The Forge Project Fellowship is intended to support Indigenous cultural workers broadly. The Fellowship supports artists, organizers, writers, cultural practitioners, musicians, scholars, activists, researchers, educators, and others who represent a diversity of expertise, participatory research and organizing models, and geographic contexts.

Applicants must be an enrolled member, citizen, or descendant with verification from the enrollment office of a state or federally recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native corporation, or of Native Hawaiian ancestry, a Canadian First Nations (status or non-status), Metis or Inuit to apply for the 2024 Forge Project Fellowship. Applicants may be asked to provide documentation of their Native citizenship or ancestry to confirm eligibility. At least two Fellows will come from the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians.

We designed this fellowship for Indigenous individuals working to honor Indigenous pasts as well as build Native futures, and this eligibility requirement is intended to ensure that this is who the fellowship serves. While we do not seek to be gatekeepers of Indigeneity, Forge Project recognizes that we are working within the limits of oppressive systems—including consumptive logics of white supremacy and capitalism—that operate with repressive boundaries and entangle choices that are antithetical to our overall mission.

This year, the eligibility requirements have been expanded to include descendants with status verified by the enrollment office of state and federally recognized tribes, as well as existing eligibility for enrolled members of state and federally recognized tribes, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian peoples, and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit. We recognize that there are many distinct political realities that impact who is included within these designations and are actively working toward expanding access that is aligned with these lived experiences and tribal sovereignty.

We welcome feedback on how our application process can be more accessible and legible beyond the structures of occupying state(s), as well as firmly accountable to the relational and political practices of Indigeneity, kinship, and belonging. The first part of the application includes space for feedback—if you have the capacity and interest, please consider including information on your tribal community’s unique political and social context to better support inclusion and nuance in future applications and residency guidelines.

Our eligibility requirement is to be an enrolled member, citizen, or descendant with verification from a state or federally recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native corporation, or of Native Hawaiian ancestry, a Canadian First Nations (status or non-status), Metis or Inuit. If you are applying as a descendant, you will need to have a document issued by your tribe’s enrollment office to verify recognition by and involvement in your community.

Unfortunately, at this time, we are limiting the fellowship to individuals enrolled in or with descendant status from Indigenous nations occupied by the United States and Canada. We encourage you to fill out the first part of the application, which provides space for feedback and will allow us to assess our application guidelines for next year.

Fellows are invited to stay in residence at Forge for up to three weeks to make use of the studio, library, and lending collection and be on the land. We also understand that many of our fellows have full-time careers, families, and other responsibilities. Forge’s Director of Indigenous Programs and Relationality, Sarah Biscarra Dilley (yaktitʸutitʸu yaktiłhini [Northern Chumash]) and Public and Community Programs Coordinator, Robbie Wing (Cherokee Nation) will work with fellows to determine residency dates that work best for them.

If fellows decide that spending time in residence is aligned for them and their practice, we support residency stays onsite between June 1 and September 30, 2024. Applicants will be asked to include two preferred residency date ranges in their application to best support accommodating each fellow’s request.

Each Forge Project Fellow will receive $25,000 USD toward their practice and will have full access to the Forge Project site, libraries, and lending collection of living Indigenous artists during their fellowship. 2023 Fellows will also have the opportunity to present their work to the local Forge Project audience on site as well as a wider international audience via social media. Forge covers return travel, local transportation, accommodations, and all meals while fellows are in residence.

The cash award is unrestricted and can be used however you wish. Please note that this award is considered taxable income by the IRS.

The Forge Project fellowship does not require you to have a specific project in mind. You can apply with a project, a goal, or simply use the time to deepen your practice.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community Fellowship does require that you apply with a specific project in mind that furthers the initiatives of the Cultural Affairs Department at Stockbridge-Munsee Community. For more information about the Cultural Affairs Department, please visit mohican.com.

Stockbridge-Munsee tribal members, First and Second Line descendants are also welcome to apply without a project proposal. In this case, these applications will be evaluated as part of the 2024 Forge Fellowship but will not be considered for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Fellowship. Please review the application guidelines for more information.

Forge Project recognizes that written texts are only one way of representing ideas, sharing personal experiences or reflections on your practice. To support this, we have adapted our application format to include the option to either write text-based responses or upload audio recordings reflecting responses of a similar length. Please note the application file size upload limits in the question below.

Work samples may reflect a variety of documentation that best highlights your practice. Some examples include lesson plans, photographs of land-based process, video for film samples, texts, audio samples, photographs of visual art, or performance documentation.

Keep in mind that the online form cannot submit file sizes that exceed 400 MB with a maximum submission upload size of 800MB. An alternative method of sharing large files, like sound or video, is to upload them to a program like Soundcloud or Google Drive and provide a PDF with embedded links allowing reviewers to access them. If files are password protected, please include the passwords.

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any further questions about work samples or practices the Forge Project Fellowship supports.

Yes, each of your two references will need to submit letters of recommendation. Submittable will send an email with the contact information that you provide to each of your references, who can then upload their reference letters directly to Submittable. Applications without letters of recommendation will be considered incomplete. Please note that all letters of reference must be received in Submittable on the application due date of Thursday, February 15, 2024, by 11:59 PM EST.

No. The 2024 Forge Project Fellowship will be reviewed by a panel of five distinguished jurists.

No. The 2024 Stockbridge-Munsee Community Fellowship is reviewed by a panel of three distinguished jurists, one of whom is a member of Stockbridge-Munsee Community and former Fellow.

Feel free to reach out to Director of Indigenous Programs and Relationality, Sarah Biscarra Dilley (yaktitʸutitʸu yaktiłhini [Northern Chumash]) at [email protected] or Public and Community Programs Coordinator, Robbie Wing (Cherokee Nation) at [email protected] for one-on-one guidance. Forge Project is also hosting an information webinar on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 at 6:30 PM EST via Zoom for a general overview of the process, what we’re looking for in an application, a quick statement writing how-to, plus an open Q&A to answer all your questions. Register online here.

Please email [email protected] with any other questions. Forge Project is also hosting an information webinar Wednesday, January 17 at 6:30 PM via Zoom for a general overview of the process plus an open Q&A to answer all your questions. Register online here.