Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, 1 October 1988 Edition 02 — National Heritage Fellowship Award Recognizes Hawaii Artist [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

National Heritage Fellowship Award Recognizes Hawaii Artist

Ironically, many here in Hawaii are more familiar with Japan's National Living Treasures program than with our nation's National Heritage Fellowships Award Program, a program administered by the National Endowment for the Arts. Nahonal Heritage Fellowships honor the nation's exemplary master traditional folk artists and artisans in somewhat the same way as does Japan's program. In the United States, these awards seek to honor traditional artists whose significant contributions to the health and happiness of the nation have, until recently, gone largely uncompensated. Clyde Sproat from North Kohala, Hawaii is one of the 12 Amenean folk artists selected by the NEA to receive a 1988 Nahonal Heritage Fellowship Award announced NEA chairman Frank Hodsoll recent)y. "By recognizing individual artists like Clyde Sproat," noted Hodsoll, "we pause to admire some of the rich cultural traditions that eomprise our country's diverse artistic heritage." Clyde Sproat is joined in this honor by traditionbearers of such art forms as lrish-American stepdancing, German-American bobbin lacemaking, Afro-American blues piano and singing, Appalaehian guitar playing, and Hmong weaving and needlework. Along with the other recipients, Sproat received a formal citation and a $5,000 fellowship award at a two-day ceremony in

Clyde Halema'uma'u Sproat

Washington, D.C. on September 29 and 30. Sproat is well known throughout the islands for ** his soaring falsetto voice, his vast repertoire of old Hawaiian songs, and for his generous spirit in sharing them. Clyde, who enjoys embellishing his performances with colorful and animated stories, has shared his gifts of voice and story both at home and afar. He has performed at Carnegie Recital Hall, Nahonal Folk Festivals, and at the Fourth Cowboy Poetry Gathering, a major gathering of storytellers held annually in Elko, Nevada. Clyde is also one of the featured artists on the double cassette tape recording of music from the ranching areas of Hawaii, "Na Mele O Paniolo," recently published by the SFCA's Folk Arts Program and available through the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Our nation has bestowed National Heritage Fellowships upon four master artists from Hawai'i since the Endowment's Folk Arts Program initiated the awards in 1982. Past recipients include Kau'i Zuttermeister (Hawaiian chanting and hula, 1984), Meali'i Kalama (Hawaiian quilting, 1985), and Raymond Kane (slack-key guitar, 1987). Photograph courtesy oj: The State Foundation on Culture & the Arts ■ FOLK ARTS PROGRAM. Photograph by: Lynn Martin, Folk Arts Coordinator.