A stripping wood down to thin strips with a knife for basket making.

Native Artist Resources

Discover grants, fellowships, and artist residencies designed to support Native artists and culture bearers in their creative and cultural endeavors. Explore opportunities to receive financial aid, mentorship, and development resources to sustain and grow your artistic journey.

Opportunities for Native Artists & Culture Bearers

Welcome to the First Peoples Fund Artist Resource page! We're here to champion and support Native artists and culture bearers. At First Peoples Fund, we understand the profound influence of art and cultural practices on our communities. Our commitment is to foster growth, creativity, and cultural preservation. Below is a list of artist opportunities, including grants and fellowships, which are updated monthly. It has a special focus on supporting BIPOC artists and culture bearers through additional resources and support.

If you’d like to add an opportunity, please send all relevant information to programs@firstpeoplesfund.org with the subject line: “FPF Artist Resource Page”

current opportunities

Seventh Generation Fund, Thriving Women Micro Grant

The program supports grassroots, Indigenous women-led and serving initiatives to prevent and remedy gender oppression including strategies addressing MMIWg2; uplifts matrilineal centered traditional health and wellness practices (birthkeeping, healing, arts, etc.), bolsters coming-of-age ceremonies; advances multi-generational kinship and leadership development, and revives subsistence food systems...

Plains Art Museum Youth Scholarships

Scholarships provide free access to Plains Art Museum art classes for school-aged youth (ages 6-18) with identified financial need. Youth are eligible for scholarships if they receive free or reduced lunch through the Title 1: National School Lunch Program. Scholarship recipients will receive art supplies to take home and four class credits to use at Plains Art Museum.

Craft Artists Emergency Relief Grant

CERF+ offers $3,000 Emergency Relief Grants to craft artists who experienced a recent and substantially disruptive emergency or disaster. Currently accepting applications on a rolling basis as needs arise.

Nationwide + U.S. Territories

2025 Namingha Institute

Each year this residency provides selected artists with a challenging and stimulating environment to explore their artistic interests through various media. During the residency students have opportunities to work with master artists, tour MNA’s Platinum LEED Certified Easton Collection Center, and pull inspiration from the beauty and diversity of the Colorado Plateau.

past opportunities

First Peoples Fund Yéigo Action Grant

The Yéigo Action Grant provides support for the growing landscape of Native artists and culture bearers who need financial assistance with a professional development opportunity or towards a hardship that is hindering their creative practice. This program offers grants between $100 and $5,000 for individual Native artists and culture bearers. First Peoples Fund (FPF) finds it essential to support artists in their times of need...

New Mexico Arts & the Military, 2025 Mini Grants

The $2,500 Mini Grants program assists organizations creating and expanding arts programming for military connected participants via a streamlined granting process. Mini Grants can also be used to build organizational capacity towards the goal of creating and expanding opportunities for veterans and active-duty service members to engage with the arts.

Request for Proposals - NEO Mural Project

NEO is seeking proposals for a mural that will be installed in the interior space of our high-rise building in mid-city Manhattan, land formerly known as Manhatta and stewarded by the Lenape People. It should evoke themes of social justice, resilience, and community empowerment, inspiring viewers to empathize with the challenges faced by marginalized groups and feel motivated to contribute to positive change through hope and healing.

Evergreen Longhouse, Native Creative Development Program

Available to Tribal enrolled artists, the Native Creative Development Program (NCDP) grant supports projects for individual artists and master/apprentice artists to further develop visual arts practice.

AK, ID, MT, OR, WA

Call for Documentary Short Proposals on Indigenous Legal History

The faculty in the Department of History and College of Law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Vision Maker Media, and the Institute for Policy, Politics, Law and History are leading the Law and Race Initiative funded by the Mellon Foundation. Together, we are seeking producers interested in making a short documentary about Indigenous legal history.

The Betsy James Wyeth Fellowship in Native American Art

The Betsy James Wyeth Fellowship in Native American Art carries a stipend of $53,000 and an allowance of up to $5,000 for short research trips. One fellowship will be awarded annually in support of a 12-month residency for a scholar at the predoctoral level or a 9-month appointment for a postdoctoral or senior-level researcher. Residencies must take place between June 1, 2025, and August 31, 2026, and begin on the 1st or 15th of the month.

ART IS THE SOLUTION 2024-25: funding for Santa Fe artists and creatives

The Santa Fe Arts Commission is pleased to announce the "Art is the Solution" grant program for 2024-25. Five (5) grants will be awarded in the amount of $10,000 each to support artists’ projects with a public engagement outcome that will enrich the experience and understanding of our city for residents and visitors

City of Santa Fe, New Mexico

MN Historical Society, Native American Artist in Residence

The Native American Artist-in-Residence (NAAIR) Program, led by the Native American Initiatives Department, was established in 2013 to support the continuation and recovery of traditional Native American arts by utilizing the Minnesota Historical Society’s collections. NAAIR is a six to twelve month residency

First Peoples Fund Native Performing Arts Fellowship

The Native Performing Arts Fellowship provides grants of up to $10,000 for Native individuals who practice/work within the performing arts landscape (theater, dance, music, etc.). This is not a project based grant.

First Peoples Fund Native Performing Arts Production Grant

The Native Performing Arts Production Grant (NPAP) supports Native-led performing arts productions that include multiple Native performers and artists. “Production” means the artist(s) are actively engaged in creating a live piece of work, either in person or virtual. Grant amount: $30,000

American Indian Family Empowerment Program

For 30 years, Tiwahe Foundation's American Indian Family Empowerment Program (AIFEP) has invested in Native changemakers through microgrants funded by a community-built endowment. We use 100% of our annual endowment capacity for AIFEP microgrants and actively fundraise for all program activities and operations. Our American Indian Empowerment Program will be making 50 investments (grants) into the community this grant round.

U of MN, Weisman Art Museum - Native American Artist in Residence Program

The Weisman Art Museum invites applications for its Native Artist-in-Residence (NA AiR) position. This two-year residency supports meaningful art-making, research, and interaction with University of Minnesota students, staff, faculty, and the MniSota Native community. The residency involves both remote and in-person engagement, culminating in the creation of a new work(s) of art which will be displayed at the Weisman...

Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University

Open to early-career artists demonstrating extraordinary promise, fellows receive a $92,000 yearly stipend and benefits to spend two academic years at Princeton as active community members, engaging in formal teaching or alternate assignments.

Center for Cultural Innovation - Investing in Artists

The Investing in Artists: Tools & Equipment program (the Fund) will award grants of $1,000–$5,000 to individual craft artists to purchase artistic tools, materials, or equipment that support their ability to make object-based work. The Fund is open to individual craft artists, craftspeople, and folk and traditional artists in the United States and its Territories, with geographic eligibility rotating over the 2024–2026 funding cycle.

Multiple States (US)

Eighth Generation's 2024 Wool Blanket Design Contest

One Grand Prize winner will create a wool blanket design to be sold by Eighth Generation, and will be awarded $3,000 (USD) for creating a custom wool blanket design with Eighth Generation and thirty (30) of their blankets with an approximate retail value of $7,000.

News > Native Artist Resources

Explore our grants and awards

Native artist, Richard D. York (Citizen of the Cherokee Nation) painting in his studio.

Yéigo Action Grant

The Yéigo Action Grant provides support for the growing landscape of Native artists and culture bearers who need financial assistance with a professional development opportunity or towards a hardship that is hindering their creative practice.

A portrait of Native artist Chanelle Gallagher (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) throwing pottery in her studio.

Artist in Business Leadership Fellowship

Our yearlong program that helps independent Native artists pursue art as a way to build a business to support themselves and their families. The program provides them with network-building, professional development training and funding to launch them into success.

A portrait of Native artist, Lance Twitchell (Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska) standing in a forested area in front of a raven sculpture.

Cultural Capital Fellowship

Our yearlong program that offers financial and technical support to culture bearers and artists to further their work of passing on ancestral knowledge within their Native communities. Participants receive support to strengthen their community's commitment to nurture our shared humanity and honor our connection to one another