Folklife Community Grant

Folklife Community Grant is sponsored by Nevada Arts Council (NAC). The Folklife Community Grant supports small community organizations in presenting folk arts and traditions.

Folklife | Nevada Arts Council Sharing Nevada's Culture and Heritage The Folklife Program supports the work of folk artists and organizations representing cultural communities in the state of Nevada. The Folklife program components serve artists and organizations through grant funding, exhibitions, and technical assistance.

The Folklife Program curates exhibitions that highlight folk arts, artists, and cultural communities within Nevada. Find Your Folklife Exhibit The Find Your Folklife Exhibit was a result of the Friends and Neighbors Initiative . The Friends and Neighbors Initiative is about you—your family, your neighbors, your friends, your community.

It’s also about us—who we are as Nevadans navigating the challenges and opportunities of the 21 st Century. Over three years, the Folklife Program photographed Nevadans—your friends and neighbors—as they appear when representing cultural identity and as they appear in their everyday lives at home, on the job, or enjoying recreational activities. — View the exhibition.

Since 1985, the Nevada Arts Council’s Folklife Program has sought to document traditional culture throughout the state. Folk Arts Coordinator Blanton Owen and Folklorists Andrea Graham, Mike Luster, and Debbie Nolan traveled the state documenting people, places, and traditions. These photos presented as part of the Rural Moments exhibit are a small portion of their work in rural Nevada between 1985 and 1989.

— View the exhibition. The Nevada Folklife Archives Since its inception in 1985 the Nevada Arts Council’s Folklife Program has documented the existence and development of Nevada’s diverse geographical and cultural communities and its resident folk artists. Today the Folklife Archives constitute a significant intellectual, historical and educational resource with relevance to many fields of inquiry.

It is a dynamic fieldwork collection that continues to grow and change with new and ongoing research. Its content includes original photography generated by the agency’s staff folklorists and their contractors. — View the Nevada Folklife Archives .

For research assistance, please contact the Folklife Specialist, Brad McMullen. History isn’t just in textbooks—it’s in our stories, our voices, and our everyday lives. With our partners, the Nevada Division of Museums and History and America250 Nevada, we’re capturing that history as it happens, one conversation at a time.

The Our Nevada Stories team will crisscross the state, interviewing leaders, historians, and the Nevadans who have shaped our state as we know it. These stories—personal, powerful, and local—will be featured in a new podcast series set to launch in 2026. Episodes will be broadcast on local public radio and available for download.

After 2026, these stories will live on through a searchable digital archive, the Nevada Arts Council Folklife program, and as immersive exhibits inside the state museums.. — View the Our Nevada Stories project . For share your experience, please contact the Folklife Specialist, Brad McMullen.

Since the 1990s, the Nevada Folklife Program has produced 15 publications including gallery notes, essays, and more. View the online directory and digital editions of publications here. Home Means Nevada, 1986: Folklife in the Silver State This 13-part radio series from 1986 presents vignettes of Nevada’s multifaceted folk culture.

The shows were produced from recordings made on location—in folk artists’ homes, places of work, and at public gatherings. From the making of neon signs to the construction of Shoshone cradleboards, from Basque dance music to buckaroo poetry, the cultural diversity of Nevada is only hinted at in this series— Learn more.

Nevada Stories is an online video series focusing on folk and traditional artists, local traditions, and Nevada’s landscape. An outreach activity of the NAC Folklife Program, it supports the Nevada Arts Council’s mission to provide folklife education to all age groups and to highlight the folk artists, traditional communities, and cultural sites that make Nevada distinctive.

Filming and production have been funded through Folk and Traditional Arts grants from the National Endowment for the Arts— Learn more. Fy26 Folklife Artist Grant Apply for up to $3,000 for an apprenticeship or mentoring project. Review the artist grant guidelines and call the Folklife Program before you start an application.

Fy26 Folklife Community Grant Apply for up to $5,000 for nonprofit organizations with annual budgets of $50,000 or less, for project support. Review the community grant guidelines and call the Folklife Program before you start an application. View all Fy26 grant offerings Staff & Technical Assistance Receive emails with news from the Nevada Arts Council’s Folklife Program.

You can also opt in to receive updates and notifications about other program areas at the NAC. Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide The American Folklife Center’s Nevada Research Guide Browse the Nevada Arts Council Online Art Archives. More Ways the Nevada Arts Council Connects You With Art Artist and organization directories