Trailer shows Mobile’s Excelsior Band, other NEA honorees

Trailer shows Mobile’s Excelsior Band, other NEA honorees

Back in June, when the National Endowment for the Arts announced that Mobile’s Excelsior Band was among its 2022 National Heritage Fellowship honorees, we were told a film was coming in November. Now a trailer is out.

You only catch a glimpse of the storied brass band in the clip, which offers a quick panorama of the honorees. Others featured in the trailer include Indiana bluegrass player Michael Cleveland, flamenco master Eva Enciñias, U.S. Virgin Island quelbe musician Stanley Jacobs, Virginia gospel group The Legendary Ingramettes and Navajo weaver TahNibaa Naataanii.

The NEA describes the fellowships as “the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.” NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson has described honorees as people who “tell their own stories on their own terms” and who “pass their skills and knowledge to others through mentorship and teaching.”

“These honorees are not only sustaining the cultural history of their art form and of their community, they are also enriching our nation as a whole,” she said.

The trailer conveys a sense of that. The full film will debut Nov. 17 at arts.gov.