National Endowment
for the Humanities Grant
1997 – Ongoing
About The Program
American Indian communities are seeing barriers and a dramatic decline in the use and practice of their languages, traditional arts, and broader cultural knowledge. TCUs help to shift this trend by offering culture and language maintenance, revitalization, restoration, and preservation activities to the students and communities they serve. The American Indian College Fund was awarded a Challenge Grant in 1993 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) that led to the establishment of the NEH Cultural Preservation Program, which supports TCUs to carry out this important work within their communities.
The program is available to all 35 TCUs annually, and provides funding to administer Native culture and language preservation, perpetuation, and revitalization programming within their communities. Some projects include language camps, museum archival documentation, and the establishment of cultural centers on campus.
Program Gallery
Grantees
Aaniiih Nakoda College (Ft. Belknap)
Bay Mills Community College
Blackfeet Community College
Cankdeska Cikana Community College
Chief Dull Knife College
College of Menominee Nation
College of the Muscogee Nation
Diné College
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College
Fort Peck Community College
Haskell Indian Nations University
Ilisagvik College
Institute of American Indian Arts
Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University
Leech Lake Tribal College
Little Big Horn College
Little Priest Tribal College
Navajo Technical University
Nebraska Indian Community College
Northwest Indian College
Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College
Oglala Lakota College
Red Lake Nation College
Salish Kootenai College
Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College
Sinte Gleska University
Sisseton Wahpeton College
Sitting Bull College
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute
Stone Child College
Tohono O'odham Community College
Turtle Mountain Community College
United Tribes Technical College
White Earth Tribal and Community College
Related Blogs
A Time for Change and Innovation – Native Arts and Distance Learning
Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) transitioned from holding in-person classes and community events to closing their campuses, instead offering academic courses online or through distance learning. Community programming and events were canceled or postponed, greatly impacting TCUs, students, and the communities they serve.
To help TCUs during the transition, seven TCUs were awarded Distance Learning Grants. Each had a different approach on how they would continue to provide Native Arts programming while keeping their students and community members safe. Each explored how they were going to bring people together while keeping them safely apart.
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Hosts Native Arts Workshops Based in Place
In the fall of 2017, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC) hosted a series of traditional Native Arts workshops that relied heavily on the surrounding environment for source materials to help produce a woven cedar mat. Using local resources and materials to create and revitalize traditional Native art forms is the essence of place-based education in the arts.
Connecting, Learning and Growing: Native Arts Convening
The American Indian College Fund (the College Fund) hosted a Native Arts convening in Seattle, Washington in September, 2018. Seven program Administrators of the Restoration and Preservation of Traditional Native Art Forms and Knowledge Grant participated in the Native Arts convening from the College of Menominee Nation, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, Leech Lake Tribal College, Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, Sisseton Wahpeton College, Sitting Bull College and United Tribes Technical College.
Place-Based Learning as a Framework for Building Native Student Success
This is a collaborative series developed by the College Fund’s Environmental Sustainability, Native Arts and Early Childhood Education program initiatives. This is the first blog of a six-part series focused on place-based education.
