PORTLAND, Oregon, November 16, 2023 – The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) is excited to announce the new 2023 SHIFT – Transformative Change and Indigenous Arts program awardees.
Following a national open call for American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian artists, eight projects were selected to receive a $100,000 two-year award designed to support artists and community projects responding to social, environmental and economic justice issues to draw increased attention to Native communities.
The SHIFT – Transformative Change and Indigenous Arts program provides multi-year services for Native artists and cultural practitioners to work on expansive projects for community engagement and presentation in collaboration with partner organizations.
“This group of SHIFT artists and partners are utilizing their brilliant artistry and deep connections to communities to offer new perspectives and solutions to some of the most pressing issues we face in the world today.” – Laura (Cales) Matalka (Chickasaw Nation) Associate Director of Programs
Selected artists for the SHIFT 2023 awards are as follows:
READ MORE about the SHIFT program!
MEDIA CONTACT
Mandy Yeahpau
Director of Communications
mandy@nativeartsandcultures.org
Maile Andrade’s (Kanaka ʻŌiwi) SHIFT Project, Hoʻoulu Maikoha, will grow a network of cultural resource gardens for the Hawaiian cultural practice of kapamaking. Lead Partner Organization Ho’oulu ‘Aina will collaborate with Andrade on programmatic activities and will document the project through talk-story debriefs, photography, social media and more.
The Growing Thunder Collective’s Waksupi Waunspe: Dakota/Nakoda Beadwork Knowledges project will engage four generations of the Growing Thunder family on the Fort Peck Reservation to lead regalia co-creating workshops. In partnership with Ephemera, the workshops will provide hands-on learning that will be documented for film and presented in a traveling exhibition organized by Joslyn Art Museum.
Lani Hotch (Chilkat Indian Village) in partnership with Takshanuk Watershed Council. Hotch will mentor four apprentices in the creation of five Chilkat Salmon Protector Robes which will be utilized as a tool for advocacy and cultural education on the vital importance of the Chilkat River Salmon and the prevention of industrial development that threatens the Chilkat River/watershed.
Anthony Hudson (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Siletz) and Felix Furby (Chinook Nation and Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) in partnership with Chachalu Tribal Museum and Cultural Center and New Expressive Works. Hudson and Felix’s The Shimkhin Project will be a touring exhibition and supporting programming about transfeminine Atfalati (Tualatin) Kalapuya healer Shimkhin (1820-1904).
Leilehua Lanzilott’s (Kanaka Maoli) in partnership with Te Ao Mana. Lanzilotti’s Liliʻu is a new opera celebrating the legacy of the last Queen of Hawaiʻi that will be presented alongside free hula, language, and cultural workshops to bring the community together and celebrate the diaspora.
Christen Marquez (Kānaka Maoli) in partnership with Hawaii Strategy Lab. Marquez’s Lucky We Live Hawaii is a feature documentary that highlights stories of Native Hawaiians whose lives and access to housing and land are impacted by white supremacy and will offer Native Hawaiian solutions for access to land, housing, and capital.
Warren Montoya (Tamaya [Santa Ana Pueblo] Kha’po Owingeh [Santa Clara Pueblo]) in partnership with Santa Fe Indian School. Montoya’s Santa Fe Indian School Heritage Murals Project is a multi-phase program to design and permanently install multiple murals embedded with Augmented Reality coding technology across the Santa Fe Indian School campus.
Marie Watt (Seneca Nation) in partnership with Forge Project. Watt’s Chords to Other Chords is a series of three site-responsive neon sculptures that aim to amplify stories and conversations about land, stewardship, and place.
NACF is grateful to the following supporters who made the SHIFT – Transformative Change and Indigenous Arts program possible:
Arnerich Massena, Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums, C8 Charitable Fund, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Circular, The Cotyledon Fund, Del’s Kids Family Fund of Oregon Community Foundation, Fred W. Fields Fund of Oregon Community Foundation, Ford Foundation, James F & Marion L. Miller Foundation, The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, Mythical Entertainment, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Oaktree Capital, OnPoint Community Credit, Union, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Rasmuson Foundation, The Raymond Dale and Mary Hardesty Charitable Fund, Ronald W. Naito MD Foundation, Ruth Foundation For The Arts, Stoll Stoll Berne Lokting & Shlachter Fund of Oregon Community Foundation, Tides Foundation, Virginia Wellington Cabot Foundation, The William H. Donner Foundation, Inc., W.K. Kellogg Foundation and two anonymous donors.