The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) is a
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
that supports
Native American art
The visual arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic practices of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America and North America, which in ...
ists, culture bearers, and
Native
Native may refer to:
People
* '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood
* '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Nat ...
-led arts organizations, providing them with support through fellowships and project funding. This philanthropic organization exclusively supports American Indian,
Alaska Native
Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the I ...
, and
Native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiʻi was set ...
arts and cultures in the United States.
NACF's president and CEO is Shyla Spicer, MBA, PMP (
Yakama
The Yakama are a Native Americans in the United State, Native American tribe with nearly 10,851 members, based primarily in Eastern Washington, eastern Washington (state), Washington state.
Yakama people today are enrolled in the federally rec ...
).
Founding and history
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, founded in 2008, is funded by contributions from the public, foundations, corporations, and affiliated organizations. It was launched with a $10 million commitment from the
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...
, following a feasibility study demonstrating the need and interest in such an endowment. The Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians near Sacramento, California, committed an additional $1.5 million.
Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee) was the founding Chairman of the Board of Directors. Other founding board members were
Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo ( ; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate from 2019 to 2022, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureat ...
(
Mvskoke
The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsElizabeth Woody
Elizabeth Woody (born 1959) is an American Navajo/ Warm Springs/ Wasco/ Yakama artist, author, and educator. In March 2016, she was the first Native American to be named poet laureate of Oregon by Governor Kate Brown.
Background
Elizabeth Wood ...
(Warm Springs/Wasco/Navajo), writer and cultural specialist from the Warm Springs Reservation; Marshall McKay ( Yocha Dehe Wintun, 1952–2021), chairman of the Rumsey Rancheria; Letitia Chambers, a private consultant, and Buffy St. Marie, the singer/activist.
NACF was formerly headquartered inn
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver ( ) is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, located in Clark County, Washington, Clark County. Founded in 1825 and incorporated in 1857, Vancouver had a population of 190, ...
. Lulani Arquette (
Native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiʻi was set ...
) served as the founding president until December 2023.
Infrastructure
In 2020, the NACF was given
Yale Union
Yale Union was a nonprofit contemporary art center in southeast Portland, Oregon, United States. Located in the Yale Union Laundry Building built in 1908, the center was founded in 2008. In 2020, the organization announced it would transfer the ...
building in Portland, Oregon, as part of the #LandBack movement. The organizations hosts free monthly community tours through the space and holds changing art exhibitions there.
Artist Fellowships
The NACF awards several Fellowships for Native American artists working in a range of visual, performing, and literary arts. These include the National Artist Fellowship, Regional Arts Fellowships, and the Mentor Artist Fellowship. As of 2019, the Foundation has supported over 300 individual artists and arts organizations spanning 32 states.
Bryan Akipa
Bryan Akipa (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) is a Dakota flautist with five solo albums to date.
He has been a featured artist at ''A Prairie Awakening'', an annual event held at the Kuehn Conservation Area near Earlham, Iowa. He is a citizen of the S ...
*
Jason Garcia
Jason Emilio Garcia (born November 21, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles.
Professional career Boston Red Sox
Garcia was draf ...
Lily Hope Lily Hope (born 1980, Juneau) is an Alaska Native artist, designer, teacher, weaver, Financial Freedom planner, and community facilitator. She is primarily known for her skills at weaving customary Northwest Coast ceremonial regalia such as Chilkat ...
*
Lisa Telford
Lisa Telford (born in Ketchikan, Alaska) is a Git'ans Git'anee Haida weaver who creates contemporary garments, shoes and other objects using Northwest Coast style weaving techniques. Her work serves as a commentary on Native identity, stereotype ...
*
Patrick William Kruse
Patrick William Kruse, also known as Pat Kruse, (born January 26, 1971) is a Native American culture teacher and artist that specializes in birchbark art and quillwork. He works alongside his son Gage to create birch bark paintings.
Early life an ...
Cara Romero
Cara Romero (born 1977) is an American photographer known for her digital photography that examines Indigenous life through a contemporary lens. She lives in both Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Mojave Desert. She is an enrolled citizen of the Chemehu ...
*
Delbert “Smutcoom” Miller Delbert is a given name. It is a short form of Adelbert, which is a combination of the German words ''adal'', meaning noble, and ''berht'', meaning bright. Notable people with the name include:
* Delbert F. Anderson (1919–1999), American farmer a ...
*
Delina White
Delina White is a contemporary Native American artist specializing in indigenous, gender-fluid clothing for the LGBTQ and Two-Spirit Native communities. She is also an activist for issues such as environmental crisis, violence against women, an ...
*
Dyani White Hawk
Dyani White Hawk Polk (born 1976) is an American contemporary artist and curator of Sicangu Lakota, German, and Welsh ancestry based out of Minnesota. From 2010 to 2015, White Hawk was a curator for the Minneapolis gallery All My Relations. As an ...
Nicholas Galanin
Nicholas Galanin is a Sitka Tribe of Alaska multi-disciplinary artist and musician of Tlingit and Unangax̂ descent. His work often explores a dialogue of change and identity between Native and non-Native communities.
Background
Nicholas Galanin ...
Carla Rossi
Carla Rossi Balado (born 11 May 1985) is a Mexican football manager and former player. She was manager of Querétaro F.C. (women). During her career as player she represented Mexico from 2004 to 2008.
Career Early career
Carla Rossi was born in ...
Elizabeth Woody
Elizabeth Woody (born 1959) is an American Navajo/ Warm Springs/ Wasco/ Yakama artist, author, and educator. In March 2016, she was the first Native American to be named poet laureate of Oregon by Governor Kate Brown.
Background
Elizabeth Wood ...
Bunky Echo-Hawk
Bunky Echo–Hawk (born 1975) is a Native American artist and poet who is best known for his acrylic paintings concerning Native American topics and hip-hop culture. He works in a variety of media that include paintings, graphic design, photograp ...
*
Cannupa Hanska Luger
Cannupa Hanska Luger (born 1979) is a Native American interdisciplinary artist based in New Mexico whose community-oriented artworks address indigenous peoples, environmental justice and gender violence issues.
Luger is an enrolled citizen of t ...
*
Erica Tremblay
Erica Tremblay (born 1980) is a Native American filmmaker from the Seneca–Cayuga Nation.
Tremblay's debut feature film, ''Fancy Dance'' (2023), featured Academy Award nominee Lily Gladstone and premiered at Sundance. She also wrote and directe ...
Susan Power
Mona Susan Power (Standing Rock Dakota, born 1961) is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American author based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her debut novel, ''The Grass Dancer'' (1994), received the 1995 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut No ...
Kelly Church
Kelly Jean Church ( Match-e-benash-she-wish Potawatomi/Odawa/Ojibwe) is a black ash basket maker, Woodlands style painter, birchbark biter, and educator. She lives in Michigan.
Background
Kelly Jean Church, a fifth-generation basket maker, wa ...
Dyani White Hawk
Dyani White Hawk Polk (born 1976) is an American contemporary artist and curator of Sicangu Lakota, German, and Welsh ancestry based out of Minnesota. From 2010 to 2015, White Hawk was a curator for the Minneapolis gallery All My Relations. As an ...
Maggie Thompson
Maggie Thompson (born Margaret Curtis; November 29, 1942) is an American longtime editor of the now-defunct comic book industry news magazine ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', science fiction fan, and collector of comics.
Early life
Margaret (nickname ...
*
Pat Kruse
Patrick Karl Kruse (born 30 November 1953) is an English former professional association football, footballer who is best remembered for his five-year spell in the The Football League, Football League with Brentford F.C., Brentford, for whom he ...
2014
*
Delina White
Delina White is a contemporary Native American artist specializing in indigenous, gender-fluid clothing for the LGBTQ and Two-Spirit Native communities. She is also an activist for issues such as environmental crisis, violence against women, an ...
In 2013, through the Bridge Initiative: Art + Health, NACF funded four programs supporting health and vitality of Native communities in California.
In January 2023, NACF published a literary anthology, ''The Larger Voice: Celebrating the Work of Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Literature Fellows''. Rena Priest (
Lummi Nation
The Lummi Nation ( ; Lummi dialect, Lummi: ' or '';'' officially known as the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation) is a Federally recognised tribe, federally-recognized tribe of primarily Lummi people. The Lummi Nation also includes some N ...
), Washington State Poet Laureate edited the book, and NACF board member and U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (