Announcing the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program 2025/26
Vermont Folklife is pleased to announce the latest cohort of master artist/apprentice pairs comprising the 34th cycle of the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP)! Thirteen projects from around the state were successfully funded and we look forward to following the artists and their work throughout the upcoming year.
With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Vermont Arts Council, Vermont Folklife initiated the program in 1992 to support the continued vitality of Vermont's living cultural heritage. VTAAP provides stipends of up to $2,000 to master and apprentice pairs to cover materials and travel expenses associated with their apprenticeship, and to compensate the master artist for their time.
Apprenticeships are face-to-face learning opportunities where instruction addresses both the skills and techniques of an art form, as well as its meaning and use within the communities in which it is practiced. They pair a community-recognized master artist who has achieved a high level of expertise in their art form with a less-experienced apprentice.
The master artist and apprentice jointly plan when, where, and what they expect to accomplish during the apprenticeship. Apprenticeship schedules reflect the time constraints of both master artist and apprentice, and range from short-term, intensive sessions to meetings spread over a year.
More than 400 apprenticeships have been supported since 1992. The successful applicants of the 2025 - 2026 program cycle are listed here:
Scottish Lever Harp - Rachel Clemente / Ava Druzgalski
Linen hand processing, weaving, and cross stitching - Kate Smith / Lucia Rosenast
Rolyang Lobling: Traditional Tibetan Music, Dance and Singing - Migmar Tsering / Tenzin Namsel
Stone Carving - Heather Milne Ritchie / Carrie Bagalio
Willow Basketry - Mary Fraser / Tessa Scheele Morelli
Stone Carving - George Kurjanowicz / Mark Padlo
Square Dance Calling - Will Mentor / Sarah Gibson
Bhutanese Nepali dance for youth - Urmila Chhetri and Susmita Dhakal / Nepali Youth
Traditional Dance Forms for AALV Youth Group - Urmila Chhetri and Guest Artists / AALV Youth Group
Burundian Dance and Music - Delice Birasa / Aline Mukiza
Dia de los Muertos Baile Folklorico Mexicano - Guadalupe Jacobson-Peregrino / Isbeth Bustos
DADGAD Guitar Accompaniment for Irish Music - Owen Marshall / Emmett Stowell
Harmonium for Nepali Music - Sita Dhungana / Isika Niroula
In the coming months Vermont Folklife will share documentation and news related to these extraordinary projects. Stay tuned on our website, podcast, Facebook, and Instagram to follow their progress.
More about VTAAP
Want to learn more about the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program? VTAAP provides the backdrop for a recent audio series produced as part of Vermont Public’s Made Here program: The Arts that Shape Us.
Each episode features longtime participants in VTAAP and through their work, introduces an art form being practiced in Vermont, exploring its relationship to the communities and places where it's rooted.
You'll meet people who are teaching and sustaining these arts, learn what these practices mean to them, and look at the ways that tradition is actually a dynamic process happening in the present while also maintaining ties to the past.