Native Arts
Supporting Native Arts, Languages, And Cultures
American Indian communities face the risk of losing traditional arts, tribal languages, and cultural knowledge.
Strong Native communities are built on tribal languages, cultural knowledge, and traditional arts. With many communities facing the risk of loss of language, culture, and traditional arts, we provide grants and support for communities to restore, sustain, and pass on traditional knowledge.
Native Arts Enrichment and Expansion
Active Program Dates: 2020 – 2023
The Native Arts Enrichment and Expansion program purposes to enrich, enhance, and expand traditional and contemporary Native arts knowledge and skills at tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) and the communities that they serve.
High School Equivalency Community Building Grant in Native Arts
Active Program Dates: 2022 – 2023
The High School Equivalency Community Building Grant in Native Arts was a pilot program that supported TCU grantee partners to incorporate Native culture into their high school equivalency (HSE) programming through implementation of Native Arts community workshops hosted by their HSE programs and students. The purpose of the program was to encourage HSE student and alumni engagement in community building and support the transfer of intergenerational knowledge and skill.
Restoration and Preservation of Traditional Native Art Forms and Knowledge
Active Program Dates: 2013 – 2020
The American Indian College Fund has created a re-granting opportunity for Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) to enhance the capacity of traditional Native art forms and knowledge at participating TCUs in the upper-Midwest.
National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
Active Program Dates: 1997 – Ongoing
The College Fund was awarded the Challenge Grant in 1993 by the National Endowment for the Humanities which led to the establishment of the NEH Cultural Preservation Endowment Program. The NEH Cultural Preservation Endowment supports cultural preservation and revitalization efforts for all 35 TCUs.
The Anheuser Busch Foundation Cultural Preservation Grant
Active Program Dates: 2014 – 2017
The Anheuser Busch Foundation Cultural Foundation Preservation Grant program was introduced in early 2014 and provides one-time annual awards to a selected tribal college or university (TCU) for the purpose of supporting cultural preservation.
Related Blogs
A New Direction
The complexity of Native people and their identities drew Anna to sculpture, video performance, and installation. She uses her familial and formal training to disrupt stereotypes of Natives by telling multi-dimensional stories. The story drives her choice of technique and materials, defying boundaries around Native art.
Bringing Baleen Basketry Into the Future with Ira Ilupak Frankson
Ira Ilupak Frankson, an Iñupiaq artist from Tikiġaq, Alaska, is preserving the traditional art of baleen basketry, an Iñupiat craft made from bowhead whale baleen and walrus ivory. Through his work and teaching, Frankson is helping to revitalize this unique cultural art form for future generations.
American Indian College Fund Partners with Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to Enhance Native Arts Programs
The American Indian College Fund (College Fund) announced new efforts to enhance Native arts curriculum development programs at six tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). Each of the participating TCUs will receive $100,000 to enrich their curricula by integrating Indigenous education values and incorporate Native knowledge, language, and cultural practices. The project will also help to expand institutional capacity, developing or revising academic courses, minors, and certificate and degree programs.
SGU Connects Arts and Culture to GED Classroom
Sinte Gleska University’s high school equivalency students become grounded in their cultural identities as they lead community engagement efforts through Native Arts workshops.
