Funder: American-Scandinavian Foundation
Due Dates: September 15, 2027 (Application deadline)
Funding Amounts: $3,000–$10,000 per fellowship
Summary: Supports individual Nordic folk artists and practitioners in the Upper Midwest to deepen traditional skills, foster master-apprentice relationships, and share their work publicly.
Key Information: Applicants must live and work in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Description
The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) offers fellowships to sustain living Nordic folk arts and cultural traditions in the Upper Midwest. The fellowships deepen master artists’ skills and/or foster relationships between masters and apprentices, helping traditional skills pass between generations. Projects encourage both the practice of folk arts and their presentation to public audiences.
The program celebrates the cultures of Denmark, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sápmi, and Sweden. Folk arts are understood as expressions of community identity and values, cultivated informally through word of mouth or example. Supported traditions may include crafts, arts, technical or occupational skills, music, dance, and foods or customs marking important moments of life or the year.
