SPECIAL PROJECTS

Since 2011, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (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.

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. However, the need for arts and cultures funding for Indigenous artists far surpasses our ability to give. You can help us build our foundation of support by making a gift today.

David Naranjo, Ka'ila Farrell-Smith, Asa Wright, Izzy De La Meme, Aaron Erdrich, Terri Hom, Seajay Johnson
Photo by Quiahuitl Villegas, 2019.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT:

SIGNAL FIRE

White Pelican Pod: Indigenous Artist Retreat

In June of 2019, the 2018 Mentor Artist Fellowship cohort of apprentices completed their 12-month program with a week-long residency led by Ka’ila Farrell-Smith and Signal Fire. The residency, funded in part by NACF, was designed to connect Indigenous artists with sacred cultural sites and the natural beauty of Oregon’s backcountry. During a seven-day trip across Southern Oregon, the apprentices visited Crater Lake, Summer Lake, and hiked extensively at Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge.

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We’ve come to a point in the world of great challenge, but also great opportunity, in which to revise and revitalize our communities. How do we do that? It always comes back to the arts, because arts revitalize, they tell us who we are, they tell us where we’re going and where we’ve been. Art makes connections on a deep soul level; it connects us in a way beyond words.

― Joy Harjo, NACF Board Chair & U.S. Poet Laureate

PAST PROJECT STORIES & PROFILES

1. American Indian Film Institute
46th Annual American Indian Film Festival – Public Programs

2. Desert X
Never Forget (Installation by Nicholas Galanin) – Public Programs

3. Five Oaks Museum
Museum Showcase – Public Programs

4. Ke Kukui Foundation
19th Annual Four Days of Aloha – Public Programs

5. National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)
NCAI 78th Annual Convention & Marketplace – Public Programs

6. Not An Alternative
Red Road to DC: A Totem Pole Journey for Sacred Places & Cultural Protection – Public Programs

7. City of Portland, Oregon Mayor’s Office Native Art Project
Don Bailey, Bobby Mercier, Asa Wright – Artist Awards

8. Portland Art Museum
Mesh exhibition featuring Mentor Artist Fellow Apprentices – Public Programs

9. Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School
The Borderlands Curatorial Fellowship

AWARDEE STORIES

1. Five Oaks Museum
DISplace Exhibition – Public Programs

2. Kunu Bearchum
Tribal Sovereignty for Black Lives Matter – Public Programs

3. Native American Youth and Family Center
17th Annual Gala and Auction – Event Sponsorship

4. National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)
NCAI 77th Annual Convention & Marketplace – Public Programs

5. Potlach Fund
Potlatch Fund’s 18th Annual Gala – Public Programs

6. Safe Harbors Collective
Reflections of Native Voices – Public Programs

7. The Industry
Sweet Land Opera- Public Programs

8. Underscore
VOICE, a lecture series – Public Programming

9. U.S. Department of Arts and Culture
#HonorNativeLand: From Acknowledgment to Action – Convening

AWARDEE STORIES

1.  American Indian Artists Inc. (AMERINDA)
The Heart Stays – Film Post Production

2.  Association of Performing Arts Professionals
Association of Performing Arts Professionals Conference – Public Programs

3.  Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries & Museums (ATALM)
ATALM International Conference – Public Programs

4.  Christopher K. Morgan & Artists
Association of Performing Arts Professionals – Public Programs

5.  Conscience Point Film, LLC
Conscience Point – Film Post Production

6.  Global First Nations Performance Network
First Nations Dialogues – Convening and Symposium

7.  Honolulu Biennial Foundation
Honolulu Biennial 2019 – Public Programs

8.  Honolulu Museum of Art
Honolulu Biennial 2019 – Public Programs

9.  Jim Denomie
Bienal de Arte Contemporânea Sesc_Videobrasil – Artist Exhibition (Brazil)

10. Ke Kukui Foundation
Four Days of Aloha Hawaiian Festival – Public Programs

11. Kua`aina Associates, Inc.
Ancestral Ink: A Symposium Honoring Indigenous Tattoo Traditions – Public Programs

12. Portland Art Museum
Akunnittinni: A Kinngait Family Portrait – Art Exhibition

13. Seattle Office of Arts and Culture
Fiscal Sponsor: Na’ah Illahee Fund yəhaw’ – Art Exhibition

14. Southwestern Association for Indian Arts
2019 Sante Fe Indian Market – Art Exhibition

15. Signal Fire
White Pelican Pod: Indigenous Artist Retreat – Mentor Artist Fellow Apprentices

16. Wisdom of the Elders, Inc.
The Native Wisdom Documentary Film Series – Public Programs

AWARDEE STORIES

1.  Artists Repertory Theater
Indigenous Community Preview Night, The Thanksgiving Play – Public Programs

2.  California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center at California State University San Marcos
2018 California’s American Indian and Indigenous Film Festival – Public Programs

3.  El Segundo Museum of Art
Matriarchs – Artist Exhibition

4.  Isaac Trimble
Missing Indigenous at Filmapalooza – Film Screening

5.  The Longhouse Education and Cultural Center, Evergreen State College
Teachings of the Tree People: An International Gathering of Indigenous Fiber Artists – Public Programs

6.  Luzene Hill
Transcending the Trace – Artist Installation

7.  Meaningful Movies in Ridgefield
Promised Land Documentary Screening – Public Programs

8.  Native Arts and Cultures Foundation First Friday Events
2018 Vancouver First Friday Events (April – October) – Artist Exhibition

9.  Oklahoma City Theater Company
Oklahoma City Theater Company 9th Annual Native American New Play Festival – Public Programs

10. Portland Center Stage at the Armory
And So We Walked – Public Programs

11. Signal Fire
Stardust: Indigenous Artist Retreat – Mentor Artist Fellow Apprentices

AWARDEE STORIES

  1. Christopher K. Morgan & Artists, New York
  2. California’s American Indian & Indigenous Film Festival
  3. Dancing Earth – International Indigenous Dance Festival, Australia
  4. International Sculpture Conference, Kansas City
  5. Longhouse Education & Cultural Center, Gathering of Indigenous
  6. Visual Artists of the Pacific Rim, Washington
  7. Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Artist Programming, New Mexico
  8. Eiteljorg Museum, Eiteljorg Fellows Gathering, Indiana
  9. Portland Art Museum, Interwoven Radiance exhibition, Oregon
  10. Western Arts Alliance, Advancing Indigenous Performance Program
  11. Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians

AWARDEE STORIES

  1. Alliance of Artist Communities
  2. California American Indian and Indigenous Film Festival
  3. Mashantucket Pequot Museum
  4. Mvskoke Arts Association
  5. Rosy Simas
  6. Tiokasin Ghosthorse – First Voices Radio
  7. Vera List Center for Art & Politics

AWARDEE STORIES

CALIFORNIA BRIDGE INITIATIVE

  1. California Missions
  2. Ga Ni Tha
  3. Litquake
  4. Return from Exile
  5. Rick Bartow at Oregon State University
  6. Woven: The Art of Contemporary Native Basketry

AWARDEE STORIES

BRIDGE INITIATIVE FOR NATIVE ARTS

In 2014, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation partnered with tribes in Oregon and Washington to offer arts marketing training to individual American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian artists.

AWARDEE STORIES

BRIDGE INITIATIVE FOR NATIVE ARTS

In 2013, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation awarded a total of $40,000 to Native programs in California for arts and cultural projects impacting the health and vitality of Native communities with a focus on Native youth.

  1. The Cultural Conservancy
  2. Native American Health Center of Oakland
  3. Pitzer College

REGIONAL COLLABORATION PILOT PROGRAM – YEAR 3

To strengthen the arts and cultures infrastructure, from 2011 to 2013, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation made awards to Native programs and organizations for operational support. After a year of initial awards, the foundation awarded a core cohort of organizations to serve as regional collaborators in this program for two additional years of support.

  1. Sundance Institute – Native and Indigenous Film Program
  2. Pa’i Foundation
  3. Longhouse Education and Cultural Center
  4. First Peoples Fund

AWARDEE PROFILES

ARTIST NETWORKS AND CONVENINGS INITIATIVE

In 2012, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation awarded a total of $110,000 to support projects that created alliances between artists, creating opportunities for artists and culture bearers to network and collaborate.

  1. Association of Tribal Archives and Museums
  2. Hula Preservation Society
  3. Kuleana O’Iwi Press
  4. New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA)
  5. Northwest Indian College
  6. Northwoods Niijii Enterprise Community
  7. Seventh Generation Fund

ARTIST AND COMMUNITY COLLABORATION INITIATIVE

In 2012, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation awarded a total of $100,000 to projects that allowed Native artists to partner with tribal entities and nonprofit organizations to collaborate on artworks that integrated the community into artistic practice.

  1. American Indian Center
  2. California Indian Museum and Cultural Center
  3. Center for Multi-cultural Cooperation
  4. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation
  5. Kahilu Theatre Foundation
  6. Organized Village of Kake
  7. Poarch Band of Creek Indians
  8. Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum
  9. UGA, Institute of Native American Studies
  10. Alaska Native Heritage Center
  11. Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus

BRIDGE INITIATIVE FOR NATIVE ARTS

In 2012, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation partnered with Meyer Memorial Trust in Portland, Ore., to award $77,500 to support community cultural development projects by Native arts programs and organizations in Oregon and Clark County, Washington.

  1. Clatsop Community College
  2. Confluence Project
  3. Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts
  4. Ke Kukui Foundation
  5. Oregon College of Art and Craft
  6. The Museum at Warm Springs

REGIONAL COLLABORATION PILOT PROGRAM – YEAR 2

To strengthen regional arts and cultures infrastructure, from 2011 to 2013, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation made awards to Native programs and organizations for operational support. After a year of initial awards, the foundation awarded a core cohort of organizations to serve as regional collaborators in this program for two additional years of support.

  1. Sundance Institute – Native Program
  2. Pa’i Foundation
  3. Longhouse Education and Cultural Center
  4. First Peoples Fund
  5. Alaska Native Arts Foundation

AWARDEE PROFILES

MOBILIZING COMMUNITY THROUGH THE ARTS

The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation awarded a total of $168,249 in Mobilizing the Community grants to support community arts participation projects, which transmitted arts and cultural practices from one generation to the next, including language and story preservation, cultural mapping, traditional arts apprenticeships and youth programs.

  1. Alutiiq Museum and Archeological Repository
  2. Blas Aguilar Adobe Museum and Acjachemen Center
  3. Diné Be’ Iiná, Inc. (The Navajo Lifeway)
  4. Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)
  5. Ke Kukui Foundation
  6. Kua’aina Associates
  7. Longhouse Education and Cultural Center
  8. Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA)
  9. Moku O Keawe Foundation
  10. Nahahiganseck Language Committee
  11. Sealaska Heritage Institute

REGIONAL COLLABORATION PILOT PROGRAM – YEAR 1

To strengthen regional arts and cultures infrastructure, from 2011 to 2013, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation made awards to Native programs and organizations for operational support. After a year of initial awards, the foundation awarded a core cohort of organizations to serve as regional collaborators in this program for two additional years of support.

  1. Southwestern Association for Indian Arts
  2. Alaska Native Heritage Center
  3. First Peoples Fund
  4. Longhouse Educational and Cultural Center
  5. New England Foundation for the Arts
  6. Potlach Fund
  7. Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development

AWARDEE PROFILES

OTHER NACF PROJECTS