Duluth Art Institute - BIPOC Artists

The Duluth Art Institute enriches daily life with dynamic, innovative visual arts programming that upholds excellence and promotes inclusive community participation.

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BIPOC Artists

Image Credit: Sam Zimmerman, "An Elder's Vision," acrylic, 2020

As a BIPOC-led organization, the DAI celebrates the cultural confluence in Northeast Minnesota. Predating the development of our region's cities, the Anishinaabe have hosted a myriad of peoples along the shores of Lake Superior, sharing trade, cultural exchange, community, medicine, and art.

Opportunities for BIPOC Artists

Email awebster@duluthartinstitute.org to suggest a listing for a BIPOC-focused artist opportunity.

Arts and Cultural Heritage Grant

The Arts and Cultural Heritage Grant Program provides funding of up to $4,000 to individuals or organizations for projects that support arts activities with both community significance and authenticity to the community represented in the art. This program supports artistic traditions that come from and are rooted in the cultural life of a community. Community members may share a common ethnicity, geographic or regional identity, occupation, language, or tribal affiliation. These arts are learned and passed on through community-based systems of training and education where younger generations learn and attain mastery of a form by observation and practice or through apprenticeships with elders.

Deadline: Friday, January 27, 2023 at 4:30 p.m. | Project Start Date: April 1, 2023

Your project must be completed, and grant funds spent by June 30, 2024.

More information & application here

the Maada'ookiing Grant Program

Maada'ookiing is Indigenous-led investment into Indigenous solutions through grassroots grantmaking to individuals. It is designed to support community members to strengthen culture and community without having to apply on behalf of a formal nonprofit organization or Tribal entity.

Applicants may request a grant of up to $2,500. We offer three rounds of funding each year. The deadlines to submit applications are on February 15, May 15, and September 15. Applications can be submitted at any time and will be reviewed after the next deadline. Applicants will be notified about funding decisions approximately six weeks after the deadline. When planning your grant activities, please plan to receive funds approximately two months after the submission deadline.

More information & application here

Artist Equity Grants

Provides up to $4,000 to aid Black, Indigenous, and other artists of color with projects that will advance their skills and artistic career.

Application Deadlines: 1st of the month until May 2023

Earliest Project Start Date: 1st of the next month

More information & application here

BIPOC Artist Directory

The DAI is honored to connect you to the amazing BIPOC artists in the Northeast Minnesota region: change-makers, connectors, truth-tellers, stabilizers, mobilizers. We continue to update our list. Please contact cwoods@duluthartinstitute.org for more information.