PAST PROGRAMS
In 2007, a study conducted by the Ford Foundation demonstrated a deep need for a national resource to support Native arts and cultures in the US. After a preliminary feasibility study, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) was launched in 2009 to recognize Native creativity, heal
the damage of history, and support cultural continuity for generations of Native artists and culture bearers.
Since its first year of programming in 2011, NACF made significant strides in fulfilling its mission to nurture Native artist success by offering support to individual artists, arts organizations, and communities. In March 2019, NACF conducted an internal review looking carefully at a subset of 120 final awardee reports. We also surveyed 252 past artist and organization awardees and learned that the overwhelming majority of awardees were responding to the following: social, political, environmental, spiritual, economic, and food justice issues through a Native lens, drawing increased attention to Native communities, perspectives, and challenges, shifting a national narrative of invisibility, misunderstanding, and misappropriation.
Based on on our findings and after conversations with stakeholders, NACF defined one overall focus area: Catalyze Native peoples, artists and cultures bearers to influence positive social, cultural, and environmental change. We devised four priorities to guide our future work with a primary focus of promoting positive social change, education in philanthropy and the public, and to convene and converge Native artists. You can learn more about our goals and priorities in the 2021-2025 Strategic Plan, which outlines a bold vision for NACF as we pivot programming with SHIFT and LIFT and extends our reach with a new home for the Center for Native Arts and Cultures (CNAC) in Portland, Oregon.
PAST PROGRAM AWARDS
NATIONAL ARTIST FELLOWSHIP
At its heart, the Artist Fellowship initiative was built around the fact that in order for any artist to succeed creatively, they need time, space, and financial support to cultivate their creative process, improve their craft, explore new concepts and, for some, take risks that they might not have had the capacity to take otherwise. By offering Fellowships, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation was able to strengthen the ecosystem of support for Native artists, enabling them to generate more artistic work, live sustainable lives, and contribute to their communities.
MENTOR ARTIST FELLOWSHIP
An incredible wealth of cultural heritage and creative expression is held and maintained in Native arts and cultures. As our Native American elders pass—and with the integration of non-tribal worldviews in our Native communities—Indigenous people are experiencing a dilution of cultural wisdom. Historically, Native artists and culture bearers dedicated their time, resources, and support to teaching the next generation by passing on technical skills, arts practice, and cultural knowledge needed to perpetuate visual and traditional arts in the community. NACF Mentor Artist Fellowships perpetuate the continuity of traditional practices, languages, and cultural expressions in Native communities, and provide an avenue for a new generation of artists to invest and strengthen their artistic voice in the evolution of contemporary visual arts.
COMMUNITY INSPIRATION PROJECTS
Community Inspiration Program projects were artist-driven and designed to connect Native and non-Native people in community conversations that address pressing social, cultural, and environmental concerns to create positive change. Through the Community Inspiration Program, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation enabled artists and communities to inspire shared hopes and arts-based experiences to drive vital conversations.
NATIVE NATION PARTNERSHIPS
The voices of Native artists and culture bearers are steadily reaching larger and more diverse audiences across the nation. Both urban and rural Native artists and arts organizations possess the same potential to inspire and energize their communities and to play a leading role in sparking conversation around social issues. To address the lack of economic resources and to progress social change, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation’s Community Inspiration Program (CIP) Native Nation Partnerships (NNP) initiative provided funding to Native Nation arts organizations in support of an arts and cultures project.
SPECIAL PROJECTS
Native peoples need forums for telling their stories, and opportunities to build bridges between Native and non-Native stakeholders and audiences. To that end, the NACF has awarded local, regional and national grants to organizations that share our vision and have the demonstrated capacity to build a flourishing Native arts and cultural landscape since 2011. Below are partner bios and some of the stories we have shared about past awardees. For a comprehensive list of awardees visit the Special Projects page.
AWARDEE STORIES (2014-2020)
Reflections of Native Voices – New York, NY
Ojibwe Artist Jim Denomie Brings Native American Perspective to International Event
Global First Nations Performance Network Expands Opportunities for Indigenous Performers
Join us for a Lecture at the Portland Art Museum – Akunnittinni: A Kinngait Family Portrait
NACF Fellows Shine at Honolulu Biennial 2019 Events
2019 Honolulu Biennial Events
NACF Fellows Perform at the 2019 APAP|NYC Conference
2017 Mentor Artist Fellow Apprentices on Retreat
NACF Fellows Receive Western Arts Alliance Native Launchpad Award
This year, three Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF), National Artist Fellows have been named the inaugural Western Arts Alliance (WAA), Native Launchpad award recipients. Congratulations to Christopher Kau’i Morgan (2013 – NACF Dance Fellow), Allison Warden (2018 – NACF Music Fellow) and…
Join Us For First Friday With Richard D. York
Join us for First Friday with Greg Archuleta
Join Us for First Friday with Roben White
Weaving a New Narrative – the Interwoven Radiance Exhibition is Celebrated
Join Us for First Friday with Robert Harju
Join Us for First Friday with Joy O’Hearn
Join us for First Friday with Greg A. Robinson
Join Us for First Friday with Brenda Mallory
Stop by our national headquarters on April 6, 2018 to view a unique installation by Cherokee visual artist Brenda Mallory.
Indigenous Women Playwrights Series in Oregon
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.
Missing Indigenous To Screen in Paris
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.
Into the Future: Culture Power in Native American Art
Sculptors Respond: Indigenous (hi)Story, Land and “Belonging” in an Era of Anti-Immigration
Indigenous New York, Artist Perspectives
Tears of Duk’Wibahl International Gathering of Indigenous Visual Artists of the Pacific Rim
Chilkat and Ravenstail Weavers Celebrated in Interwoven Radiance
California’s American Indian & Indigenous Film Festival
Native Wisdom Film Festival
“Indigenous New York, Critically Speaking” gathers artists, curators, critics and scholars
2014 Bridge Initiative for the Native Arts
Regional grantmaking allows the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) opportunity to connect with American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities in depth.
AWARDEE PROFILES (2011-2013)
FELLOWSHIP
PROGRAMS

From 2011-2020, the NACF supported Native artists through the National Artist Fellowship and Mentor Artist Fellowship programs. Award recipients represented innovative and multifaceted approaches to literature, dance, visual arts, film, storytelling, music, and traditional arts strengthen culture, foster creativity and economic opportunity, and impact issues of social progress, environmental sustainability, and cultural equity.
COMMUNITY
INSPIRATION

Community Inspiration Program projects were artist-driven and designed to connect Native and non-Native people in community conversations to address social, cultural, and environmental concerns. To address the lack of economic resources and progress social change, NACF’s Community Inspiration Program (CIP) Native Nation Partnerships (NNP) initiative provided funding to Native Nation arts organizations in support of their arts and cultures projects.
SPECIAL
PROJECTS

NACF has been a catalyst for cultural equity, promoting the work of our fellows and artist projects, producing issue-oriented presentations, panels, publications and workshops, and sponsoring efforts that further intercultural enrichment. We have collaborated with many Native organizations and others whose missions support increased awareness and appreciation of tribal or Native arts and culture in any arts discipline.