Since 1982, the nation has honored folk and traditional artists for their lifetime achievements and contributions to our cultural heritage with the NEA National Heritage Fellowships. Now, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts is giving a similar award to master performers and artisans in our own state! Ten artists were named as winners in the 2024 round. Starting this week, two special episodes of State of the Arts bring you the stories of the first New Jersey Heritage Fellows.

On the first program, premiering this Wednesday, we feature five Heritage Fellows. We begin in Voorhees, where Kathy DeAngelo and her husband Dennis Gormley carry on the vibrant tradition of Irish music. Kathy was awarded the NJ Heritage Fellowship for her focus on the Irish harp—she’s played an important part in its renaissance.

Musical storyteller Valerie Vaughn

The next story travels south to Forked River, to the studio where basket maker Mary May works, surrounded by historic baskets as well as her own creations. Not too far away is the Tuckerton Seaport and Baymen’s Museum, where New Jersey Heritage Fellow Valerie Vaughn writes and sings original songs based on the lives of people living in the Pine Barrens and the Jersey Shore.

Ylvia Asal (right) in her Haddonfield shop

In Haddonfield, Ylvia Asal makes intricate 3-dimensional lace with a needle and fine thread. She was taught the craft by her Greek Anatolian grandmother. And in Perth Amboy, Bomba master Nelson Baez focuses on the next generation. He and his wife Magda teach Puerto Rico’s traditional drumming and dancing to students of all ages.

Bomba master Nelson Baez with his group, Los Cimarrones

In November, we meet another five Heritage Fellows, including Afro-Peruvian percussionist Hector Morales, storyteller Queen Nur, Korean dancer and drummer Lena Mija Kim, and the husband and wife team behind Segunda Quimbamba, Juan Cartagena and Nanette Hernández.

Dancer and drummer Lena Mija Kim

During our months-long production, State of the Arts producers and camera crews spent a lot of time with the first ten New Jersey Heritage Fellows. In the process, we saw firsthand the impressive richness of our state’s diverse cultural heritage. From a community center in Perth Amboy to an oyster shack in Tuckerton, Koreatown in Palisades Park to the Lacey Township Schoolhouse Museum, we found artists dedicated to carrying on their cultural traditions, and sharing their skills and knowledge with others. What they do is important, and precious.

We congratulate the inaugural class of New Jersey Heritage Fellows, and the NJSCA for starting this meaningful new honor!