The Native Performing Arts Fellowship (NPA) supports Native performing artists, emerging and established, to develop and enhance their skills and knowledge of their craft.
Donor Name: First Peoples Fund
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Fellowship
Deadline: 07/16/2025
Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
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.
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.
Funding Information
The NPA Fellowship offers a one-year $10,000 grant to Native performing artists.
Fellowship Period
January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2026.
Eligibility Criteria
- 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.
- Applicants may not be enrolled in any academic, degree-granting program.
- 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.
- If you received a Performing Artist fellowship, Artist in Business Leadership or Cultural Capital fellowship in 2025, you will not be eligible to apply for the 2026 NPA Fellowship. Any previous fellows must wait a year before applying to any First Peoples Fund (FPF) fellowship programs.
- If you are a previous grantee with any First Peoples Fund (FPF program), you must have submitted a final report for any previously awarded FPF Grants.
For more information, visit FPF.
