Grants & Programs | Ohio Arts Council's Heritage Fellowships

Ohio Heritage Fellowships

In 2003 the Ohio Arts Council partnered with the Ohio Folk Arts Network to create the Ohio Heritage Fellowships to honor Ohio folk artists or groups who are the finest and most influential masters of their particular art forms and traditions.

Ohio Heritage Fellows are among our state's living cultural treasures. They embody the highest level of artistic achievement in their work and the highest level of service in the teaching and other work they do in their communties to ensure that their traditions stay strong.

Each year, the Ohio Arts Council will award up to three $1,500 Ohio Heritage Fellowships to individuals or groups whose work in the folk arts has had a significant impact on the people and communities of the state. The folk and traditional arts grow out of particular cultures and are recognized as the artistic expressions of ethnic, linguistic, occupational or regional groups. The Fellowships will honor Ohio master folk and traditional artists or groups who carry forward the folk traditions of their families and communities through practice and teaching. One of the fellowships may be awarded to an individual or group whose achievements have had a positive impact on the excellence, vitality and public appreciation of folk and traditional arts in Ohio.

The OAC considers nominations for Ohio Heritage Fellowships in three categories: performing arts (folk dance and music), community leadership, and material culture (folk art and crafts). The performing arts and material culture fellowships are given to individuals or groups for their lifelong record of artistic excellence, authenticity and significance. The community leadership fellowship is given to an individual or group whose lifelong achievements have had a lasting positive impact on the excellence, vitality and public appreciation of the folk and traditional arts in Ohio.

To nominate a folk artist or outstanding community leader in the traditional arts for the Ohio Heritage Fellowships please use the Web-based online application form at www.oac.state.oh.us/Search/OhioHeritageFellowships/SearchFellowshipNominations.asp.

You can search the list of previous nominees on this page. Nominations are reviewed by a panel of experts in the folk and traditional arts. Awards will be announced in the fall. Self-nomination is not permitted. Nominees must be Ohio residents.

2009 Heritage Fellowship Recipient

Performing Arts

Drummer Philip Paul, the 2009 recipient of the Ohio Heritage Fellowship for Performing Arts, played on some of the greatest, most important records ever made�including �Good Rockin� Tonight� by Wynonie Harris, �Fever� by Little Willie John, �Hideaway� by Freddie King and �The Twist� by Hank Ballard. All those records were recorded for the legendary Cincinnati record company, King Records, where Paul served as the in-house drummer from 1952 through 1964.

Paul was born and raised in New York City. He began his professional career while he was still a teenager, playing at the Savoy Ballroom with such musicians as Arthur Prysock and Buddy Johnson�s Big Band. Paul has lived in Cincinnati since 1951, when he came west to join the band of Tiny Bradshaw, which was then ensconced at the famed Cotton Club across the river in Newport, Kentucky. Bradshaw was recording for King, which led to Paul�s tenure as a session musician at the King studio.

During his time at King, Paul drummed on more than 350 records for King and two of its subsidiary labels, Federal and Bethlehem. He played on a wide variety of blues, R&B and jazz records working with such artists as Bull Moose Jackson, Wynonie Harris, Hank Ballard & the Midnighters, Freddie King, Little Willie John, Trini Lopez, Lynn Hope, Tab Smith, Smokey Smothers, Clifford Scott, Rufus Gore, Tiny Bradshaw, Titus Turner, Milt Buckner, Eddie Clearwater, Tiny Topsy, Hank Marr, Lula Reed and others.

Despite the hits, Paul has always considered himself a jazz musician. �I always played jazz," says Paul. �When you are labeled a session drummer, you have to play everything. At King, we didn�t know what kind of music we�d play. You just had to be prepared. I guess I became known for rhythm and blues. But on the street, where I�m working and making a living, I�m playing jazz all the time.

�I�m the kind of drummer that they call �staying in the pocket� who plays good time, a good back-up drummer. Musicians like to play with me because they know I�m going to provide a good strong beat for whatever they are doing.�

In addition to his extensive session work with King, Paul worked for years as one-third of the Roy Meriwether Trio, recording a pair of albums with Meriwether on Columbia. He also toured with jazz artists including Jimmy Smith, Nat Adderly and Herbie Mann and toured the U.S. and Canada with George Weins� Newport Jazz All-Stars.

Philip Paul made his first album as a leader in 2003, the aptly named It�s About Time. In 2002, he received a Lifetime CAMMY Award from the Cincinnati Enquirer for his contributions to the music and culture of Cincinnati.