A National Endowment for the Arts funded grant is available to leading artists and those who need support.
The Folks Art Mentorship Program gives an expert artist the opportunity to guide an apprentice.
Danielle Heal is the program director at the Illinois Arts Council. She said all artists who practice folk, traditional, or ethnic art forms are eligible for this program. Heal explains what that means.
“There's a lot of different things, so it's really good," she said, "like, for an example, like knitting, in and of itself, is a craft, and it's not necessarily a traditional art, but when you can show and demonstrate that technique comes from an ethnic folk or traditional form background, then you can actually see.”
She said if people have a question about what folk or ethnic forms are, they can reach out to the council’s website. There are also workshops.
“We also host online drop-in sessions, which are open hours to come and just ask questions on a specific grant program," she said. "And the next one for the folk arts mentorship is Tuesday, December 10, at 6pm Central Time."
The taxable awards include a four-thousand-dollar mentor grant and a one-thousand-dollar apprentice grant. Applications are available at the Illinois Art Council website. The deadline is Dec. 18.
