Indigenous Arts

“From digital libraries to fully immersive schools, Indigenous leaders are reclaiming and spreading cultural knowledge to ensure it doesn't get lost,” explains Fix Solutions Lab associate editor Claire Elise Thompson.

“To be a Native American art curator today comes with expectations from a tribal community and requires an ability to be engaged with tribal governments, know methods and art practices, and then be academically credentialed in the museum field,” reflects Tahnee Ahtone, a Native American art curator in her biographical essay published in Hyperallergic.

Native Voices Rising, a community-driven partnership between Native Americans in Philanthropy and Common Counsel Foundation, announced $2 million in grants to 88 Indigenous and Native-led advocacy, organizing, and cultural groups.

Established in 2013, Native Voices Rising supports Native-led grassroots and advocacy efforts that empower American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities across the United States. Native Voices Rising is one of the few participatory grantmaking initiatives in the country led by Native people. Through a transparent and community-driven decision-making model, Native Voices Rising uplifts and amplifies the voices and experiences of Native people.

NDN Collective expects to open an Indigenous-led, culture-based school in Rapid City, South Dakota, in Fall 2022. The school, set to serve 40 students in the first year, "will be the first Indigenous-led school designed specifically for students in the Rapid City community," as the announcement explains.

In February 2020, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) co-hosted a first-of-its-kind gathering in Washington, D.C., with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). A report, produced by NACF, documenting the gathering and its main recommendations to strengthen the Native arts, cultures, and humanities field.

"We must build up people of color and Indigenous-led philanthropic and movement infrastructure organizations in order to challenge the power structures in this country and invest into the self-determination of the people on the frontlines," said Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective president & CEO, as he recaps the past month of mobilization in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wóglag mašípi cha omíglakin kte. Han mítakuyepi, wasicuiya Lori Pourier emáciyapi nahan Lakhol mícháže kin, Maká Cítominí Omání Win emáciyape kstó. Wazí Ahánhan emátanhan, na lehánl Hésápa él wahti ye.

NDN Collective recently launched the Radical Imagination Grant to support six Indigenous artists/culture bearers of all traditions, mediums and genres, that will be awarded grants of $50,000, according to the website.

A page in Medium seeks to help Native Americans find actions and answers in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Michael Woestehoff, Navajo Tribal Citizen, compiled an information hub of agencies taking action as well as details on gaming facilities, Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) school closures, to tribal leader emergency declarations.

In "Who Are Land Acknowledgments Really For?," Lauren Wingenroth writes about land acknowledgments in the dance world.