We are deeply committed to sharing the lessons resulting from our work with partners and grantees through storytelling, research, and convening. Click on any of the themes below to start exploring our work.
One of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation’s Community Inspiration Project pilots, “Repellent Fence”, is scheduled to air on prime-time national television Tuesday, April 24, at 8:00 pm Eastern (check local stations here). It will be broadcast as part of the new season of the award winning “America Reframed”.
Join us in congratulating the eight accomplished Native artists, representing six states, named our 2018 Mentor Artist Fellows!
2017 Mentor Artist Fellow Lani Hotch (Chilkat Indian Village) comes from a long lineage of weavers starting back with her great-great-grandmother. She began weaving with her grandmother and is using her opportunity as a Mentor Fellow to ensure that the tradition is passed on to younger generations.
Stop by our national headquarters on April 6, 2018 to view a unique installation by Cherokee visual artist Brenda Mallory.
NACF 2018 National Artist Fellow and singer/songwriter Kalani Pe’a calls himself a millennial Hawaiian who loves to write Hawaiian music with his own innovative twist.
During National Women’s History Month, please join us in honoring our community of Native Arts and Cultures Foundation women artists and culture bearers.
Filmmaker Shaandiin Tome (Diné) recently completed her year as a Sundance Institute | Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellow, a unique opportunity for emerging filmmakers to learn from industry professionals.
We call on artists, creative organizers, concerned citizens, and all community members to join together from April 2-8, 2018, to draw inspiration from and breathe new life into the prophetic words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Can you name five women artists? Many people can’t. If you can, it probably takes you much longer to think of five female artists than five male artists. Now, try to name five women artists of color. Join us in the #5WomenArtists campaign.
This spring, three Indigenous, female playwrights will present their work on Oregon’s top stages at the same time. It’s a ground breaking convergence of award-winning, distinguished playwrights.
Installation and performance artist James Luna has died. Luna, of Puyukitchum, Ipai, and Mexican American Indian descent, passed away on March 4, 2018. While our hearts are heavy with his loss, we remember his relentless spirit and poignant voice as a Native artist.
Please join us in giving a warm welcome to our new Director of National Artist Fellowships, Reuben Tomás Roqueñi!
Missing Indigenous is a seven-minute film which personalizes the heart wrenching epidemic of Native American women going missing. NACF is proud to support its first international screening.
Congratulations to the 20 artists, representing five disciplines and twelve states, who have been awarded a Native Arts and Cultures Foundation 2018 National Artist Fellowship!
In countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and among tribal nations in the U.S., it is commonplace, even policy, to open events and gatherings by acknowledging the traditional Indigenous inhabitants of that land. While some individuals and cultural and educational institutions in the United States have adopted this custom, the vast majority have not. Together, we can spark a movement to change that.
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations recently highlighted the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation’s work to empower Indigenous communities through capacity building, highlighting its evaluation process and findings through the Community Inspiration Program. “In each of the projects, the artists wanted to…
Updated June 14, 2017: As part of NACF’s ongoing work to advocate for awareness, revitalization and the support of contemporary Native arts and cultures, President/CEO Lulani Arquette will present on two panels while at the 2017 Annual Americans for the…
On May 12, 2017, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation staff attended Arts & Cultural Equity: Current Examples & Relevant Strategies, forum organized by the University of Oregon’s Arts Administration program and its Center for Community Arts & Cultural Policy. This…
We are committed to promoting opportunities that support and enrich Native artists and organizations in the United States to the best of our abilities, and in respect to the suitability of each opportunity for our community. Would you like to…
This series of four short documentaries feature Oregon and Alaskan Native people as they discuss the impact of a changing environment on the lives of Native peoples of the Northwest along with their rich cultural arts. Accompanying the films will…
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation is proud to be a partner in #RevolutionOfValues, a day of creative action on April 4th, 2017, the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s powerful speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.”
Fifty years later, to walk in his footsteps, to give voice once again to his powerful words, and to kick off a year of efforts by many organizations around the U.S. to remind people of Dr. King’s real message and unfinished work, the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, and partners are sponsoring #RevolutionOfValues.
Saturday, March 11, is a proud day for the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and our 2016 Visual Arts Fellows Brenda Mallory (Cherokee Nation) and Luzene Hill (Eastern Band of Cherokee). The two installation artists open their joint exhibit “Connecting Lines” at the Portland Art Museum bringing unique perspectives on themes of disruption, violence against Native women, survival, renewal and empowerment.
Hill’s “Enate” and Mallory’s “Recurring Chapters in the Book of Inevitable Outcomes” masterfully blend contemporary and past in a multi-layered exploration of history and the resilience and determination to overcome them.
We believe that the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation has a responsibility to support those artists and culture bearers whose voices and actions are championing justice. Our Community Inspiration Projects do just that by providing artists and communities opportunities to address issues of social concern through artmaking. Here are some of the great things that are happening with some of our Community Inspiration Projects:
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation is proud to share an update on Oyate Okodakiciyapi , a performance and full schedule of community engagement activities, led by Artist Fellows Rosy Simas, Christopher K. Morgan, and Rulan Tangen. For those in…
Please join us in giving a warm welcome to our newest staffer, Laura Cales! Laura joined the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation as Program Coordinator in December 2016. She coordinates the administration and logistics of NACF programs, with particular emphasis…
Please check back as we learn of new opportunities, and visit us on Facebook for updates. We are committed to promote opportunities that support and enrich Native artists and organizations in the United States, to the best of our abilities…
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation is proud to announce the world premiere of Sam Wainwright Douglas’ documentary film “Through the Repellent Fence: A Land Art Film” in New York City February 18 and 19, 2017, at the esteemed Museum…
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced Creating Humanities Communities, a new grant that supports grassroots humanities programs by encouraging partnerships and collaborations between multiple institutions or organizations in a town, county, region, or area. NEH hopes that the…
Weaver Clarissa Rizal, Tlingit T’ak Dein Taan Raven Clan, passed away in December 2016. While we at Native Arts and Cultures Foundation are deeply saddened by the loss of Clarissa, we are honored to have supported her heritage practice, and…
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation offers its congratulations to Southwest artist collective Postcommodity, who will be featured in the 2017 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The Whitney Biennial is the longest…
Through performance, literature and art, “Saying Our Share: Surviving the Missions”, outlines the tragedy that befell a pre-contact California indigenous population of close to one million people and, over 70 years post contact, reduced it to an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 survivors.
