The Museum of Natural and Cultural History’s Oregon Folklife Network (OFN) has received a $35,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Announced as part of the endowment’s $27.3 million funding package for fiscal year 2020, the Oregon grant will support a folklife survey focused on the state’s southwestern coastal region.

With support from the grant, OFN will identify culture keepers in the coastal counties of Coos and Curry and among the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians and the Coquille Tribe of Indians. The survey aims to document folk and traditional arts practiced in the region’s many heritage groups, as well as examples of the area’s occupational folklife, foodways, and other traditions.

The regional survey is part of an ongoing statewide survey that has so far recognized over 400 folk and traditional artists among the state’s federally recognized Tribes and across 33 of its counties. Following survey documentation, OFN refers tradition bearers and folk artists for programs in parks, arts organizations, libraries, and festivals throughout the state and preserves the documentation in its archives.

“OFN is thrilled to have another year of NEA support for our documentation of Oregon’s living cultural heritage,” said OFN’s Riki Saltzman.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support grants throughout the entire country that connect people through shared experiences and artistic expression,” said NEA chair Mary Anne Carter. “These projects provide access to the arts for people of all abilities and backgrounds in both urban centers and rural communities.”

Oregon Folklife Network encourages recommendations of folk and traditional artists to include in the survey. Recommendations can be made by phone at 541-346-3820 or emailed to Saltzman at riki@uoregon.edu or Emily West at eafanado@uoregon.edu.

Oregon Folklife Network is the state’s designated Folk and Traditional Arts Program and comprises a network of partners working to document, support, preserve, and celebrate the diversity of Oregon’s living cultural heritage.

For more information on this National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.