Folk Heritage Award

Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award

Honoring practitioners and advocates of traditional arts

Presented by the South Carolina General Assembly, this one-time, annual award is presented to practitioners and advocates of traditional arts significant to communities throughout the state.

Up to four artists and one advocate may receive awards each year.

The award for traditional artists and arts organizations recognizes those who practice art forms that have been transmitted through their families and communities. These artists have demonstrated a commitment to sustaining their traditional art forms and have, in turn, used their art to benefit those around them.
The award for traditional arts advocates recognizes individuals and groups who have worked to further traditional culture in the state. Those who are not traditional artists, but who have provided service that helps to sustain and promote South Carolina traditions, are eligible for the advocacy award.
Read the legislation establishing the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award.

Pictured above: 2025 recipient Caroleen Sanders, a Catawba potter, and select artworks.

About Jean Laney Harris (1933-1997)

A state representative for District No. 53 (Chesterfield-Marlboro County) until her death on Jan. 26, 1997, Jean Laney Harris was known and respected as an outspoken advocate and ardent supporter of the arts and cultural resources of the state. During her 18 years in the House of Representatives, she was chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Cultural Affairs and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. She played a major role in the recognition of South Carolinians for their contributions to the arts with the Folk Heritage Awards and the South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts. She was also a supporter of the expanded role of the Governor’s School for the Arts. Jean Laney Harris was always a strong advocate for the areas of education, arts, and cultural affairs.

About the Folk Heritage Award

The 2026 cycle of the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards is jointly managed by the University of South Carolina Lancaster and the South Carolina Arts Commission.

Please consider the following before submitting a nomination.

This award honors those who have spent a significant portion of their lives advocating for and/or creating traditional art forms significant to South Carolina.

Traditional arts are expressions of shared identity that are learned as a part of the cultural life of a particular group. This shared identity may be rooted in family, geographic, tribal, occupational, religious or ethnic connections, among others. As expressions of a living culture, traditional arts have been handed down from one generation to the next and reflect the shared experience, aesthetics and values of a group.
- In general, artists should have learned the art informally and not through schools, classes, workshops, etc.
- Nominees must be living at the time of their nomination.
- Nominees must be practicing their art or advocating for a traditional art in the state of South Carolina.
- Past Folk Heritage Award recipients are not eligible.
- The art form for which the nominee is receiving recognition must be practiced currently in the cultural life of the community—whether that community be cultural, regional, tribal, occupational, religious, or other. Nominees practicing remnants of the past that are no longer practiced in contemporary life will not be considered for this award.
Nominations are valid for four years from the time of their original submission.

Applications may be updated and edited before each new selection period, and support materials may be carried over from year to year. Although the nominations may be valid beyond their original submission, we ask that if you are interested in having your nomination considered beyond the year of its original submission, please contact Brittany Taylor-Driggers at taylorbd@mailbox.sc.edu. This will ensure that your nomination is considered in subsequent selection processes.
These are the required materials for any nomination:
- Nomination form.
- Narrative.
- Letters of support and letter of support contact list (min. 3 letters, max 10 letters).
- Support materials (min. 10 items).
Please visit the USCL website for details on how to gather and submit these materials.