In April an Arnold Shultz Fund grant was awarded to Miranda Dozier of St. Louis, Missouri, to be used to enroll her in a luthier school where she could learn to build ceremonial banjos for her performances and her community. Dozier is an African American banjo player who plays two-finger, clawhammer, and some Scruggs style banjo at spiritual and healing ceremonies.
“I am truly grateful for the Arnold Shultz Fund grant and the opportunity to create something meaningful in the community,” she said. “I’m learning from Joe Mendel of Mendel’s Fretted Instruments.”
Miranda was invited to work with the Black Banjo Reclamation Project (another Shultz Fund grant recipient). “I’ve just been to Chicago to help teach teenagers some simple building techniques for gourd banjo over the last two weeks of July,” she said.
Here’s a video from Miranda, working on the banjo she is building with her Shultz Fund grant.
RETURN to the August 1, 2024 issue of The Cornerstone.
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