2025 lift – early career support for native artists program
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation’s (NACF) LIFT – Early Career Support for Native Artists program supports emerging Native artists through one-year awards to develop and realize new projects. These awards are a crucial investment in cultivating fresh voices and envisioning the future of our respective Native practices.
Now in its fourth iteration, LIFT builds upon extensive research and strategic planning to expand opportunities for early-career Native artists. The program encourages artists to uplift communities, advance positive social change, point courageously toward environmental sustainability, and foster communal meaning-making. Through their projects, LIFT artists address critical issues around cultural sovereignty, environmental and social justice, healing and well-being, and systemic change.
The award period will run from August 1, 2025, to July 31, 2026.
To be eligible for the LIFT program, applicants must:
- Be at least 18 years of age.
- Be a US-based resident.
- Be an enrolled member or citizen of a US federally-recognized or state-recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native corporation, or of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Applicants will be asked to provide documentation of their Native citizenship or ancestry in the application.
- Be an individual practicing artist working dance/choreography, fiction/poetry writing, film/video, multi-disciplinary arts, music, performance art, theater and screenplay writing, traditional arts, or 2D + 3D visual arts.
- Be emerging artists or early in their artistic careers. NACF defines “emerging” as follows:
- Experience: Artists with less than ten years of experience in their artistic career.
- Note: Changing artistic disciplines does not “restart” a career. Artistic practice is considered in aggregate. For example, an artist who has been a musician for 12 years but has recently started working in film is not considered emerging simply because they are working in a different discipline.
- Age: There is no age restriction. Early career may refer to an artist who is 18–30 years old or someone over 30 who began their arts career later in life.
- Funding History: Artists must not have received a singular award of $15,000 or more in their artistic career.
- Other Definitions: An artist may also be considered “emerging” if they have yet to develop a substantial body of work or have limited to no experience exhibiting or presenting their work to the public.
- NOT BE enrolled in a university or higher education institution during the 12-month award period (Aug 1, 2025-Jul 31, 2026).
- Propose a new project that can be developed and presented publicly within one year of the award, or before July 31, 2026.
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LIFT provides a comprehensive suite of services, including $15,000 awards, artist professional development, mentorship, project evaluation, documentation, and communications/marketing support
