Native Arts & Cultures Foundation: LIFT Grants

The Native Arts & Cultures Foundation's LIFT program offers critical support to early career Native artists through one-year grants of $10,000. This initiative aims to nurture emerging voices and foster community engagement while promoting environmental sustainability. Selected artists will benefit from professional development training and culturally appropriate evaluations to enhance their artistic practices. By providing vital resources, LIFT empowers artists to advance their careers and contribute meaningfully to their communities.

Nurture, Elevate, Unfold
LIFT – Early Career Support for Native Artists program will provide invaluable support to early career Native artists with one-year awards to develop and realize new projects. LIFT encourages artists to uplift communities, advance positive social change, point courageously toward environmental sustainability, and foster communal meaning making.
Following extensive research and strategic planning, LIFT refocuses NACF’s programmatic efforts to expand the potential of emergent Native artists. LIFT consists of a suite of activities that includes financial support, artist professional development, evaluation, and communications/marketing support. It is essential that artists in these stages of their practices be provided the opportunity to improve their craft, build their careers and cultivate their place as creative people within their communities.
We encourage artists who are shaping their practices and for whom the award may serve as a launching point in their career to apply.
Program Services
Grantmaking: One-year awards of $10,000.
Professional development: Artist awardees will participate in trainings facilitated by NACF and its partner organizations that are designed to provide education around project management, small business development, career advancement, and artistic development.
Culturally Appropriate Evaluation: Support from NACF to develop project deliverables, outcomes and internal/external NACF program reports.
Communications and marketing support.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for the LIFT program, applicants must:Be 18 years or older;Currently reside in the United States;Be an enrolled member or citizen of a federally-recognized or state-recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native corporation, or of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Applicants will be asked to provide documentation of their Native citizenship or ancestry.Be an individual practicing artist working in the disciplines of dance/choreography, fiction/poetry writing, film/video, multi-disciplinary arts, music, performance art, theater and screenplay writing, traditional arts or 2D + 3D visual arts.Be early in their artistic career with ten years or less experience. Early career may be defined as an artist who is 18-30 years old, or who is more than 30 years old, but who started their arts career later in life.Not have received a singular award of $10,000 or more in their artistic career;NOT BE enrolled in a degree-seeking program at a university or higher-education institution during the 12-month award period (September 1, 2023 – August 31, 2024).