Michigan Heritage Awards Ceremony

The Michigan State University Museum announces the Michigan Heritage Awards (MHA) for 2005, the state's highest distinction to honor individuals who continue their family and community traditions with excellence and authenticity.

"The Michigan Heritage Awards are presented each year to honor master practitioners in Michigan who continue the folk traditions of their families and communities through practice and teaching," explains Yvonne Lockwood, curator of folklife at the MSU Museum and coordinator of the Michigan Heritage Awards program. Awards are also presented to outstanding community leaders who support and advocate traditional arts.

Since 1985, the MSU Museum's Michigan Traditional Arts Program (MTAP) has recognized the achievements of Michigan artists in material culture, performance and community leadership. The honorees have been drawn from all corners of the state and reflect the great diversity of skills, ethnicities and backgrounds of Michiganders. Some have also been honored as recipients of the National Heritage Fellowships awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Honorees have come from many different Michigan traditions and all over the state. For more information about the Michigan Heritage Awards program, including nomination forms and short biographies of previous awardees, see http://museum.msu.edu/s-program/MH_awards/mha.html


2005 Michigan Heritage Awardees

The 2005 Michigan Heritage Awards are presented to:

Ia Moua Yang, of Warren -- artist, teacher and preserver of Hmong paj ntaub (embroidered story cloths), and

The J.W. Westcott Company and employees, U.S. mail boat based in Detroit -- for maintaining traditional maritime culture and long-term service on the Detroit River.

Later this year, the recipients of the 2005 Michigan Heritage Awards will be recognized at a public ceremony at the Great Lakes Folk Festival, produced Aug. 12-14 by the MSU Museum in downtown East Lansing.

Interested in more information about the

Michigan Heritage Awards?

Here is a list of past awardees- dating back to 1985.

If you'd like to nominate someone:

Link to Traditional Artist Form (pdf)

Link to Community Leader Form (pdf)