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NEA National Heritage Fellowship Awardees: Resources at the American Folklife Center

Blog Posts

National Heritage Fellows are regularly honored on Folklife Today, the blog of the American Folklife Center. Some posts highlight concerts and lectures with National Heritage Fellows, while others are profiles of Fellowship recipients. The blog posts below are united, however, in that they all feature National Heritage Fellowship recipients. Searching Folklife Today may elicit other blog posts with National Heritage Fellows, but the blog's main topic will be on a subject other than the lives and work of the artist(s) searched. 

The blog posts below are organized by the year the artist received their National Heritage Fellowship, rather than the date of the post. 

Featured Blog Post: Billy McComiskey, Irish American Tradition Bearer

Traditional irish musicians standing outside of the Library of Congress
Photographer unknown. The Irish Tradition (l to r: Andy O’Brien, Brendan Mulvihill, and Billy McComiskey) outside of the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. April 15, 1982. Library of Congress American Folklife Center.

In this post, AFC Folklife Specialist Steve Winick profiles National Heritage Fellow Billy McComiskey. Winick's profile is an up-close look at McComiskey's life and career, as Winick has known McComiskey for over twenty-five years. McComiskey also has a strong relationship with other staff at the American Folklife Center -- he has been involved with programs and collections at the AFC for over 45 years. Published on July 7, 2016. 

Blog Posts on Folklife Today featuring National Heritage Fellows