Three master artists receive teaching grants to help less-experienced community artists

Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grants provide up to $3,000

FRANKFORT, Ky. (July 30, 2015) — Three Kentucky master artists have been awarded Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grants from the Kentucky Arts Council.

The Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant provides up to $3,000 to a Kentucky master folk or traditional artist to teach skills, practices and culture to a less experienced artist from the same community during the course of a year.

The three recipients are folk or traditional artists who are considered masters within their community and who have identified an apprentice from the same community who has potential to become a master. Both master and apprentice must be Kentucky residents.

The masters and apprentices who will receive funding are:

• Banjo player Cynthia Sue Massek, of Willisburg, who will teach John Paul Wright, of Louisville
• Chair maker Barbara Church, of Cumberland, who will teach Damon Sumpter, of Partridge
• Fiddler Jesse Wells, of Morehead, who will teach Linda Jean Stokley, of Versailles. Stokley recently graduated from Morehead State University’s folk and traditional music program, where Wells teaches and directs the program.

Visit the Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant page of the arts council’s website for more information or contact Mark Brown, arts council folk and traditional arts director, at [email protected] or 502-564-8110, ext. 495.