Most websites covering the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award still show $25,000 -- the old figure, from before the award doubled. The current amount is $50,000 per honoree, fully unrestricted, with no matching requirement and no restrictions on how the money is spent. First Peoples Fund gives this award to four to six Native artists and culture bearers every year, and the program has recognized over 100 artists since it launched in 2000. But the detail that changes everything about how you approach this award: you cannot apply for it. A student, a colleague, a tribal community member, someone who has watched the work up close, has to nominate you. That structure is intentional.

The award exists for artists who are too busy building community to be pitching themselves for grants, and it puts the burden of proof where it belongs -- on the people whose lives have actually been changed by the artist's teaching.

Key Grant Information

Ongoing

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Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award

Funded by First Peoples Fund

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Grant Snapshot

Grant Award

$50,000

Application Deadline

Periodic check for current cycle

Eligible Region

United States

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Eligibility and Benefits

Eligibility Criteria

• Enrolled member of a U.S. federally or state-recognized tribe
• OR: Documented lineal descent from a U.S. federally or state-recognized tribe
• OR: Alaska Native ancestry with supporting documentation
• OR: Native Hawaiian ancestry with supporting documentation
• U.S. resident (required)
• Practicing artist working in a medium rooted in their Native cultural traditions
• Both traditional and contemporary forms qualify
• Must be active within a Native community or maintain direct ties to a tribal community
• Must actively and regularly share cultural knowledge and artistic skills with community members
• At least 10 years of engaged practice in the art medium required
• Self-nominations are strictly not accepted -- a third party must submit the nomination
• Previous FPF grantees must have submitted a final report on all prior FPF grants before being nominated

Grant Benefits

• $50000
• Fully unrestricted (no restrictions on how the funds are spent)
• No matching funds or project budget required
• 4 to 6 honorees selected per year based on available funding
• Public recognition and celebration at First Peoples Fund's annual honoring event

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Focus Areas

Native Artists Indigenous Culture Bearers Cultural Preservation Unrestricted Award

Does Your Nominee Qualify? Use the Jennifer Easton Award Eligibility Checker

This award stacks several eligibility gates -- tribal heritage documentation, active community practice, artistic maturity, and the nomination structure itself. The tool below walks through each requirement one step at a time. Run it before you spend hours drafting a nomination. It takes under two minutes and shows you exactly where the nominee stands against every criterion that matters, including the ones first-time nominators often miss.

If the tool confirms eligibility, that is the starting line -- not the finish. This award is competitive across Indian Country and the nomination narrative is where most nominations either advance or stop. If you are ready to build a nomination that reads like a documented case for a lifetime of cultural work, submit an assessment and our experts will work with you on the narrative before it goes anywhere near First Peoples Fund. If the tool flags a gap, explore other grants for Native Americans and Alaska Natives on Grantaura to find a better fit for where the artist is right now. And if the nominee's heritage documentation is not straightforward -- lineal descendancy rather than enrolled membership, or a state-recognized rather than federally recognized tribe -- book a free consultation before you commit time to a nomination cycle.

What "Cultural Generosity" Means and Why This Award Exists

The award is named after Jennifer Easton, the founder of First Peoples Fund. She launched the organization in 1995, and the Community Spirit Award program followed in 2000. The phrase First Peoples Fund uses to describe the quality it looks for is "cultural generosity" -- the practice of freely sharing cultural knowledge, traditional skills, and ancestral gifts with a community, especially with younger generations who need to receive what the artist knows before it disappears.

Any art form rooted in the artist's Native cultural traditions qualifies. Past honorees have worked in basket weaving, beadwork, storytelling, music, dance, language revitalization, pottery, weaving, carving, and more. Both traditional and contemporary forms are eligible. The test is not which medium -- it is whether the work is genuinely rooted in the traditions of the artist's culture and actively passed on to others. An artist creating extraordinary work in private would not fit this award. An artist who teaches, mentors, and keeps a living practice alive inside a community is exactly who it was designed for.

Q: What art forms qualify for the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award?
A: Any medium rooted in the artist's Native cultural traditions is eligible. The official examples include music, dance, clothing design, basket weaving, beading, and storytelling -- but the list is illustrative rather than exhaustive. Both traditional and contemporary forms qualify. The key test is the connection to ancestral practice and the active sharing of that practice with the community.

Q: Does the nominee need to live on a reservation?
A: No. The eligibility language is "active within a Native community and/or lives within a tribal community." Living on tribal land satisfies the requirement, but so does living elsewhere while maintaining active and documented ties to a Native community. If the nominee's situation is ambiguous, it is worth thinking through carefully -- this criterion comes up in selection review.

How the Two-Phase Nomination Process Works

The structure of this award is what most first-time nominators do not fully understand until they are already in the process. Phase one is the public nomination, submitted by the nominator through Submittable. Phase two -- the full application -- is invite-only and only happens if First Peoples Fund selects the nomination to move forward. Not every nomination reaches phase two. Here is what each phase involves.

Two things in that process matter more than they look. First, you must contact the artist before submitting. The nomination is not a surprise tribute -- the nominee needs to understand the guidelines, agree to participate, and be reachable if the application invite arrives. Second, only one nomination per artist is reviewed. If multiple people nominate the same artist, FPF staff decides which nomination best aligns with the award criteria and reviews that one only. If others are also planning to nominate the same person, coordinate early and submit a single stronger nomination rather than competing submissions.

Q: Who can submit a nomination for the Community Spirit Award?
A: Anyone can nominate -- there are no restrictions on who the nominator is. FPF notes that nominators tend to be students, mentees, colleagues, and tribal members who have witnessed the artist's community work firsthand. That firsthand perspective is an asset, not a credential requirement.

Q: What happens after I submit a nomination?
A: First Peoples Fund does not publicly state the exact timeline between nomination close and application invites being sent. Stay reachable after submitting. If you have not heard anything several weeks after the window closed, it is reasonable to send a brief inquiry to the program contact, Fox Spears, at fox@firstpeoplesfund.org.

What the Invite-Only Application Requires

The exact questions in the full application form are only revealed after FPF sends the application invite. Based on FPF's published guidance and the documents linked from the program page, here is what the invite-only application typically includes.

If the artist you have in mind is earlier in their career and focused on building professional skills, the Cultural Capital Fellowship is a better fit. If they are a performing artist, the Native Performing Arts Fellowship is worth exploring separately. The Jennifer Easton Award specifically targets artists at a stage of mastery and community leadership -- it is a lifetime achievement recognition more than a career development opportunity. For organizational needs, the Native Arts Ecology Building Grant is the relevant program. You can explore grants for artists and writers and grants for individuals on Grantaura to see additional options alongside FPF's programs.

Frequently Asked Questions: Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award

Q: Is there a budget requirement or matching funds condition?
A: No. The $50,000 is fully unrestricted. There is no matching requirement, no budget template, and no reporting requirement on how funds are spent. Honorees can use the money any way they choose -- living expenses, studio costs, materials, travel, community programming, anything.

Q: How competitive is this award?
A: FPF does not publish nomination volumes, so exact selection rates are not available. Four to six artists are honored per year from nominations submitted nationally. Given the program's visibility and the award size, competition is meaningful. The quality of the nomination narrative -- how clearly and specifically it documents community transmission -- is the primary differentiator between selected and declined nominations.

Q: Can a past CSA honoree be nominated again?
A: This is not explicitly addressed in the publicly available guidelines. FPF applies a consecutive-cycle restriction to most of its programs, but whether this extends to re-nomination of past CSA honorees is not confirmed in public materials. Contact Fox Spears at fox@firstpeoplesfund.org before nominating someone who has previously received the award.

Q: What if two people want to nominate the same artist independently?
A: Only one nomination per artist is reviewed. If multiple nominations arrive for the same person, FPF staff decides which one best aligns with the award criteria and reviews that one only. Coordinating on a single stronger submission is significantly better than competing nominations for the same artist.

Q: When will the 2027 nomination window open?
A: First Peoples Fund has not announced the 2027 cycle timeline. The historical pattern shows nominations opening in May each year -- the 2026 nominations opened May 19 2025. Subscribe to the FPF newsletter and follow their social channels (Instagram: @1stpeoplesfund) for exact dates. A four-week window is not enough time to build a strong case from scratch -- prepare now while nominations are closed.

How to Prepare for the 2027 Cycle Right Now

The nominations window is typically about four weeks. If you are planning to nominate someone for 2027, building materials in advance is a real competitive advantage. Here is what to do while nominations are closed.

The nominations that get selected are not written in a week. The strongest ones are built over months of specific documentation, with nominator and nominee working through the story together. Arriving at the window with a draft ready to sharpen is a fundamentally different position than arriving with nothing.

Key Terms for the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award

• Culture bearer: In Indigenous arts funding, a culture bearer is a person who actively carries, practices, and transmits the traditional knowledge, ceremonies, stories, and art forms of their community. The Jennifer Easton Award specifically targets culture bearers -- artists whose work is not just personal expression but an act of community stewardship. This distinction separates a CSA candidate from an artist who would better fit a standard fellowship.
• Unrestricted grant: A grant with no conditions on how the funds are used. The $50,000 CSA award is fully unrestricted -- honorees can apply it to living expenses, studio costs, materials, travel, teaching programs, or any other use. This is relatively rare; most arts project grants require spending aligned to specific deliverables.
• Nomination-only award: A funding opportunity that cannot be applied for directly. A third party must identify and nominate the artist. The design is intentional -- it honors artists who may be too focused on community work to advocate for themselves, and shifts the task of articulating impact to someone who has witnessed it firsthand.
• Two-phase application process: FPF's process runs in two distinct stages. Phase one is the public nomination submitted by the nominator through Submittable. Phase two is the invite-only full application sent only to selected nominees. Most nominators experience only phase one. Phase two requires more detailed documentation including artwork samples and a comprehensive narrative.
• Lineal descendancy: Some Native artists are descendants of enrolled tribal members but are not enrolled themselves. FPF accepts proof of lineal descendancy as an alternative to tribal enrollment documentation. The specific documents required for this pathway are detailed in FPF's tribal enrollment guidance PDF linked from the program page.
• Tribal enrollment documentation: Official documentation of membership in a federally or state-recognized tribe. This is the most straightforward form of heritage verification for the CSA. Acceptable documents for enrolled members, lineal descendants, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians differ and are detailed in FPF's dedicated guidance document.
• State-recognized tribe: A tribe with formal recognition from a U.S. state government that may or may not hold federal recognition. Both state-recognized and federally recognized tribal members are eligible for the CSA. Many federal grant programs limit eligibility to federally recognized tribes only -- this award does not.
• Cultural generosity: First Peoples Fund's term for the central quality the CSA measures. It describes the practice of freely sharing cultural knowledge, skills, and traditions with community members -- especially younger generations. Cultural generosity is the active and ongoing transmission of living practice, not the same as being a skilled or respected artist.
• Submittable: The online platform FPF uses to receive nominations and applications for this award. Accounts are free. Both nominator and nominee should create Submittable accounts before the nomination window opens to avoid last-minute technical delays.
• Indigenous arts ecology: First Peoples Fund's framework for understanding how Native arts connect to community health, cultural continuity, and economic wellbeing. FPF's programs -- including the CSA -- are designed to strengthen this ecology by supporting the artists who serve as its connective tissue across generations.
• Ancestral gifts: FPF's language for the traditional arts, knowledge systems, and cultural practices that Indigenous communities have inherited and carry forward. The CSA rewards artists who use their ancestral gifts actively in service of their community rather than holding them privately or commercially.
• Final report requirement: Artists who have previously received any First Peoples Fund grant must have submitted a final report on that prior grant before they are eligible to be nominated for the CSA. This is a standard nonprofit accountability requirement. A nomination submitted on behalf of a previous FPF grantee without a completed final report will not be considered.
• Community transmission: The active process of sharing cultural knowledge, skills, and practices with other community members. For the CSA, this is the central criterion -- not a secondary qualifier. It means teaching, mentoring, leading, performing, and sustaining a living tradition in a community. Evidence of community transmission is what selection reviewers are looking for in the nomination narrative.
• Art medium: The specific form of artistic expression the artist practices -- basketry, beadwork, dance, music, pottery, weaving, carving, storytelling, and others. For the CSA, the medium must be rooted in the artist's Native cultural traditions. Contemporary interpretations of traditional forms are eligible; art forms with no Indigenous cultural connection are not.
• Consecutive-cycle restriction: FPF applies a rule across most of its programs that prevents the same artist from submitting to the same program in back-to-back cycles. Whether this rule applies to re-nomination of past CSA honorees is not confirmed in publicly available materials. Confirm directly with FPF before nominating someone who was honored or nominated in the immediately prior cycle.
• Annual celebration event: Each year FPF holds an honoring ceremony and celebration for CSA recipients alongside the financial award. In 2025 this took place at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe NM on October 14. The event is a form of public cultural recognition and community celebration that accompanies the grant funding.

More Funding Options for Native Artists and Indigenous Culture Bearers

The Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award is highly specific -- not every exceptional Native artist will fit the nomination-only structure or the 10-year maturity threshold right now. Grantaura's related grants tool surfaces other funding opportunities for Native American artists, Alaska Native creators, and Indigenous organizations at different career stages and with different eligibility profiles. If this award is not the right fit, there are other meaningful options worth knowing about -- including the full category of grants for Native Americans and Alaska Natives on Grantaura.

How Grantaura Helps You Build a Nomination That Advances

Most nominations for the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award are not declined because the artist was ineligible. They are declined because the nomination did not make a specific, documented, emotionally clear case for a lifetime of cultural transmission. Eligibility is almost never the problem. The narrative is.

Grantaura's experts work with nominators at the application stage -- the point where you have a qualified artist in mind and need to turn your knowledge of their work into a nomination that reads like evidence rather than a recommendation letter. Here is what that looks like specifically for this award:

• Nomination narrative review: We read what you have drafted and identify exactly where it is too vague, where a specific example is missing, and where the language does not match what FPF reviewers look for in a culture bearer nomination.
• Community impact framing: We help you articulate the "so what" -- the specific traditions that would fade without this artist, the community members they have taught, the practices they sustain that exist nowhere else. This is the section that separates selected nominations from those that do not advance.
• Documentation checklist: We confirm that tribal enrollment documentation and artwork samples meet FPF's published requirements before submission, so a formatting issue or missing document does not cost you the nomination cycle.
• Artwork sample strategy: Choosing which samples to include and writing the correct metadata (title / medium / year / timestamp) for each is more nuanced than the guidelines suggest. We advise on sample selection based on what FPF reviewers are actually assessing -- cultural rootedness and community practice, not technical mastery alone.
• Phase two consistency review: If the nomination is selected and the full application invite arrives, we review both the nomination and the application together to confirm the story is consistent and the case gets stronger in phase two rather than muddier.

The award is $50,000 unrestricted. A strong nomination requires focused, specific, documented work. A weak one costs you the cycle -- and costs the artist you are nominating another year of recognition they have already earned through decades of commitment.

About Imran: Native Arts Funding and the Gap Between Eligibility and Winning

Imran built Grantaura around a straightforward observation: grants reach deserving applicants not because those applicants are the most qualified, but because they produce the clearest, most specific paperwork. The Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award is a direct example. Native artists who have spent decades building communities often have no one to translate a lifetime of work into the format a selection committee needs to act on. Grantaura's goal is to close that gap -- not by inventing a story, but by helping people tell a true one in the language that moves funding decisions forward.

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