Forge Project, a Native-led nonprofit organization on the unceded homelands of the Moh-He-Con-Nuck in Upstate New York, is pleased to announce its open call for applications for its 2026 funded fellowship program for Indigenous artists, scholars, organizers, cultural workers, researchers, and educators. The application is live and the 2026 application period will end on Sunday, February 15, 2026 at 11:59PM. Fellows will be announced in late Spring 2026.
About the Fellowship
Forge Project is seeking a 2026 cohort of six Indigenous fellows that represent a broad diversity of cultural practices, participatory research, organizing models, and geographical contexts that honor Indigenous pasts as well as build Native futures.
Two of the six fellowships are awarded to enrolled tribal members, First- and Second-Line Descendants of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians in recognition of the peoples on whose homelands Forge Project is situated and to encourage site-specific and relational projects.
Each Forge Project Fellow receives a total of $25,000 toward their practice and will have access to the Forge Project site, libraries, and lending collection of contemporary Indigenous art during a residency stay of up to three weeks.
Application & Eligibility
Interested individuals can learn more about the application and how to apply via Forge Project’s Submittable page. 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), Métis or Inuit to apply for the 2026 Forge Project Fellowship. At least two Fellows will come from the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians. For full details, selection criteria, key dates and the link to apply, visit forgeproject.com/fellowship.
About Forge Project
Forge Project is a Native-led non-profit organization whose mandate is to cultivate and advance Indigenous leadership in arts and culture. A change-making model for Native cultural self-determination and leadership, Forge Project fuses traditional and contemporary knowledge and practices to build community, public education, and collective action.