Indigenous Creatives Roster
Hosted by yəhaw̓ and Friends of Waterfront Park
Deadline: November 3, 2024 and then rolling
Application Workshops
September 26, 6-8pm at 9674 51st Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118
October 23, 5-8pm at 1201 Alaskan Way, Ste 200, Seattle, WA 98101
Opportunity
Join an inclusive roster of Indigenous creatives of all ages and art forms based in the Pacific Northwest. Artists accepted into the roster will be considered for paid art opportunities through yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective, Friends of Waterfront Park, as well as other partner organizations. The goal of this roster is to reduce the application burden on Indigenous artists, and amplify visibility for their work regionally and beyond.
The application form for the roster will remain open and you may apply at any time, but we encourage artists to get their materials in early to be considered for larger scope projects as they come up.
Benefits of being on the roster, include:
$100 one-time stipend for all accepted artists
A public profile on our online roster webpage
Early access to professional development resources and workshops
Automatic consideration for invitational opportunities, including public art projects
Connection to a community of local artists
Eligibility
This roster is open to Native American, First Nations, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian individuals and artist collectives with ancestral ties to what is now the United States or Canada.
Artists living in Washington and Oregon are eligible.
All artforms and creative media are welcome.
All ages are welcome.
Submitted artwork must be the sole original work of the submitting artist; no AI-generated work is allowed.
We plan to expand our roster’s geographic eligibility in future to include our Indigenous kin from Mexico and other US territories in the Pacific Islands. We will use this first roster release as a pilot to test our systems, while we take time to build relationships with community experts that can help us meaningfully shape a future call for Indigenous Latinx and Pacifica artists. Look for updates in 2025.
Timeline
Application Opens - September 10, 2024
Application Workshops - September 26 and October 23
First Deadline - November 3
Application Review - November 4 - 15
Notifications and Payments - Week of November 18
Roster Release - January 2025
Following our first deadline, applications to the Indigenous Creatives Roster will be reviewed on a rolling basis in 2025 in February, May, August, and November.
Application and Selection Process
Apply for the roster by submitting the following materials through our online form:
Name, contact, and demographic information
Tribal affiliation and documentation
Artist biography
Artwork samples
For selected artists, contact information and artwork samples provided will be used to create your public roster profile, and may be shared through our website and social media channels. Submissions may be edited slightly to better fit our online format. You will have regular reminders to update your profile in the future, and can request changes anytime.
If you were on yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective’s past roster we encourage you to reapply.
We will include as many eligible artists on the roster as we can. Once on the roster, specific selection processes will vary from project to project. Sometimes internal staff will select who they think will be the best fit, other times a panel or an external partner will make the decision. We do not guarantee that being on the roster will mean you’ll get a paid project, but we will try to spread-out opportunities.
Ancestry Documentation
Indigenous identity is complex, and transcends blood quantum, physical appearance, mixed race discrimination, birthplace, or access to traditional knowledge. While this roster’s organizers are not qualified to make judgements on who is or isn’t Native, we do have a responsibility to make sure the individuals we publicly promote for projects are far enough in their personal journeys of reconnection to represent our communities in a good way. We understand that having to prove your identity can be frustrating, but we’re doing this in hopes of maintaining the integrity of the roster, and to make sure that these opportunities are being given to Indigenous artists as intended.
We ask roster applicants to provide documentation of social and familial ties to a tribal community that you claim, which claims you in return, and that is recognized by others across time. Tribal members or descendants from federally or state recognized Tribes, or well-documented unrecognized Tribes, may submit a Tribal ID card, a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood card, a letter from a Tribe verifying descendancy, or genealogical research linking you back to a Tribal member. Personal narratives and DNA tests alone cannot be accepted. If you have questions about documenting Indigenous ancestry, please reach out to us.
Questions?
This roster opportunity is being designed and managed by Native staff at yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective and Friends of Waterfront Park. Contact Jordan Remington (Quileute) at jremington@waterfrontparkseattle.org or Asia Tail (Cherokee) at info@yehawshow.com or (253) 336-6477 with any questions.