National Endowment for the Humanities Grant (Cultural Preservation Program)

National Endowment for the Humanities Grant (Cultural Preservation Program) is sponsored by American Indian College Fund (administered in cooperation with NEH). This program supports Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) to carry out Native culture and language preservation, perpetuation, and revitalization programming within their communities.

National Endowment | American Indian College Fund Home 5 Our Programs 5 Native Arts 5 Humanities Grant American Indian communities are seeing barriers and a dramatic decline in the use and practice of their languages, traditional arts, and broader cultural knowledge.

TCUs help to shift this trend by offering culture and language maintenance, revitalization, restoration, and preservation activities to the students and communities they serve.

The American Indian College Fund was awarded a Challenge Grant in 1993 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) that led to the establishment of the NEH Cultural Preservation Program, which supports TCUs to carry out this important work within their communities.

The program is available to all 35 TCUs annually, and provides funding to administer Native culture and language preservation, perpetuation, and revitalization programming within their communities. Some projects include language camps, museum archival documentation, and the establishment of cultural centers on campus. Aaniiih Nakoda College (Ft.

Belknap) Bay Mills Community College Blackfeet Community College Cankdeska Cikana Community College College of Menominee Nation College of the Muscogee Nation Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Fort Peck Community College Haskell Indian Nations University Institute of American Indian Arts Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University Leech Lake Tribal College Little Priest Tribal College Navajo Technical University Nebraska Indian Community College Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College Sisseton Wahpeton College Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute Tohono O'odham Community College United Tribes Technical College White Earth Tribal and Community College American Indian College Fund Expands Program to Develop and Refine Native Arts and Culture Curriculum Now in its fifth grant cycle, the Native Arts and Culture Program continues the College Fund’s commitment to expanding community-centered arts programming, uplifting cultural knowledge keepers, and fostering vibrant Indigenous pedagogy across TCU campuses.

Learn about the latest grant cycle and read examples of how the program supports the preservation of Indigenous arts. Iḷisaġvik College (IC) Program Keeps Arctic Cultural Knowledge Alive Jun 11, 2026 | Blog , Ilisagvik College , Native Arts , Our Programs , Tribal Colleges and Universities Iḷisaġvik College’s Native arts program is helping Alaska Native students in the Arctic Circle preserve and revitalize Iñupiaq cultural knowledge.

Through hands-on learning, cultural camps, and curriculum development, students gain skills in traditional art forms, healing practices, and land-based knowledge while ensuring these traditions are documented and passed down to future generations.

Mathematics of Art and Art of Mathematics Jul 29, 2025 | Blog , Cultural Knowledge Teachers , Native Arts , Our Programs Ramona Morrow interviews Dennis White “Mezinaanikwad” (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians), Elder in Residence at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University.

Jun 5, 2025 | Blog , Cultural Knowledge Teachers , Native Arts , Our Programs Julie Buckman interviews Ella Robertson (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), a mostly self-taught artist who teaches Native American textiles at Sisseton Wahpeton College (SWC). Robertson recalls getting her start as a child making Barbie clothes on her aunt’s sewing machine.

Today she is a renowned Dakota community artist and entrepreneur specializing in many art forms and created SWC’s logo, one of her many accomplishments. Select a program area to learn more. Environmental Stewardship Currently only 15% of American Indians hold college degrees.

But with 31% of Native Americans being 24 years old or younger, you have the opportunity to make an incredible impact for this generation and generations to come when you donate today. Warning: Opens in a new window Warning: Opens an external site Warning: Opens an external site in a new window