2023.11.01 - IACA Announces FY23 Master/Apprentice Award Recipients

The Illinois Arts Council (IAC) is pleased to announce the twelve recipients of Ethnic & Folk Arts Master/Apprentice Program Awards (MAP) for fiscal year 2023. Master artists each receive $3,000 cash awards to instruct their chosen apprentices via one-on-one sessions.

MAP acknowledges the need for structured opportunities to pass on traditional, folk, and classical ethnic arts as part of the preservation of Illinois’ cultural heritage. MAP is made possible with an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

Traditional, ethnic, and folk arts practices that are eligible for support through the MAP include those which have a community or family base, express that community’s aesthetic, heritage, or tradition, and have endured through several generations. These art forms are expressions of the regional, national, tribal culture, or language group from which they originate. Master/Apprentice Awards are given in two broad categories: Performing Arts and Material Culture. For fiscal year 2023, all Master/Apprentice Awards were given in the Performing Arts category.

MAP generally supports art forms found in informal rather than institutional settings. A master artist is an individual recognized within his or her community as an exemplary practitioner of his or her art form. An apprentice is an individual with some experience in the art form to be studied who is committed to attaining mastery in the art form, and who has been selected by the master artist for the one-on-one training offered through this program.

Awards were based on the recommendations of three reviewers who are folklorists and cultural specialists. The review panel members were Joey Brackner, folklorist and filmmaker, Alabama State Council on the Arts (retired), Diana Liao, Education and Engagement Specialist, Japan House, University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign, and Ronnie Malley, musician and Executive Director, Intercultural Music Production. John Gardner, Executive Director of Company of Folk, serves as a program consultant for the IAC’s Ethnic & Folk Arts Program. The IAC Board has final authority on all grants and awards issued by the agency. IAC Board member Marsha Ryan served as the Panel Chair.

FY23 Master/Apprentice Program Award Recipients

Master Artist Name, City, Apprentice Name, City, Ethnic/Folk/Traditional Art to be studied.

Asha Chandrashekara Adiga, Aurora, and Khristi Blocton, Aurora, Bharatanatyam – Indian classical dance

Kioto Aoki, Oak Park, and Helen Nagata, DeKalb, Taiko – Japanese drumming

Tatsu Aoki, Oak Park, and Jill Kiku Taura, Chicago, Japanese shamisen – 3-string lute

Edith “Mama Edie” Armstrong, Chicago, and Carmenita Peoples, Chicago, African American storytelling

Sandip Barman, Lisle, and Tyler Krais, Lisle, Hindustani music

Sean Cleland, Chicago, and Jennifer Mullen Ingerson, Chicago, Traditional Irish fiddle

Rika Lin, aka Yoshinojo Fujima, Skokie, and Yukio Nang, Skokie, Japanese classical dance

Subhadra Natarajan, Naperville, and Achintya Ram, Naperville, Indian Carnatic vocal music

Daniel Rojas Rivera, Chicago, and Claire Happel Ashe, Macomb, Joropo music on the Llanera harp

Angela Tam, Chicago, and Judy Liu, Chicago, Classical Chinese dance

Vanitha Veeravalli, Naperville, and Nikitha Velavan, Aurora, Bharatanatyam – Indian classical dance

Wanees Zarour, Chicago, and Clara Marie Mikhail, Chicago, Traditional Arabic Maqam Music

Follow this link for a complete listing of Master/Apprentice Award Recipient bios and photos.