Folk & Traditional Arts Program
Supporting cultural practitioners and the building of cultural capacity for living cultures in Hawaiʻi.
Cultural Outreach: Recent and Upcoming Events
Programs and events supported by the Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts’ Folk and Traditional Arts Program through partnerships.
Hawaiʻi's National Heritage Fellows
The National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowships are the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. This lifetime honor recognizes artists whose work reflects excellence, deep knowledge, and a lasting commitment to sustaining our nation’s cultural traditions.
Lloyd Kumulā‘au Sing, Jr. and May Haunani Balino-Sing are recipients of the 2026 NEA National Heritage Fellowships and past recipients of Folk & Traditional Arts grants from the Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA). Exhibits of their work and work by their students have been displayed at Capitol Modern: the Hawaiʻi State Art Museum. They are the 22nd and 23rd of Hawaiʻi’s National Heritage Fellows. Learn more about them on their website, Ke Kumu Hawaiʻi (KeKumuHawaii.com) and on the NEA website: arts.gov/honors/heritage/lloyd-harold-kumulaau-sing-jr-may-haunani-balino-sing.
SFCA Folk and Traditional Arts Grants
The application cycle is closed and no applications will be accepted. If there is a call for applications, information will be provided here and in the SFCA email newsletter (subscribe here: SFCA newsletter subscription form).
Purpose of the Apprentice Mentoring Grant
To support advanced sustained training and mentoring of next-generation cultural practitioners, especially cultural practitioner teachers, in order to build cultural capacity living cultures in Hawaiʻi.
Applicant Eligibility at the Time of Application
- Individual applicants are U.S citizens or U.S. permanent residents.
- Individual applicants are State of Hawaiʻi residents.
- Individual apprentice applicants are at least 16 years of age.
Grant Project Eligibility at the Time of Application
- Projects must be implemented entirely in the State of Hawaiʻi.
- Projects must be for folk and traditional cultural arts and practices of living traditions that are relevant to cultural communities in the State of Hawaiʻi.
- Relevant means that they are practiced, taught, learned and/or shared within the cultural community to which the folk or traditional art or practice belongs.
- Only one application per individual applicant (individual teacher or apprentice).
Related Resources
Culture Grants
- First Peoples Fund
- Hawai‘i Tourism Authority/Kukulu Ola: Living Hawaiian Culture Program
- Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
- National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- Native Arts & Culture Foundation
- Office of Hawaiian Affairs/Community Grants
- Hawaiʻi Community Foundation
Research
- Administration for Native Americans (ANA)
- American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
- American Folklore Society
- First Nations Development Institute
- First Peoples Fund
- Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities
- Hawai‘i Tourism Authority/Kukulu Ola: Living Hawaiian Culture Program
- Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
- National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- The National Network for Folk Arts in Education
- Native Arts & Culture Foundation
- Office of Hawaiian Affairs/Community Grants
- Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
