Artist Fellowships

Powering artistic growth and magnifying the Native voice

At its heart, the Artist Fellowship initiative is 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. Native artists in particular struggle with a lack of equal opportunity in the arts and culture sector, reflected in the mere 0.2% of all national arts funding which reaches them each year. By offering Fellowships, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation proactively strengthens the ecosystem of support for Native artists, enabling them to generate more artistic work, live sustainable lives, and contribute to their communities.

Native Arts and Cultures Foundation 2018 National Artist Fellows

Goals of the Artist Fellowship Initiative

Power the artistic growth and magnify the voices of Native artists through the development of new works or completing projects in motion
Increase recognition and visibility for Native artists in national and international arenas

How the Initiative Works

Following a national open call for applicants, Artist Fellows are selected by a rigorous process mediated by Native Arts and Cultures Foundation staff, and led by discipline-specific volunteer panel reviewers. Following Board of Directors approval, Fellows are awarded an unrestricted grant to support their work on identified projects for one year. NACF staff check in with Fellows throughout their Fellowship year and beyond, to provide customized assistance to our range of emerging and advanced artists. For example, this could mean digital promotion, or opportunities to speak at national/regional conferences and panels. In 2017, the NACF held its first convening of National Artist Fellows to further our role as a catalyst for Native artists, communities, organizations, and the work they do.

Thank You Initiative Partners

The National Artist Fellowships are made possible with support from the Ford Foundation, Second Sister Foundation and the generosity of arts patrons. Our Visual Arts Fellows are made possible through support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

In 2017, the NACF convened over twenty of its National Artist Fellows for the first time, for two days of creativity, connectivity and cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary inspiration as indigenous artists in Portland, Ore.