Focus Area

Arts

Art is a cultural asset for Native communities, and has been an integral part of sustaining Native nations, culture, language and traditional beliefs, shaping community and family ties and cultural pride. Yet, colonization has stripped many Native communities of artistic forms and processes, and individuals with the capacity to carry on traditional art forms that are integral to their cultures. Factors such as western and religious education systems as well as urbanization and incorporation into the modern economy, among others, have all directly impacted Native American artists and the field of Native American arts, placing continued pathways of cultural traditions in jeopardy.

To ensure Native arts and culture continue to be valued and preserved, First Nations established the Native Arts Initiative (NAI) and First Americans’ Cultural Treasures project.

Read on:

Learn more about our partners

Meet Our Native Arts Community Partners

Awarded Grants

2026

General Operating Support

2026 General Operating Support

$5,000
Poeh Cultural Center nm Created with Sketch. Santa Fe, NM

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

The Poeh Cultural Center is a gathering place for the respectful sustaining of Tewa traditions through being, doing and sharing. Their tour for the 2026 Luce Fellows offered First Nations and the Native Knowledge Holders that we support an opportunity to learn about Tewa cultures and lands.

2026

Native Arts Initiative

2026 Native Arts Initiative

$100,000
Tananawit or Created with Sketch. Warm Springs, OR

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

This grant will support Tananawit's mission and efforts to preserve and promote traditional Native arts and cultural assets, knowledge systems, and lifeways in your community for the benefit of future generations as well as increase organizational sustainability.

2026

Native Arts Initiative

2026 Native Arts Initiative

$130,000
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Inc nm Created with Sketch. Albuquerque, NM

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

These grant funds will be used to support IPCC’s mission and efforts to preserve and promote traditional Native arts and cultural assets, knowledge systems, and lifeways in your community for the benefit of future generations as well as increase organizational sustainability.

2026

Native Arts Initiative

2026 Native Arts Initiative

$130,000
Zuni Youth Enrichment Project nm Created with Sketch. Zuni, NM

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

These grant funds will be used to support ZYEP’s mission and efforts to preserve and promote traditional Native arts and cultural assets, knowledge systems, and lifeways in your community for the benefit of future generations as well as increase organizational sustainability.

2026

Native Arts Initiative

2026 Native Arts Initiative

$135,000
Little Eagle Arts Foundation wi Created with Sketch. Wisconsin Dells, WI

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

These grant funds will be used to support LEAF’s mission and efforts to preserve and promote traditional Native arts and cultural assets, knowledge systems, and lifeways in your community for the benefit of future generations as well as increase organizational sustainability.

2026

Native Arts Initiative

2026 Native Arts Initiative

$155,000
Makah Cultural And Research Center wa Created with Sketch. Neah Bay, WA

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

These grant funds will be used to support the Makah Cultural & Research Center’s mission & efforts to preserve & promote traditional Native arts & cultural assets, knowledge systems, & lifeways in your community for the benefit of future generations as well as increase organizational sustainability.

2026

Native Arts Initiative

2026 Native Arts Initiative

$155,000
Pueblo of Pojoaque nm Created with Sketch. Santa Fe, NM

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

These grant funds will be used to support Pueblo of Pojoaque Poeh Cultural Center’s mission and efforts to preserve and promote traditional Native arts and cultural assets, knowledge systems, and lifeways in your community for the benefit of future generations as well as increase organizational sustainability.

2025

First Nations’ First Americans Cultural Treasures Initiative

2025 First Nations’ First Americans Cultural Treasures Initiative

$100,000
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Inc nm Created with Sketch. Albuquerque, NM

Description

This grant supports IPCC's efforts to preserve and promote traditional Native arts and cultural assets, knowledge systems, and lifeways in your community for the benefit of future generations as well as increase organizational sustainability.

2024

Laguna Cultural Enrichment Program

2024 Laguna Cultural Enrichment Program

$100,000
Laguna Community Foundation nm Created with Sketch. Laguna, NM

Community Partners

Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

The Pueblo of Laguna Cultural Enrichment Program aims to preserve the traditions and customs of the Pueblo and the local community by supporting local artists and providing opportunities for community members to engage in traditional arts, crafts, cooking, and language learning.

2024

Tł’aawxmamiyai - For Everyone – The Knowledge from Long Ago

2024 Tł’aawxmamiyai - For Everyone – The Knowledge from Long Ago

$100,000
Museum at Warm Springs or Created with Sketch. Warm Springs, OR

Community Partners

Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

Project purpose is to pass on traditional arts and cultural knowledge, skills, practices; teach skills of entrepreneurship; create and exhibit original Native artworks; increase awareness of Warm Springs cultures within both Tribal and non-Tribal communities; and leverage through project visibility ongoing support from donors and foundations for Museum projects.

2024

Art Knowledge of Our Historical, Cultural, and Traditional Ways

2024 Art Knowledge of Our Historical, Cultural, and Traditional Ways

$50,000
Northwest Indian College wa Created with Sketch. Bellingham, WA

Community Partners

Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

Our purpose is to create an art exchange between our Elders who retain critical cultural information and the next generation of artists to increase and the sustainability of Indigenous ancestorial art, its designs, and historical significance and protect its integrity.

2024

Supporting Native Cultural Artists and Cultural Arts programming

2024 Supporting Native Cultural Artists and Cultural Arts programming

$100,000
Portland All Nations Canoe Family or Created with Sketch. Portland, OR

Community Partners

Inter-Tribal

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

This project will increase the scope of Native Cultural Artists and cultural projects to reach more of Tribal/Urban Native community members particularly to bring youth and Elders together to share knowledge. We will leverage this work to set precedents across the country for supporting Native Artists and cultural programming.

2024

Art as Wicohan

2024 Art as Wicohan

$100,000
Sacred Pipe Resource Center nd Created with Sketch. Bismarck, ND

Community Partners

Inter-Tribal

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

This project will create a safe, centralized, and collaborative resource hub for organizing Native artists in the state of ND so they can leverage art as a way of life (wicohan) into businesses, increase knowledge of endangered traditional art forms, and control and incresase their own development.

2024

Cahuilla Arts Program

2024 Cahuilla Arts Program

$100,000
Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indians ca Created with Sketch. Anza, CA

Community Partners

Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indians, California

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

This project will increase the continuation of knowledge about the history of our Cahuilla culture by teaching participants about our traditional pottery and basket weaver legends who have created a pathway through the arts forum. Participants will learn how to utilize skills to leverage the opportunities in the economic space.

2024

Field to Basket: The Craft of Haudenosaunee Sustenance

2024 Field to Basket: The Craft of Haudenosaunee Sustenance

$150,000
Ukwakhwa Farmstead wi Created with Sketch. DePere, WI

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

Field to Basket will spotlight the intersection of art and agriculture while sustaining Haudenosaunee cultural heritage. By leveraging traditional basket making as an asset for education, and intergenerational knowledge transfer, we will fortify basketry’s role and relevance in contemporary Haudenosaunee life.

2023

First Nations’ Native Arts Initiative (NAI)

2023 First Nations’ Native Arts Initiative (NAI)

$200,000
Woodland Indian Art, inc. wi Created with Sketch. Oneida, WI

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

This project will enable Woodland Indian Art, Inc. to increase their capacity to continue preserving and advancing traditional Native arts through their programming focused on supporting artists and intergenerational sharing of artistic skills and knowledge, as well as, increase their organizational sustainability.

2023

First Nations’ Native Arts Initiative (NAI)

2023 First Nations’ Native Arts Initiative (NAI)

$200,000
The Hopi School, Inc. az Created with Sketch. Kykotsmovi, AZ

Community Partners

Hopi Tribe of Arizona

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

This project will enable Hopitutuqaiki's (The Hopi School, Inc.) to increase their capacity to continue preserving and advancing traditional Native arts through their programming focused on supporting artists and intergenerational sharing of artistic skills and knowledge, as well as, increase Hopitutuqaik's organizational sustainability.

2023

First Nations’ Native Arts Initiative (NAI).

2023 First Nations’ Native Arts Initiative (NAI).

$150,000
Pala Band of Mission Indians ca Created with Sketch. Pala, CA

Funding Area

Focus Area Arts

Description

This project will enable Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians' Cupa Cultural Center to increase their capacity to continue preserving and advancing traditional Native arts through their programming focused on supporting artists and intergenerational sharing of artistic skills and knowledge, as well as, increase the Cupa Cultural Center's organizational sustainability.