Native Arts & Cultures Foundation

06/04/2026

Brent Michael Davids (Stockbridge-Munsee Community), a 2025 SHIFT awardee, recently premiered "Requiem for America: Singing for the Invisible People" at London's Barbican Hall.

More than twenty years in the making, the monumental work brings Indigenous voices and historical records into conversation with founding-era texts, inviting audiences to reconsider the stories that have shaped the United States and whose voices have been left out of them.

Created in partnership with White Snake Projects, the composition confronts histories of violence, displacement, and erasure while creating space for reflection, accountability, and healing through music.

At NACF, we believe artists play a vital role in challenging dominant narratives and expanding public understanding. Through SHIFT, we support Native artists whose work sparks dialogue around the most pressing issues of our time. Brent's project embodies that vision.

Congratulations to Brent on this landmark premiere.
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Images: (1) Brent Michael Davids playing the flute at the world premiere of Requiem for America: Singing for the Invisible People at the Barbican, London. Photo by James Watkins for the BBC. (2) Native singers performing at Barbican Hall. Photo by James Watkins for the BBC. (3) Full BBC symphony orchestra conducted by Teddy Abrams. Photo by James Watkins for the BBC.

06/02/2026

Curated by 2017 NACF Mentor Artist Fellow Delina White (Leech Lake Band of Anishinaabe), "Mni Sóta: Traditions & Innovations," brings together Dakota and Anishinaabe artists whose work reflects the enduring vitality of Native textile and fiber arts.

On view through July 11 at Textile Center the exhibition features beadwork, quilting, weaving, hide work, textiles, and mixed-media practices that carry forward generations of knowledge while speaking to the present. Through materials shaped by place and relationships, the artists demonstrate how cultural teachings continue to live and evolve.

White is widely recognized for her contemporary interpretations of Anishinaabe women's traditional dress and her commitment to cultural mentorship, values that continue to shape her work as an artist, teacher, and curator.

Featuring work by artists from across Minnesota, the exhibition invites viewers to engage with Native textile arts as living expressions of creativity, responsibility, and community.

An artist reception will be held Thursday, June 4, from 5:30–7 p.m. at Textile Center.

Congratulations to Delina White and all of the participating artists.
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Images courtesy of Textile Center.

06/02/2026

05/31/2026

What stories help us imagine a livable future?

Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota), a 2016 NACF Fellow, has been awarded the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award for "SURVIVA: A Future Ancestral Field Guide."

Blending speculative fiction, poetry, drawing, and visual art, "SURVIVA" asks readers to consider survival not as an act of individual endurance, but as a practice of relationship. Through Indigenous futurism, the book explores how knowledge, community, and responsibility to one another might guide us through uncertain futures.

At a time when many stories about the future are shaped by scarcity and collapse, works like "SURVIVA" offer another possibility: futures built through care, reciprocity, and our connections to each other and the living world.

Congratulations to Cannupa Hanska Luger on this well-deserved recognition!

05/28/2026

Past NACF awardee Rose B. Simpson is currently featured in “Recognition of Art by Women: In Retrospect” at the Norton Museum of Art, an exhibition reflecting on a decade of artists whose work continues to shape and challenge the contemporary art landscape.

Working across sculpture, performance, installation, and storytelling, Simpson’s practice refuses simplification. Her work moves through memory, identity, futurity, and Indigenous knowledge systems with a presence that feels both grounded and expansive.

Exhibitions like this reflect more than individual recognition. They reveal the growing visibility of Indigenous artists within spaces that have historically excluded or overlooked Native perspectives, while also raising larger questions about who institutions recognize, when they recognize them, and what becomes possible when Native artists are supported across the length of their careers.

Simpson’s work does not ask to be folded into contemporary art history. It actively reshapes it.

“Recognition of Art by Women: In Retrospect” is on view through September 27, 2026.
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Image: “Vital Organ: Gut,” 2022, by Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo). Photo credit: Dan Bradica; Jessica Silverman, San Francisco; Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

05/25/2026

“We are all trying to retain our identity, our cultural ways, and continue living the way of our people.” — TahNibaa Naataanii

Today, we honor Native veterans and the many ways service, memory, and cultural knowledge are carried forward across generations.

Native peoples have long served in the US military at some of the highest per-capita rates, carrying complex histories of service, sovereignty, and community responsibility across generations.

NACF awardee and Diné weaver TahNibaa Naataanii joined the U.S. Navy after high school before returning home to weaving. In a conversation with NACF, Naataanii reflected on how travel and cultural exchange shaped her understanding of weaving traditions across communities and cultures.

Through her work, she continues to honor and carry forward Diné weaving traditions for future generations.

05/23/2026

2025 SHIFT Awardee Demian DinéYazhi’ () is a Portland, Oregon-based Diné transdisciplinary artist, writer, and curator working with Mullowney Printing () to host a curated printmaking and residency initiative that centers and empowers the practices of Indigenous Trans, Two-Spirit, and Non-Binary artists.

The project offers a crucial and nontraditional space for artists to collaborate, experiment, and nurture their practices in an environment that encourages uncompromising, unapologetic creative expression.

Last month, our team visited Demian in the studio. It was great to connect with them and the whole team at Mullowney after partnering on the Native Creative Night printmaking workshop earlier this year. Entering the studio, one is immediately struck by the light, airiness, and good vibes. It was great to reconnect with Demian and connect with artists and collaborators in the studio, including Marie Watt () and Tatiana Parcero (), whose forthcoming portfolio of photogravure etchings was in process during our visit.

At NACF, we’re proud to support artists at every stage of their career and through every step of their process. Getting to see our artists experimenting fosters a new appreciation for their talent and craft.

We look forward to continuing to visit our awardees and community partners as they realize their projects.

05/22/2026

“Navajo country, rez country… it’s a sound that never really changed over the years.”

Meet Dirt Rhodes, a Diné country band reflecting on the roots and evolution of rez country music, from Bakersfield and Texas country influences to the distinct sound carried through Navajo music communities across generations.

Watch the full Roots + Resonance session: https://youtu.be/0t5HMnkOZnU?si=KQGZPwfuFZlhKEzE
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Band Members
Ryan Allison – Vocals/Guitar
Kent Kaulaity – Backup Vocals/Bass
Shayden Joe – Guitar
Chris Picciuolo – Drums
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Roots + Resonance Team
Shyla Spicer
Genevieve Borgeson
Jonas Angelet
Sam Toledo
Robert Franklin

05/21/2026

On Native Nonprofit Day, we’re reflecting on the artists, workshops, and community gatherings that continue to shape the Center for Native Arts + Cultures.

From collage workshops with Epiphany Couch to sketch nights led by Toma Villa and screen printing sessions with Mullowney Printing, Native Creative Night and Creative Afternoons create space for artists, families, and community members to gather, learn, and create together.

These programs are offered free for the community because of the support we receive from donors, partners, and community members who believe in investing in Native artists and Indigenous creative futures.

Your support helps us continue building spaces for connection, cultural exchange, and creative practice across generations.

Thank you for supporting Native-led arts organizations and the communities they serve. https://www.nativeartsandcultures.org/donate

All images by Robert Franklin.
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05/20/2026

Introducing Roots + Resonance.
A new performance series by the Native Arts + Cultures Foundation celebrating Native creativity through music, storytelling, and live performance.

Beginning with Dirt Rhodes, a Diné country band from the Navajo Nation whose music highlights Native peoples’ long history with country and western music.

Recorded live on February 27, 2026 in Tempe, AZ.

Watch the full performance! https://youtu.be/0t5HMnkOZnU?si=Qh9gLQeTPFPLdnt4
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Band Members
Ryan Allison – Vocals/Guitar
Kent Kaulaity – Backup Vocals/Bass
Shayden Joe – Guitar
Chris Picciuolo – Drums
⎻⎻
Roots + Resonance Team
Shyla Spicer
Genevieve Borgeson
Jonas Angelet
Sam Toledo
Robert Franklin

Audio Engineering and Mixing
KAMP Recording Studios

Videography and Editing
D-MAK Productions