(Photo credit: Steve Tamayo Ancestral Voices Mural, South Omaha, Photo by Ryan Soderlin for the Flatwater Free Press)
Congratulations to Steve Tamayo (Omaha) for being named a 2025 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow! The program recognizes recipients’ artistic excellence, lifetime achievement, and contributions to our nation’s traditional arts heritage.
Steve 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.
He 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.
Steve is also on the NAC Artist Roster for Arts in Schools and Communities program.