Celebrating Cultural Heritage: 2025 NEA National Heritage Fellows from the M-AAA Region
By Elizabeth Snell
Steve Tamayo of Nebraska and Edward Poullard of Texas have been named 2025 NEA National Heritage Fellows—an honor that recognizes their outstanding contributions to traditional arts in America. These fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) are the nation’s highest recognition in the folk and traditional arts, celebrating artists whose lifelong work preserves and uplifts cultural heritage.
Tamayo and Poullard are among seven artists honored by the NEA nationwide this year, each representing unique cultural traditions from across the country. Their recognition highlights the rich artistic heritage of the Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) region, which includes Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
Steve Tamayo – (Sicangu Lakota) Traditional Lakota Artist & Educator
Omaha, Nebraska
2025 NEA National Heritage Fellow
Steve Tamayo Ancestral Voices Mural, South Omaha, Nebraska – Photo by Ryan Soderlin for the Flatwater Free Press. Courtesy of the NEA
Steve Tamayo has spent decades reclaiming and celebrating Lakota culture through his art, helping students deepen their knowledge of traditional activities like regalia making, drumming, and powwow dancing, which are vital to cultural preservation and unity.
As part of the Nebraska Arts Council teaching roster, Tamayo visits schools and communities across the state, including remote communities. In his role as a cultural specialist in Omaha Public Schools’ NICE (Native Indigenous Centered Education) program, he helps Indigenous students sustain their cultural identity. To further his education and advocacy efforts, Bluebird Cultural Initiative, a nonprofit organization founded by Tamayo, offers free classes and educational materials on the Rosebud Reservation and nationwide. Several groups established by the organization host regular meetings where participants can deepen their cultural knowledge through traditional activities including Lakota language classes that teach ways of speaking and singing that are vital to cultural preservation and unity.
In 2011, Tamayo earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Sínte Gleska University in Mission, South Dakota, where he later developed and taught the traditional arts program. In 2014, he was awarded the Nebraska Governor’s Heritage Art Award for excellence in cultural artistic expression and for his contributions to Native American culture.
Tamayo is the 2025 recipient of the Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship, presented in recognition of an individual who has made a significant contribution to the preservation and awareness of cultural heritage.
Read more about Steve Tamayo at the NEA.
Edward Poullard – Creole Musician
Beaumont, Texas
2025 NEA National Heritage Fellow
Edward Poullard. Photography by Mark Marcin. Courtesy of the NEA
A third-generation Creole musician, Edward Poullard mastered various instruments throughout his musical journey and is known for teaching Creole and Cajun fiddle and accordion styles throughout the United States and Europe.
A grant from Texas Folklife Resources in the late 1980s allowed Poullard to pursue his studies with the late Creole fiddler Canray Fontenot. As a result of the apprenticeship, Poullard regularly played with Fontenot on the national folk festival circuit. Poullard recorded with many Creole musicians, including playing fiddle with Lawrence “Black” Ardoin on Tradition Creole (Arhoolie Records, 1984) and accordion on Canray Fontenot’s Louisiana Hot Sauce (Arhoolie Records, 1992). He is also featured as a primary artist with Jesse Legé on Live! At the Isleton Crawdad Festival (Arhoolie Records, 2002).
As a further commitment to preserving the music, Poullard is also a master woodworker; he has specialized in accordion building since 2001. At that time, Poullard received a grant from Texas Folklife to study and build the ten-button diatonic accordion referred to as the Cajun style accordion. The single row of buttons and distinctive tuning give it a unique sound, and Poullard’s creations are in high demand.
In addition to mentoring musicians from his own community through apprenticeships and informal teaching sessions, Poullard has become increasingly active in passing on his traditions to others such as at festivals and camps including the Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia; American Fiddle Tunes at Port Townsend, Washington; the Folklore Village Dance Camp in Dodgeville, Wisconsin; the International Accordion Festival in San Antonio, Texas; and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, DC.
Read more about Edward Poullard at the NEA.
The NEA National Heritage Fellowships honor individual artists and highlight the diverse cultural expressions that enrich our nation. In recognizing artists like Steve Tamayo and Edward Poullard, tradition comes into focus—not just as something to preserve, but as something we live, share, and pass on.
For a complete list of the 2025 NEA National Heritage Fellows and more information about the program, visit the NEA’s official announcement.
About the National Heritage Fellowships
NEA National Heritage Fellowship recipients are nominated by the public—often by members of their own communities—and then judged by a panel of experts in the folk and traditional arts. The National Council on the Arts reviews the panel’s recommendations and sends its recommendations to the NEA chair.