Over the past 13 years, the organization known as the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market has been providing opportunity to folk artists at the world’s largest market of its kind.

The organization has expanded programs to meet the specific challenges that folk artists are facing in the global marketplace. What was born out of Santa Fe as a small grass roots organization focused on one weekend a year, has now grown into a nonprofit empowering international folk artists year-round, as such it has a new name, which reflects the expanded work, the International Folk Art Alliance (IFAA). The International Folk Art Market will always be its flagship program.

Allied with the world’s master folk artists, the public’s participation in IFAA results in communities around the world having clean drinking water, education for girls, improved health care and thriving folk art communities.

International Folk Art Alliance Mission and Vision
The mission of the International Folk Art Alliance is to celebrate and preserve living folk art traditions and create economic opportunities for and with folk artists worldwide. The International Folk Art Alliance envisions a world that values the dignity and humanity of the handmade, honors timeless cultural traditions, and supports the work of folk artists serving as entrepreneurs and catalysts for positive social change.

And that, after all, is The Work of Art.

The 2016 International Folk Art Alliance Award Recipients are:

Living Traditions Award
To honor artists who are an extraordinary example of the IFAA mission by contributing to the preservation of their culture through reviving and strengthening a traditional folk art with a strategy for passing on the tradition to future generations.

• La Flor de Xochistlahuaca – Mexico

Finalists:

• Algeria – Karim Oukid Ouksel
• India – Abdul Jabar Khatri
• India – Asif Shaikh
• Indonesia – Ida Bagus Anom Suryawan

Community Impact Award
To honor artists who are an extraordinary example of the IFAA mission by positively impacting social change in their community.

• ROOTS Project – South Sudan

Finalists:

• Bangladesh – Living Blue
• Cambodia – Mekong Blue
• Cuba – El Grupo Bayate
• India – Self Help Enterprises
• Kenya – Maji Moto Women’s Project

Friend of the Market Award
To honor outstanding leadership and partnership in fulfilling the mission and vision of the International Folk Art Alliance.

• U.S. Sen. Tom Udall and Jill Cooper Udall

Global Enterprise and Impact Award
To honor outstanding leadership by an organization in strengthening and expanding opportunities for folk artists.

• Dallas Market Center

Honorary Chair
2016 International Folk Art Market | Santa Fe

• Ambassador Melanne Verveer

Heart of the Market Award
To honor outstanding philanthropic leadership that embodies the values of the International Folk Art Alliance.

• Nance and Ramón José López