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NEA National Heritage FellowshipsThe 2008 NEA National Heritage Fellowship Concert was held on Friday, September 19, 2008 at the Music Center at Strathmore. The National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship is the highest honor that our nation bestows upon its folk and traditional artists. Each year, ten to thirteen individuals, “national living treasures” from across the nation, are chosen to receive this one-time-only Fellowship in recognition of lifetime achievement, artistic excellence and contributions to our nation’s cultural heritage. Bess Lomax Hawes, first director of NEA’s Folk & Traditional Arts Program, created the National Heritage Fellowships in 1982. To date, 338 master artists have been honored. National Heritage Fellowships are awarded on an annual basis. Recipients are announced in early summer; the Fellowship award ceremonies and other activities take place the following fall. For over 20 years, the NCTA has worked with the National Endowment for the Arts on a consulting basis to manage and coordinate the annual week of activities in Washington, D.C. honoring Fellowship recipients. These include a Capitol Hill award ceremony, a banquet in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress and a culminating gala public concert featuring the Fellowship awardees produced by the NCTA. The NEA National Heritage Fellowship program, celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2007-08, is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts presented with support from the Darden Restaurants Foundation and the Darden family of restaurants including Red Lobster and Olive Garden.
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