LIFT – Early Career Support for Native Artists

The LIFT - Early Career Support for Native Artists program is offered by the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation to provide foundational support for emerging Native artists at an early stage of their creative careers. The program combines a one-year award of 15,000 dollars with tailored professional development, mentorship, project evaluation, documentation, and marketing services. Together, these elements are designed to help artists grow their practice, develop a new project, and connect with broader audiences during a defined 12-month period. The purpose of LIFT is to nurture artistic exploration while empowering recipients to engage their communities and address critical issues. Supported projects are expected to take on themes such as cultural sovereignty, social and environmental justice, healing, and systemic change. Applicants propose a new project to be publicly presented within the award period, ensuring that the work reaches audiences and contributes to community dialogue and visibility. The 2025 cycle opens on 2025-01-28 and closes on 2025-04-08 at 5:00 PM Pacific Time. Award notifications are scheduled for July 2025, with public announcements in August 2025. The grant award period runs from 2025-08-01 through 2026-07-31. Within this timeline, recipients are expected to complete their proposed project and meet the public presentation requirement before the end of the 12-month term. Eligibility is limited to individual, early-career Native artists who are at least 18 years old, reside in the United States, and are either enrolled members or citizens of a U.S. federally or state-recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native corporation, or are of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Applicants must meet the funder’s definition of “emerging artist,” which includes having less than ten years of career experience regardless of age, not having previously received an award of 15,000 dollars or more, and having limited or no history of public exhibitions or presentations. Students currently enrolled in a higher education institution during the award period are not eligible. Applications must propose a new project that will be publicly presented and completed within the award year. The application consists of a narrative proposal and support materials, and includes an eligibility verification step. Technical assistance is available to help applicants resolve submission issues via Submittable’s help resources or by contacting program staff. For technical help, applicants may contact Amber Ball at apply@nativeartsandcultures.org or 971-417-4835 Ext. 435. For program-related inquiries, applicants may contact Laura Cales Matalka at grantsupport@nativeartsandcultures.org or 360-334-7285. These contacts support applicants through the submission process and can address questions about eligibility, project expectations, and the overall timeline for review and notification.