Mark Tamsula and Art Lindsay are the proud recipients of the 2025-2026 Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant awarded by the Pennsylvania Creative Industries’ Folk and Traditional Arts Program.
Art Lindsay and Mark Tamsula
Our focus is the traditional fiddle and fife tunes that represent the Southwestern Pennsylvania fiddlers who were a part of the Appalachian culture from 1928 through 1963. Art will learn many new tunes, as well as become familiar with the available personal details associated with the original source fiddlers, and the collecting methods employed by Samuel Bayard. If possible, he’ll search for further details if available.
Also, Art will move beyond just learning tunes on the fiddle, he’ll also gain an awareness of the historic relevance that past SW Pennsylvania fiddlers and their tunes have in Appalachian music, and he’ll become a recognized authority on the subject. Throughout our music community we’ll spread the news, and Art will perform his new repertoire when he plays dances, shows, contests and more.
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Arthur “Art” Lindsay was born and raised in Harrison City Pennsylvania. Westmoreland County.
“I grew up learning to play guitar and performing in the local Punk Rock music scene. I was introduced to Old Time music in 2010 and began attending the East End Appalachian Jam at Hambone’s in Pittsburgh. In 2015 I started taking fiddle lessons from Mark Tamsula at the Calliope School of Folk Music. I have been learning and taking lessons from him ever since.
From 2016 to 2020 I was the organizer for Steel City Squares, a monthly Square Dance in Pittsburgh. I played in the Lone Pine String Band from 2012 to 2020 and got to play so many different stages and just about every Square Dance from here to Huntington. I’m currently a member of the Pittsburgh based band, Howling Mob, a folk / country band that plays original songs and has been featured on WYEP as the artist of the week.
In 2024 I was selected as part of the Folk Lab cohort and worked for a year with artists across different mediums and media to present, “These Hollow Hills,” an interdisciplinary interpretation of Pittsburgh’s place in Appalachia.
In 2025 Mark and I were awarded the Pennsylvania Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant from the Pennsylvania Arts Council. As Master, Mark has been teaching the traditional tunes that were collected by Samuel Bayard. Also I’ve been able to perform with the legendary Snappin’ Bug String Band, filling in on guitar, where I get to perform and immerse myself in the community of folks who take stewardship of Old Time Appalachian culture in our region.”
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Mark Tamsula has been performing and teaching fiddle, banjo, guitar and mandolin in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region for over 40 years. He draws from an ever expanding repertoire of tunes and songs. He has co-produced seven albums of fiddle, banjo and fife tunes from the Samuel Bayard collection of Southwestern Pennsylvanian music. Mark regularly performs with the bands Snappin’ Bug, Lackawanna Longnecks (old time) and Mon Krewe (Cajun).
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Pennsylvania Creative Industries, powered by Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, has worked collaboratively with Community Partnerships RC&D to distribute the Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeships Award Agreements and grant funding.
Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeships support the learning of traditional arts within cultural communities across Pennsylvania. Apprenticeship grants provide funding for a partnership between a master traditional artist and a qualified apprentice, enabling them to work together to share and develop advanced techniques or repertoire.
The goals of the PCA’s Folk and Traditional Arts partners are to investigate, document, present, sustain, and promote Pennsylvania’s folk and traditional arts in order to celebrate and sustain our commonwealth’s diverse heritage.
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