Fellowships & Grants

Since 2015, Running Strong has cultivated a network of 90 Native youth leaders who are part of the Dreamstarter Academy. Each year, Running Strong awards Dreamstarter grants to 10 Native youth and their non-profit Mentor organizations each year to implement a project inspired by a dream they have for their community.

Founded in 2020, In-Na-Po is a national Indigenous poetry community committed to mentoring emerging writers, nurturing the growth of Indigenous poetic practices, and raising the visibility of all Native Writers past, present, and future. In-Na-Po recognizes the role of poetry in sustaining tribal sovereign nations and Native languages.

One-year fellowships in Cultural Capital and Artists in Business Leadership. Fellows receive a $5,000 - $10,000 project grant, technical support and professional training to start or grow an arts business and to further their important work in their communities

Sinew Fund is designed to fund Lakota visual creatives based anywhere in the United States to do project work in Lakota communities. Because of the importance of place and land to Lakota people, funded projects will occur within Lakota communities in current-day/so-called western South Dakota.

In 2020, following the success of its Fellowship for Native American Visual Artists, Ucross launched a similar opportunity for Native American writers at all stages in their professional careers.

The IAIA Artist-in-Residence (A-i-R) Program hosts artists for variable-length residencies taking place on the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA).

LIFT – Early Career Support for Native Artists program provides 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.

Forge Project seeks an annual cohort of six Indigenous individuals that represent a broad diversity of cultural practices, participatory research, organizing models, and geographical contexts that honor Indigenous pasts as well as build Native futures.

Two fellowships, one for a Native American visual artist and one for a Native American writer, living and working in the US, with strong ability and a practice that engages a dialogue between the artist’s or writer’s world and the surrounding culture.

From micro-grants to their Radical Imagination program, NDN Collective has a variety of funding sources for Native artists, writers, and changemakers.

Change Labs is a Native-led and Native-controlled 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based on the Navajo and Hopi nations. They foster the creation of successful Native American small businesses that provide a social benefit to tribal communities.

Creative Capital is a nonprofit, grantmaking organization with the mission to fund artists in the creation of groundbreaking new work, to amplify the impact of their work, and to foster sustainable artistic careers.

Formerly the HBO Access Writing Fellowship, the WarnerMedia Access Writers Program has been expanded to a two-year program for entry-level narrative TV writers. The objective is to provide marginalized voices a pathway for entry into the television industry through instruction, mentorship and exposure.