2027 Native Performing Arts Fellowship Application

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First Peoples Fund Overview  

Founded in 1995, First Peoples Fund is guided by our belief in Collective Spirit. Collective Spirit is a commitment to nurture our shared humanity and honor our connection to one another, the lands around us, those who came before us, and the spirit of all things. The Collective Spirit moves each of us to stand up and make a difference, pass on ancestral knowledge, and extend a hand of generosity. The Collective Spirit is essential to sustaining the cultural fabric of Native communities and our ability to thrive. Our mission is to honor and support the Collective Spirit of First Peoples artists and culture bearers. Our work recognizes the power of art and culture to bring about positive change in Native communities, beginning with individual artists and their families. 

2027 NATIVE PERFORMING ARTS FELLOWSHIP GUIDELINES 

The Native Performing Arts (NPA) Fellowship is a year-long program that helps Native Artists create, practice and perform within the Performing Arts (theater, music, dance, live performance, etc.). The program provides them with network-building, professional development training and funding to work toward building a sustainable career within the Performing Arts landscape.

The NPA Fellowship offers a one-year $10,000 grant to Native performing artists. The program's purpose is to develop independent, satisfied, and credible Native performing artists, who are generous in spirit and dedicated to cultivating ways that grow their artistic knowledge and skills within their performance craft.  Applications are open to Native performing artists at all stages of their career. 

The NPA Fellowship is not a project based grant.  Proposed budgets should be grounded in needs to further artistic growth or/and achieve artistic career goals rather than providing financial support toward a new or existing creative project. Developing or completing a solo creative project can be a component of your proposal, but should not be the primary goal or outcome of your fellowship year.

  • Consider what resources you will need in order to start or grow your artistic career or skill set, and what you will be able to accomplish with funding.  
  • Any proposals for performance-based project(s) that involve multiple performers or require high production demands are not a focus of this fellowship.

Examples of artistic growth needs  or career goals can include (but are not limited to):

  • taking classes, seminars, workshops, private lessons with professional experts or coaches in any field of performing arts, consulting legal, and financial professionals (agent, publicist, tour manager, etc.), creating a website to showcase your performance work, getting professional headshots, building a marketing strategy for your performances, or strengthening relationships with cultural bearers and teachers to maintain cultural knowledge and values.  

If you have a live production in need of financial support, we encourage you to apply for the 2027 Native Performing Arts Live Production Grant. Film projects (short or feature length) are not eligible. For film projects, we recommend applying for the Artist In Business Leadership or Cultural Capital Fellowship. 

 

TIMELINE

  • Application Opens: Wednesday, June 3rd , 8am MST 
  • Application Closes: Wednesday, July 15th , 5:59pm MST
  • All applicants will be notified if they have been invited to participate in the 2027 NPA Fellowship Program by late November 2026.
  • 2027 NPA Fellowship recipients will be publicly announced in early 2027.

 

FELLOWSHIP INFORMATION

  • Proposals: For this self-directed fellowship, applicants are asked to create a proposal centered around three (3) artistic career goals to accomplish during the fellowship year. You will be asked to describe the activities, resources, and costs related to achieving the artistic career goals. 
  • Funding: 90% (or $9,000) will be disbursed once initial paperwork and orientation measures are completed. The remaining 10% (or $1,000) will be disbursed in December 2027 upon completion of closing measures. 
  • Convening: Selected artists should expect to attend an annual fellowship convening where all FPF fellows are brought together for a multi-day event. This is normally held in the spring. Past convening locations have included Santa Fe, Phoenix, and Minneapolis.
  • Reporting: Fellows are asked to complete Orientation Measures and Closing Measures at the beginning and end of their fellowship year and can anticipate having at least two calls or virtual meetings with program staff to discuss their fellowship activities.  
  • Resources: While this is a self-directed fellowship, program staff is available to offer support and guidance upon request, and can potentially provide fellows with internal FPF professional development materials if applicable, as well as direct them to additional external online resources. Occasional virtual presentations and networking opportunities may also be offered during the fellowship year. 
  • Fellowship window: If selected, all fellowship proposal activities must take place between January 1, 2027 - December 31, 2027.
  • Number of Fellowships: The number of NPA fellowships awarded each year may vary based on available funding.

ELIGIBILITY

Applicants for the Native Performing Arts Fellowship must meet the following criteria:

  • Native practitioners of all performing arts mediums, both traditional and contemporary,  are welcome to apply. This includes theater, music, dance, live performance, spoken word and more. 

          -  Artists whose primary mediums are not within the performing arts field are not eligible to apply for the NPA 

             Fellowship.

          -  Any performance based project(s) that involves multiple performers or requires high production demands 

             will not be eligible.

          -  Activities that are part of the applicant's  coursework at an institution of higher learning will not be 

             considered, i.e. senior or thesis exhibitions, juried student shows, etc.

          -  Film projects, short or feature length, are not eligible at this time. 

  • Applicants must be at least 18 years of age at the time of application.
  • Applicants must reside and be based within the U.S. 

          -  Applicants who reside outside of the U.S. are ineligible to apply. 

  • Applicants must be an enrolled member of, or provide proof of lineal descendancy from, a U.S. federally-recognized or U.S. state-recognized tribe, or be able to provide proof of ancestry as an Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian.

          -  For more information about acceptable documents, please click here. 

  • Applicants may not be enrolled in any academic, degree-granting program.
  • Recipients of any 2026 First Peoples Fund (FPF) fellowships are not eligible to apply for the 2027 NPA Fellowship.
  • Individuals or lead applicants for an organization/business/collective that received a 2026 Live Production Grant are not eligible to apply for the 2027 NPA Fellowship.
  • Lead applicants or main contacts for any organization/business/collective that received a Rooted Pathways, Weaving Kinship in 2025 or 2026 are not eligible to apply for the 2027 NPA Fellowship.
  • Previous grantees with any First Peoples Fund programs must have submitted a final report for any awarded FPF grants.

 

APPLICATION PROCESS 

This is a one-year program and we expect that your application clearly details your proposed artistic development within a one-year timeframe. A best practice when applying for any opportunity is to read through all of the information provided before starting to fill out an application.     

Applications must be completed online in Submittable and received before the listed due date and time. Applications sent via email or postal mail will not be considered. 

For an overview of the application questions and attached files please click here.

Below is a list of the files you will need to upload for a completed application: 

          - Download and use this “Artist Budget” template to detail how grant funds would be spent in support of your           fellowship year.

  • Artist Resume or CV
  • Up to 5 Performance Work Samples
  • Performance Work Sample Descriptions
  • Artist Photo or Headshot 

 

SELECTION PROCESS

  • Program staff will conduct a technical review of applications.
  • A national selection committee will review applications that meet program requirements and eligibility. 
  • Committee members are typically Native artists and/or culture bearers, past FPF Fellowship alumni, and other members of the Native arts and culture field. 
  • The final number of NPA Fellowships awarded is determined based on total available funding and number of applicants. 
  • Final NPA Fellowship award decisions are based on selection committee recommendations and any relevant funding restrictions. 

SELECTION ANNOUNCEMENT:  Applicants will be notified of their application status in November of 2026. Public announcements of selected fellows will be made in early 2027. 

 

QUESTIONS?

Contact Natalie Benally, Program Manager of Performing Arts, with any questions by calling 505-278-0412, or via email at: natalie@firstpeoplesfund.org

 

 

We use Submittable to accept and review our submissions.
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