Announcing our 2021 Native Launchpad Awardees!
We’re delighted to introduce you to this year’s Native Launchpad Artist Award recipients, Elexa Dawson, Julia Keefe, Charly Lowry, and Madeline Sayet.
Over the next three years, each awardee will receive direct financial and travel support, mentoring and coaching, professional development opportunities, and promotional benefits, valued at $40,000.
“Artistic development, managing a career, building new work, touring and performing are tough enough for any artist, but for Indigenous artists, the challenges are greatly complicated by ongoing issues of colonization, racism, stereotyping, and access to resources. The Native Launchpad program is designed to help Indigenous artists overcome these challenges and break through the barriers with tailored tools and resources that create opportunity and sustainability,” said WAA’s Executive Director, Tim Wilson
2018 Native Launchpad Artist Christopher Morgan
2018 AIP Associate Artist DeLanna Studi
Native Launchpad — the cornerstone program of WAA’s Advancing Indigenous Performance (AIP) initiative — is a highly competitive national grant program, created to provide US-based Indigenous artists with tools and resources needed to further their careers and deepen their connection to the world of arts presenting and management.
Awardees are selected by a panel of Indigenous performing arts professionals from across the country.
Congratulations to Elexa, Julia, Charly, and Madeline!
Advancing Indigenous Performance (AIP) was established in 2018 by the Western Arts Alliance with generous lead support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
