The IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (RCCNA) was established to support IAIA’s dedication to advancing scholarship, discourse, and interpretation of contemporary Native art for regional, national, and international audiences.

Hauser & Wirth Institute, a nonprofit, a private foundation that fosters innovation and advances equity in the field of artists’ archives, provides funding for organizations that build, activate, and generate public engagement with these archives. IAIA is proud to announce we are benefitting from their latest round of funding. Hauser & Wirth will distribute a total of $316,000 to four organizations, including:

• $87,500 to the Institute of American Indian Arts (New Mexico) to expand digital access to its archives
• 28,500 to the Carolee Schneemann Foundation (New York) for an oral history project on the visual and performance artist’s legacy
• $20,000 to South Side Community Arts Center (Chicago) for a paid internship program that will help advance the careers of Black student archivists
• $180,000 to fund a full-time archivist position at Women’s Studio Workshop (Rosendale, NY) to activate their archives documenting feminist print cultures

“The four grantees tackle long-standing obstacles to expanding the art historical record in creative and ambitious ways that align with our mission to foster equity and innovation in the field,” says Hauser & Wirth Institute Executive Director Lisa Darms. “Their projects will radically increase access to archives, activate and make visible collections that have been hidden, train and fairly compensate archivists who are underrepresented in the field, and build new archives at an urgent moment before memory is lost.”

The IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (RCCNA) is dedicated to advancing scholarship, discourse, and interpretation of contemporary Indigenous arts for regional, national, and international audiences. This grant will support the RCCNA in digitizing their Native Artist Files (NAF), the most student-used asset and a general starting point for researchers in the IAIA Archives. Established in 1971, the NAF contains nearly 7,500 biographical vertical files that include slides, resumes, news clippings, photocopies, and materials documenting individual artists and their careers.

“The Native Artist Files is an invaluable collection that documents the biographies and art practices of thousands of Native American artists through primary and secondary source documents,” says RCCNA Director Dr. Lara Evans (Cherokee Nation). “We’re thrilled to undertake the project of digitizing this resource so that students and researchers outside of IAIA will have access to the collection.”

The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)—the birthplace of contemporary Indigenous American art—is an Indigenous-centered college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. IAIA’s mission is “to empower creativity and leadership in Indigenous arts and cultures through higher education, lifelong learning, and community engagement.” The IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (RCCNA) supports this mission through its dedication to advancing scholarship, discourse, and interpretation of contemporary Indigenous arts for regional, national, and international audiences. This grant will support the RCCNA in digitizing their Native Artist Files (NAF), the most student-used asset and a general starting point for researchers in the IAIA Archives. Established in 1971, the NAF contains nearly 7,500 biographical vertical files that include slides, resumes, news clippings, photocopies, and materials documenting individual artists and their careers.