Bristol Roots Project
2025-26 Funding Opportunities at a Glance
Tradition Bearer Fellowship: Awards of $4,000 granted to individual artisans
Cultural Caretaker Grant: Awards of $5,000 granted to organizations
Deadline: Application window opens April 1 with a deadline of June 30, 2025
Awards: August 2025 announcement for a grant period of one (1) year
Fellowships & Grants for Local Cultural Traditions
The Bristol Roots project, formally known as the Greater Bristol Folk Arts & Culture Team, announces two funding opportunities for folk and traditional artists and cultural organizations in the greater Bristol region in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee in 2025-2026. This second round of funding is made possible through an initiative by Mid Atlantic Arts via the Central Appalachia Living Traditions (CALT) program.
The Bristol Roots project will promote and support folk arts and culture in the Greater Bristol community by providing targeted resources and support to area organizations, artists, artisans, and collectives with the goal of dramatically increasing the sustainability and visibility of traditional practice, cultural knowledge, and regional vitality.
This initiative offers two categories of funding opportunities: The Tradition Bearer Fellowship with a special focus on emerging artists will offer eight (8) awards of $4,000 each to grantees, and the Cultural Caretakers Grant award to community organizations and/or venues with significant capacity-building or general operating needs will grant four (4) awards of $5,000 each to qualifying organizations. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum (BCMM) will act as the Community Anchor. Full details of each program are below.
Tradition Bearer Fellowship
Summary: The Tradition Bearer Fellowship will support grantees working in traditional or folk arts and culture with awards of $4,000 in their creative practices by providing financial support, professional development, and public presentation opportunities. Fellows will have access to professional development through an in-person, expert-led workshop at BCMM and with funding for opportunities of their choice (e.g. website development, professional headshots, writing artist statements/resumes, product photography, pricing, access to studio (recording) time, social media, networking) during their grant period. Eight (8) fellowships will be awarded in 2025. All grant funds must be spent within the award period.
Who May Apply: Tradition Bearer Fellowships are open to individuals and serve traditional artists and practitioners at all levels, emerging to experienced. The fellowship will focus on those who will most benefit from professional development opportunities. Fellowships, with their emphasis on supporting creative work and connecting artists to local/statewide resources, will help sustain local traditional arts while raising broad awareness of the quality and value of the region’s traditional culture. We invite diversity not only in social, cultural, or economic background, but also in creative practice itself.
Awardees may include, but are not limited to:
• Traditional Music and Dance – Traditional musicians, singers, and dancers who have made significant and/or long-term contributions to sustaining and supporting the musical heritage of their respective communities
• Folk and Traditional Arts and Crafts – Traditional arts and crafts practitioners whose work is connected to a community- and/or place-based tradition rather than a fine art practice; examples include luthiers, textile producers, quilters, folk artists, woodcarvers, potters, basket makers, traditional artisans, jewelry makers, etc. who have made significant and long-term contributions to sustaining and supporting the folk arts and culture of their respective communities
• Foodways – Traditional home cooks and bakers, seed savers, farmers, community elders, keepers of recipes and traditional foodways knowledge, hunters, and foragers who have made significant and/or long-term contributions to sustaining and supporting the foodways of their respective communities
• Community Traditions – Including but not limited to traditional storytellers, herbalists, birth workers, and those whose practice is related to community- and/or place-based traditions.
Eligibility: Eligible applicants must reside within 22 Appalachian counties or cities surrounding Bristol in Southwest Virginia/Northeast Tennessee: Bland, Bristol, Buchanan, Carroll, Carter, Dickenson, Galax, Grayson, Hawkins, Johnson, Lee, Norton, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Sullivan, Tazewell, Unicoi, Washington (Virginia and Tenneessee), Wise, and Wythe. The majority of grantees will be Virginia applicants.
Deadline: Application window opens April 1 with a deadline of June 30, 2025, 11:59 p.m.
To apply, complete this simple application form.
Click here to download PDF of the application guidelines.
Examples of previous Tradition Bearer Fellowship awards from 2023–24 include broom maker John Ingles Alexander (Grayson Co., Va.), luthier Jackson Cunningham (Grayson Co., Va.), clothing maker Stephen Curd (Washington Co., Va.), musician Pierceton Hobbs (Dickenson Co., Va.), dulcimer player Roxanne McDaniel (Washington Co., Tenn.), photographer Anna Mullins (Dickenson Co., Va.), broom maker Erin Simmons (Wythe Co., Va.), and luthier KT Vandyke (Bristol, Va.).
Cultural Caretakers Grants
Summary: Cultural Caretakers grants will provide awards of $5,000 and are open to organizations, venues, and cultural sites that are small-scale and largely volunteer-run and have difficulty accessing typical sources of public and private funding. Grantees can use the awarded funds for projects that enhance their sustainability, their ability to serve present and future traditional artists, and/or their ability to engage new audiences, including:
• Support for sustainability of general operations or organizational needs
• Funding an artist-focused event or workshop
• Equipment needs
• Small-scale capital projects
• Succession planning
• Contractor/volunteer/employee fees
• Marketing and promotional materials, including website development
Who May Apply: Regional organizations, venues, and cultural sites, especially small-scale, largely volunteer-run organizations. The majority of grantees will be from Virginia.
Examples of 2023-24 Cultural Caretaker grants were previously awarded to:
• The Appalachian African American Cultural Center in Pennington Gap, Va.
• The Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Va.
• Exchange Place in Kingsport, Tenn.
• Mount Pleasant Preservation Society in Smyth Co., Va.
Eligibility: Tradition bearers and cultural sites in eligible counties are encouraged to apply, though the majority of awardees will be from Virginia, aligning with Mid Atlantic Art’s funding priorities. Eligible cities and counties include:
• Southwest Virginia: Bland, Bristol, Buchanan, Carroll, Dickenson, Galax, Grayson, Lee, Norton, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, Wythe
• Northeast Tennessee: Sullivan, Washington, Carter, Johnson, Hawkins, Unicoi
To apply, complete this simple application form.
Click here to download PDF of the application guidelines.
Grants are made possible through Mid Atlantic Arts’ Central Appalachia Living Traditions (CALT) Anchor Community Initiative and are managed locally by the Bristol Roots Project. Team members and organizations include:
• Katy Clune, Virginia Folklife Program (VFP) of Virginia Humanities
• Toni Doman, Bristol Roots Project Manager
• Katie Hoffman, Create Appalachia
• Dr. René Rodgers, Birthplace of Country Music (BCMM)
About Central Appalachia Living Traditions
Central Appalachia Living Traditions (CALT), a project of Mid Atlantic Arts, is a multi-year program designed to promote the understanding and recognition of folk arts and culture in Central Appalachia through a three-part program that invests in folk arts communities while seeding new folk and traditional arts experiences and honoring unrecognized practitioners of Central Appalachian traditions across the region. The CALT Anchor Community Initiative provides targeted resources and support to select community anchors of folk arts and culture in the region with the goal of dramatically impacting the sustainability of traditional practice and cultural knowledge.
For questions about this year’s grant opportunities, please email BristolRootsProject@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org.
