Profile of an Arts Grantmaker

The Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art is a biennial program honoring five Native American fine artists with unrestricted awards of $20,000. The fellowship program was launched in 1999 by the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. Museum staff implements the program under the direction of Jennifer Complo McNutt, curator of contemporary art.

Located in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Eiteljorg Museum was founded in 1989 and is one of only two museum institutions east of the Mississippi featuring both Native and Western American art. In addition, the Eiteljorg Museum occupies a unique place for presenting both traditional and contemporary art. With the support of the Lilly Endowment, which dedicates its giving in Indiana, the museum began the fellowship program to increase support and recognition for fine art being created by Native American artists. Jennifer Complo McNutt describes the vision of the program: "I am reminded of something the artist Truman Lowe once shared with me. He described a rainstorm as a clearing of the path. After the storm, the way is easier to travel. The Eiteljorg Fellowship is meant to be a rainstorm, clearing the path for . . . today's best artists who are Native American, so they may have greater influence and more visibility within the mainstream contemporary art world."1

The Eiteljorg Fellowships are based on nominations, but artists may nominate themselves. Artists are required to submit fifteen slides, exhibition catalogs, articles or reviews, a resume, artist statement, and proof of enrollment in the Indian Arts and Crafts Board Act, which is recognized documentation of the applicant's Indian heritage. Artists in the United States and Canada are eligible. The applicants are juried by a panel of three Native American arts professionals who are especially interested in seeing artistic maturity, excellence, and a distinct "visual signature." Additionally, in the spirit of the fellowship, the jury seeks artists whose art making is tied to their heritage as well as to their influence in the non-native world. As 1999 jurist Bruce Bernstein notes: "Cars, planes and cellular phones define these artists' lives as much as pots, baskets and beadwork."2

Often, the intersection between the traditional and contemporary results in art making ideas that circulate around questions of identity, history, and place — themes that are also in currency in conceptually-laden works of contemporary art.

Many components of the Eiteljorg Fellowship program are designed to support Native American contemporary art. In addition to the five fellows, the museum staff conducts research and finds a senior artist whose work and life have been seminal to Native American fine art. This individual is named a Distinguished Artist and is awarded a $20,000 grant. Besides the $20,000 honorarium given to the five fellows and distinguished artist, a fellowship includes a professionally written, full-color, 100-page publication published by the University of Washington Press, a museum exhibition, purchase of art work for the museum's permanent collection, and a “Gala Weekend” that launches the exhibition and is intended also to build community among fellows, distinguished artist, jurors, catalog writers, arts professionals, scholars, collectors, and others interested in Native American fine art.

Since its inception, the Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art has awarded more than $200,000 in grants, acquired over thirty-five works from twelve artists, and published two exceptional catalogs that will have lasting benefits for the artists. It is noteworthy that this fellowship operates under the auspices of a museum and offers services associated with museums — exhibition, catalog, acquisition, gala. Having attended the gala weekend, read their publications, and viewed the exhibition, I am impressed by the quality and sensitivity of this program. It builds a community of Native American fine art supporters and friends, assists artists through funds and acquisitions, and manages a careful panel process that results in fellows and Distinguished Artists of high caliber.

Angie Kim is program officer, arts, Flintridge Foundation

Notes
1 After the Storm: The Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art, vol. 2 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999), ix.

2 The Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art, vol. 1 (Phoenix: Media Concepts Group, Inc., 1999), 10.