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History

Ford Foundation's Native Arts and Cultures: Research, Growth, and Opportunitiies for Philanthropic Support (2010).

Over the past 20 years, activity and connectivity around Native arts and cultures in the United States has notably increased.

  • The urgent work of cultural transmission and preservation is taking place in Native communities.
  • The success and recognition of individual Native artists is inspiring younger generations.
  • Native artists are engaged deeply in a heightened discourse on urgent contemporary issues, such as environmental stewardship and community vitality.

But even as awareness of and interest in Native arts and cultures increases, indigenous artists, culture bearers and Native-led arts & cultural organizations face tremendous challenges.

In the early 2000’s, led by former Program Officer Elizabeth Theobald Richards (Cherokee), the Ford Foundation responded to the call for a national, Native-led resource for Native artists and organizations by engaging in a deep consultative process. A wide variety of leaders from the American indigenous arts and cultures field participated and provided critical insights into its challenges, needs, and potential. A leadership circle of four advisors—Walter R. Echo-Hawk (Pawnee), Joy Harjo (Mvskoke), Jayne Fawcett (Mohegan) and Elizabeth A. Woody (Navajo/Warm Springs/Wasco/Yakama)— provided key guidance.

The study explored the creation of a new philanthropic resource to support the diverse arts and cultures of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities. A feasibility study ascertained that developing  a Native-led, Native-partnering organization to direct critically needed support to Native American artists and communities was not only achievable, but essential.

Informed by this research, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation was created. Since its public programming launched in 2010, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation has engaged in grassroots community organization and outreach to listen to and amplify the voices of the Native arts community. With your help, we hope to foster more dialogue, provide a base of understanding our work together, and in gaining momentum for collective strategies which invest in Native communities, appreciate the contributions of Native art, and forge new relationships and understanding across cultures.

Learn more: read the Ford Foundation’s 2010 culminating research summary, Native Arts and Cultures: Research, Growth, and Opportunities for Philanthropic Support.

Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Milestones

  • October 3, 2007: The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation is incorporated as a non-profit organization. Echo-hawk, Harjo and Woody served as founding Board Members.
  • March 28, 2008:  the Foundation receives its Federal tax exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
  • 2009: the Foundation opens its national headquarters in Vancouver, Wash., and hires its first President/CEO, T. Lulani Arquette (Native Hawaiian).
  • 2010: the Foundation begins its first grantmaking cycle and awards its first round of funding.
  • 2011: The Foundation awards $510,000 to 28 artists and organizations and organizes the first national Native arts convening, “Strengthening the Bones.” The gathering brings over 100 participants – hailing from 25 different states and representing dozens of Native Nations – together to vision what is needed by Native communities through their artists and arts organizations and to define the Foundation’s priorities
  • 2013: The Foundation publishes “Our First Five Years“, reporting on its early work in Individual Artist Fellowships and various Community-Based initiatives
  • 2014: The Foundation launches its Community Inspiration Program
  • 2016: The Foundation launches its Mentor Artist Fellowship initiative
  • 2017: The Foundation organizes its first convening of its National Artist Fellows, and publishes “Progressing Issues of Social Importance Through the Work of Indigenous Artists.”