ArtsHERE Grant Spotlight: Native American Indian Association of Tennessee

Participants in the traditional men's dance category at the 2021 Tennessee Indian Education Pow Wow. Photo by Kenneth Purdom, courtesy of the Native American Indian Association of Tennessee
There are no Native sovereign lands in Tennessee, which means that the Native community in the state lacks many of the trusted spaces and services that exist for Native people in other parts of the country. Tribal governments facilitate essentials such as housing, education, healthcare, and job opportunities for its members, but much of that assistance does not exist outside of tribal lands. That is why for more than 40 years, the Native American Indian Association of Tennessee (NAIA) has worked to improve the quality of life for the Native community in Tennessee.
NAIA grew out of a need and desire for mutual aid, and today it is a robust nonprofit that advises Native people on accessing services typically provided by tribal governments from other public or private entities. The NAIA also preserves and promotes Native arts and culture, including through the Annual NAIA Education Pow Wow, which is now one of the largest pow wows east of the Mississippi River.
While NAIA’s services to Native people in Tennessee is core to its mission, its arts and cultural education programs are also intended for non-Native people.
“Because of the brutal and forced removal of Native people on the Trail of Tears, due to the signing of the Indian Removal Act by President Andrew Jackson, there's a pervasive myth that in the state of Tennessee that Native people are extinct here,” said Eleanor Lopez, grant administrator at NAIA. “You would maybe be shocked, by how many people I've personally heard say that when I tell them where I work or what I do.”
Events like the NAIA Education Pow Wow are central to dispelling that myth, offering an opportunity for Native and non-Native people to experience the diversity of Native communities across the continent. Vendors, artisans, musicians, and dancers from a multitude of tribes come to the event each year, sharing their traditions with one another and non-Native attendees. While the pow wow is an annual event, NAIA would like to build a dedicated public space in Nashville, which would allow the organization to offer and expand on similar cultural and educational opportunities year-round.
A new $130,000 ArtsHERE grant will assist with an organizational needs assessment, strategic planning, community engagement, and field research to improve cultural representation, ensuring NAIA is able to grow sustainably and make the center a reality. ArtsHERE is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and South Arts in collaboration with the five other U.S. Regional Arts Organizations.
“This will be the first intertribal cultural center in the region, and finally a place for Native people to come and gather, and for us to share culture with people that have not gotten to interact with it,” Lopez said.
“This strategic planning element will really help with the questions, ‘How are we going to complete the fundraising for the center? How are we going to run it? How much are we going to charge for showing a movie or doing a hands-on workshop? How can we make it as accessible and low-cost to our community, or no-cost, with support from organizations like the National Endowment for the Arts, or South Arts, or our local arts agencies and charities?’”
Lopez said the ArtsHERE grant came at a fortuitous time for NAIA as the city of Nashville’s government has expressed support for the center and discussed putting funds in the budget to assist with its construction, but they want to see operational plans. This level of detailed planning will now be possible thanks to the grant support.
Because NAIA is an intertribal organization, they are tasked with representing and serving tribal communities across the region, such as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Creating arts and education programs that are authentic and appropriate for each group they serve is an even greater challenge, but the NAIA’s ArtsHERE grant will also assist with that aspect. The NAIA will be able to bring in or travel to cultural experts and historians from Native communities to participate in strategic planning.
“We've got leadership from tribes all over the continent,” Lopez said. “But it's also important to go in-person and make those connections. That's important in building trust, especially in Native communities.”
A key feature of the ArtsHERE grants is that recipients will participate in knowledge sharing and learning opportunities. These include quarterly peer learning workshops, monthly cohort sessions, and one-on-one meetings with technical assistance coaches and field experts.
NAIA has already seen the benefits of this coaching.
“From my one meeting with the one-on-one coaching, this is incredibly valuable for us,” Lopez said. “This is a really amazing partnership and needed support that we're receiving when it comes to making this dream a reality for the Native people of Tennessee.”