Recently, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that Michael Cleveland, Bluegrass Fiddler from Charlestown, Indiana, has been named a 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellow. Cleveland joins nine other fellowship recipients from across the country. Each fellowship includes a $25,000 award, and all the recipients will be featured in a film that will premiere in November 2022 on arts.gov.
“In their artistic practices, the NEA National Heritage Fellows tell their own stories on their own terms. They pass their skills and knowledge to others through mentorship and teaching,” said National Endowment for the Arts Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “These honorees are not only sustaining the cultural history of their art form and of their community, they are also enriching our nation as a whole.”
NEA National Heritage Fellow Michael Cleveland, Photo by Amy Richmond. Image provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Michael Cleveland, a 2020 Indiana Governor’s Arts Award recipient, grew up in Henryville, Indiana and now lives in Charlestown, Indiana. He began playing the fiddle at age four and began playing professionally after graduating from high school. In 2006, Cleveland formed Flamekeeper, the seven-time recipient of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) “Instrumental Group of the Year” award. Flamekeeper includes Josh Richards, Nathan Livers, Jasiah Shrode, and Chris Douglas.
“Widely considered the fiddler of his generation, Michael Cleveland is both a national treasure and a local source of pride," said Jon Kay, Director of Traditional Arts Indiana. "His fiddling draws inspiration from the generations of old-time and bluegrass players, but his playing also pushes the boundaries of the instrument.”
Cleveland has been recognized 12 times as the IBMA’s “Fiddler of the Year” and in 2018 was inducted into the National Fiddler’s Hall of Fame. His recording “Fiddler’s Dream” was nominated in 2018 for a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, and in 2019, he won a Grammy for his album Tall Fiddler.
Learn more about Michael Cleveland.
About the National Heritage Fellowships
The National Heritage Fellowships are the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Including the 2022 class, the Arts Endowment has awarded 467 National Heritage Fellowships since 1982, recognizing artists working in more than 200 distinct art forms. More information about the National Heritage Fellows is available on the Arts Endowment’s website.
Fellowship recipients are nominated by the public, often by members of their own communities, and then judged by a panel of experts in the folk and traditional arts. The panel’s recommendations are reviewed by the National Council on the Arts, which sends its recommendations to the Arts Endowment chair, who makes the final decision. Visit the National Endowment for the Arts website for more information and to submit a nomination.
The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) is an agency of State Government funded by the Indiana General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.