News Release
Photo by Bethany Goodrich, courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute.
News Release Date: May 23, 2024
Contact: NewsMedia@nps.gov
WASHINGTON -- The National Park Service (NPS) today announced the award of $1.5 million for arts education and mentorship projects as part of the Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development grant program.
“The National Park Service is honored to provide these grants, supporting traditional and contemporary expressions of language, history, visual and performing arts, and crafts,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams.
The Alaska Native Heritage Center was awarded $750,000 to provide free classes to the public taught by master artists from the Alaska Native community. The project will increase the number of individuals who are practicing traditional artforms within the Alaska Native community and deepen these individuals’ understandings of traditional Alaska Native arts.
Sealaska Heritage Institute received $749,282 to connect young Alaska Native adults to new community-based instructional opportunities in Northwest Coast Arts using the Mentor-Apprentice pedagogy. The project will grow the next generation of Southeast Alaska Native master carvers and align with the institute’s Core Cultural Values.
NPS administers the Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development grant program on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior using funds appropriated by Congress. Grants may be awarded for the scholarly study of and instruction in Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian traditional and contemporary arts and culture, to establish centers and educational programs that lead to degrees in Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian art and culture programs and establish programs that develop traditional and contemporary arts in the community.
Any private, nonprofit organization or institution that primarily serves and represents the Native Hawaiian or Alaska Native communities and is recognized by the governor of Hawaii or the governor of Alaska, as appropriate, is eligible to receive such grants.
The next application period will open no later than early June 2024. Interested parties who are registered in Grants.gov can subscribe to saved searches to receive email notifications when this grant opportunity becomes available. Please search by Assistance Listing (formerly CFDA) number: 15.071 (Pacific Northwest and Hawaiian Islands Arts).
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 429 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Last updated: May 23, 2024