The Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum was slated to receive a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the Alaska Native Artist Residency Program on June 1, 2025. The award was to be issued through the Art Works II Grant in the category of Folk & Traditional Arts. In the late afternoon on Friday, May 2, 2025, the Friends received an email stating, “… the tentative funding recommendation for the following application is withdrawn by the Agency and the National Endowment for the Arts will no longer offer award funding for the project.”
The email continued with, “The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President. Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities.”
The Native Artist Residency Program has received NEA funding for nearly three decade. The first artist in the 2025 program is arriving on June 17th. This beloved program facilitates artists from around the state to participate in residencies at the museum, during which time they study the collections, provide cultural consultations to museum staff, and share their work with the public through artist lectures, hands-on workshops, and demonstrations. Read more about the Native Artist Residency Program at https://friendsofsjm.com/narp/
Additional sponsors of the 2025 Native Artist Residency Program are Alaska Airlines, Sitka Fine Arts Camp, Maxwell Hanrahan Foundation, and private donors.