The American Indian College Fund announced Thursday that it has received a $2.4 million grant from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to continue and expand its Native Arts Program, supporting tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in developing Native arts curricula and offering community-based cultural workshops.
The renewed initiative, known as Choin Cha Ha Poo Chew Chew Wha Von Nom: Beading Cultural Knowledge Together, marks the fifth grant cycle for the program and reinforces the College Fund’s ongoing commitment to preserving and strengthening Indigenous arts, culture, and traditional knowledge.
The program supports TCUs in creating Native arts and culture programming rooted in traditional knowledge, language, and community practices while providing opportunities for students and local artists to expand their cultural skills.
Previous grant recipients have implemented a wide range of projects reflecting the traditions of their respective communities. At United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota, faculty developed curricula for seven Native arts courses. Iḷisaġvik College near Alaska’s Arctic Circle recorded instructional lessons to preserve traditional practices, including scrimshaw, fish skin tanning, doll making, and baleen basketry.
Other institutions have focused on hands-on community engagement. Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, hosted workshops on creating cattail mats and playing traditional stick games, while Aaniiih Nakoda College in Harlem, Montana, offered instruction in hand drum making, quilling, breastplate making, star quilting, and traditional doll making.
The grant program is open to tribal colleges in Alaska, Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin. Funding will support up to six institutions for curriculum development and up to 12 colleges for community-based grants, with each award lasting three years.
Cheryl Crazy Bull, president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, emphasized the importance of Native arts in sustaining Indigenous communities.
“Native arts are a physical representation of Indigenous ways of being and relationship to all around us. Native Arts programming, such as Beading Cultural Knowledge Together, is critical for uplifting the voices of our artists whose work combines wisdom and beauty as it helps to sustain our communities,” Crazy Bull said.
Jerica Leavitt, an associate professor of Iñupiaq Studies at Iḷisaġvik College who participated in the program as a student before joining the faculty 13 years ago, highlighted its lasting impact on younger generations.
She said students from North Slope villages who attended a cultural camp in 2024 “still talk with excitement about their experience on the land and what they learned about the traditional ways of catching and cutting fish for food and preparing the skin for leather.”
