01/31/2022
Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Announces Open Call
for 2022 Emerging Artist Support Program
PORTLAND, Oregon, January 19, 2022 – The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) is pleased to
announce its open call for the LIFT–Early Career Support for Native Artists program, a one-year award
and early career support program for emerging Native artists to develop and realize new projects. The
program’s focus is to provide financial support and professional development to artists whose work
aims to uplift communities and advance positive social change.
Eligible applicants must be individual Native artists working in dance/choreography, fiction/poetry
writing, film/video, multi-disciplinary arts, music, performance art, theater and screenplay writing,
traditional arts, or 2D + 3D visual arts. Artist applicant must 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. We encourage applications from artists who are shaping their practices and
for whom the award may serve as a launching point in their career.
“We celebrate the creative spirit of Native artists whose explorations foster our understanding of the
profound change around us, offering new ways of seeing what is possible, what is ethical, and what is
needed.”
Reuben Roqueñi - NACF Director of Transformative Change Programs
LIFT is a monetary award of up to $10,000 for a proposed project with a required minimum of $3,000
earmarked for the artist’s benefit and wellbeing. Up to twenty artists will be selected to receive LIFT
awards. For a full description of the award, eligibility requirements and to apply, please visit
http://bit.ly/NACF-lift. The deadline to submit the online application form for LIFT is Wednesday, March
16, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time.
Support for the LIFT program is made possible in part by the Leon Polk Smith Foundation and the
Maxwell | Hanrahan Foundation.
About the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation’s mission is to advance equity and cultural knowledge, focusing
on the power of arts and collaboration to strengthen Native communities and promote positive social
change with American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native peoples in the United States. The
Foundation has distributed over 570 awards to Native artists and arts organizations in 34 states and the
District of Columbia since 2009. To learn more about NACF visit www.nativeartsandcultures.org.
Transforming community through native arts.
