Native Arts

Native Arts grant recipient Kyra Climbingbear (Eastern Band Cherokee/Lumbee) | Photo: Dexter Kyle Photography

Guided by Native staff and advisors, NEFA's Native Arts program supports projects that nurture artistic exchange, community development, youth engagement, environmental resource research and preservation, cultural preservation, and artistic innovation.

Background

In 2005, the Ford Foundation invited NEFA to design a support system for New England’s Native artists. NEFA, in association with the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA), conducted gatherings with Native American artists and leaders throughout the region in 2005-2006. The recommendations heard at those meetings informed NEFA’s design of a program with staff leadership by a member of the Native community, created to serve a marginalized, underserved, and often invisible community of Native artists and organizations.

NEFA was then honored to be selected in 2007 as one of seven organizations across the U.S. that formed the Ford Foundation’s IllumiNation cohort. Other members of this distinguished group included the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian,

First Peoples Fund, Seventh Generation Fund, First Nations Composer Initiative, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, and the Evergreen State College Foundation Longhouse Education Cultural Center.

Now one of NEFA's main program areas, the Native Arts program is led by Program Manager Dawn Spears (Narragansett/Choctaw) and Program Associate Summer Confuorto (Gros Ventre/Mi'kmaq) and guided by NEFA board member Trudie Lamb Richmond (Schagticoke) and an advisory board of Native artists, folklorists, and Native arts professionals. Native Arts supports Native American artists and organizations both in New England and nationally through grants, professional development, and network building, promoting both the preservation of traditional art forms and their contemporary expressions in and across artistic disciplines.

Program Goals

Build NEFA’s organizational capacity to provide leadership in support of Native American artists and Native-led organizations .
Expand NEFA’s contacts with Native artists in New England and nationally.
Raise the visibility of New England Native artists and Native organizations.
Organize and facilitate gatherings and forums that strengthen connections among Native artists and organizations.
Explore a variety of means of creating networks and communications among Native artists, Native-led organizations, and tribal entities.

Advisors

David Moses Bridges (Passamaquoddy) Birch bark container artist, canoe maker	Theresa Secord (Penobscot) Basketmaker, Executive Director, Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance
Marge Bruchac, (Abenaki) Storyteller	Duane Slick (Meskwaki (Sauk and Fox Tribe) Visual artist
Judy Dow (Abenaki) Basketmaker	Cassius Spears (Narragansett) Cultural educator, consultant
Jeremy Frey (Passamaquoddy) Basketmaker	Loren Spears (Narragansett) Executive Director, Tomaquag Museum
Sherry Gould (Abenaki) Basketmaker, educator, activist	Quita Sullivan (Montaukett) Beadwork artist, foundation professional
Dee Ko (Cherokee) Copper & brass work artist	Meredith Vasta (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) Collections Manager/Registrar, Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center
George Longfish (Seneca/Tuscarora) Visual artist	Lynne Williamson Folklorist, Director of the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program
Kathleen Mundell Folklorist, Executive Director of Cultural Resources, Inc.	Paulla Dove Jennings (Narragansett) Curator, Tomaquag Museum, storyteller
Elizabeth Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag) Textile and wampum artist	Joan Lester Lecturer, American Studies, Tufts University
Paula Peters (Mashpee Wampanoag) Wampum artist, journalist
Ramona Peters (Mashpee Wampanoag) Pottery artist, educator, researcher	Jennifer Kreesberg (Tuscarora) Vocalist, Ulali composer
Trudie Lamb Richmond (Schaghticoke) Retired Director of Public Programs, Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, storyteller, researcher
Stevie Salas (Mescalero Apache) Guitarist, music producer, Music Director for American Idol

Funders

Native Arts is made possible with lead funding from the Ford Foundation's Indigenous Knowledge and Expressive Culture program, with additional funding from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Anonymous donors.