
Mid Atlantic Arts supports artists, presenters, and organizations through unique programming, grant support, partnerships, and information sharing. Created in 1979, Mid Atlantic Arts is aligned with the region’s state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts. We combine state and federal funding with private support from corporations, foundations, and individuals to nurture diverse artistic expression while connecting people to meaningful arts experiences within our region and beyond. To learn more about Mid Atlantic Arts visit www.midatlanticarts.org.
Contact:
Mackenzie Kwok
Communications and Social Media Manager
Mid Atlantic Arts
mkwok@midatlanticarts.org
410.539.6656 x123