Partnering with an organization that is both trusted and highly networked in the Native community can help to facilitate access to state resources. This strategy is exemplified by a partnership between the North Dakota Council on the Arts (NDCA) and Sacred Pipe Resource Center.
A custom star quilt made by Eternal Bloom Blankets. Photo courtesy of Sacred Pipe Resource Center
Sacred Pipe Resource Center is an intertribal community engagement organization that serves Indigenous residents of North Dakota and provides a home away from home for individuals living away from reservation land. The center advocates for Native-owned businesses and serves as a conduit for Native engagement in housing and community development, public health, mental well-being, youth development, and the arts. Arts programming is integrated across the center’s work, as the arts have an essential role to play in civic engagement, business development and cultural preservation.
Together, the Sacred Pipe Resource Center and NDCA run the Indigenous Artist Growth & Development Fellowship program. Artists working in all contemporary and traditional art forms are eligible, including visual arts, performing arts, literary arts, spoken word, music and graphic arts. Artists enrolled* in the five federally recognized tribes that have land located within the state were encouraged to apply: the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation (the Three Affiliated Tribes); the Spirit Lake Nation; the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe; the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (including the Trenton Indian Service Area); and the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Nation.
The program was specifically developed to recruit artists who had never before received state funds. To reduce application burden and make the funds as accessible as possible, the application was created via a simplified online Jotform questionnaire, rather than the state’s more complex application system. Technical assistance was provided to applicants. No match is required for the $5,000 awards, which may be used over the course of 18 months.
Five artists ultimately were selected by a diverse Native panel for the 2024-2025 cohort. Each artist can personalize how grant funds will be used to address their creative goals. Awards can be used flexibly for portfolio development, materials, rent or marketing as well as fees for collaborators or to address any specific challenge the artist faces. Technical assistance is tailored to the fellowship cohort and can encompass a wide range of artistic and business development goals. Awardees are paired with individual coaches and also participate in a cohort, meeting regularly for peer learning. Fellows will share a capstone presentation detailing their learning and take-aways from the fellowship.
Bill Brien, one of the 2024 Indigenous Artist Growth & Development Fellowship winners, is an enrolled member of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. He creates digital art using his cell phone as a canvas. Photo courtesy of Bill Brien and Sacred Pipe Resource Center
NDCA serves as the lead funder for the fellowship and executed a letter of agreement with the Sacred Pipe Resource Center to manage the program. The state arts agency and the resource center collaborate on program design, funding guidelines, screening processes, adjudication criteria and professional development plans. The resource center takes the lead on grants management and full implementation of professional development programs. For more information on the Indigenous Artist Growth & Development Fellowship, contact Sacred Pipe Resource Center Executive Director Cheryl Ann Kary, Yanktonai Dakota | Standing Rock Sioux, at cheryl@sacredpipe.net.
In addition to the fellowship collaboration, NDCA has participated in other partnerships to promote Native arts and culture. Through the Densmore Repatriation Project, songs and stories of the Lakota and Dakota that are over 100 years old are being reintroduced to make them easily accessible for a new generation of Native singers and educators. Along with 13 Native artists and the North Dakota State Historical Society, NDCA helped to curate the On the Edge of the Wind exhibit at the state museum. For information on NDCA’s other Native arts programs, contact State Folklorist Troyd Geist at tgeist@nd.gov.
* Per U.S. Supreme Court rulings, tribal enrollment is a legal citizenship classification, not a racial classification.