Cultural Tourism Funding Opportunities

AIANTA collects funding opportunities that may be of interest to Indigenous or Native American tourism & hospitality enterprises looking to grow their tourism, culture, heritage, arts, agritourism or other culture and heritage programming.

Special Notice

Open Funding Opportunities

• First Peoples Fund is partnering with Native artists and culture bearers to strengthen their business skills and to ensure that art, culture and ancestral knowledge are passed from one generation to the next. 20 to 25 artists will be selected for the one-year fellowship programs. Fellows will receive: a $5,000 – $10,000 project grant, technical support and professional training to start or grow an arts business and to expand their work in their communities.
  Deadline: September 6, 2021
   
   
  Tourism Tip: Use this fellowship grant to start or grow an art business and help pass down culture through generations.
   
   
• The Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation is accepting applications for the USArtists International program. USAI supports performances by U.S. artists at impactful international festivals and performing arts marketplaces outside the United States and its territories.
  Deadline: September 9 & December 1, 2021
   
   
   
  Tourism Tip: This grant can help fund performing arts programs to showcase your culture nationally and internationally.
   
   
• First Nations is now accepting applications under their Stewarding Native Lands (SNL) program. First Nations expects to award 10 grants averaging $25,000 to $30,000 each to organizations in Native communities in North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, that are growing and/or expanding programs that support sustainable economic opportunities and preserve native grasslands.
  Deadline: September 14, 2021
   
   
  Tourism Tip: This grant can help fund sustainable agritourism that preserves Native grasslands and
  boosts local economies.
   
   
• The Zellerbach Family Foundation invites applications for its Community Arts COVID Response Grants program, through which general operating support grants will be awarded to arts and culture organizations in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties that have suffered revenue loss due to the closure of venues and cancellation of events because of COVID-19.
  Deadline: September 20, 2021
   
  Tourism Tip: This grant can be used to revive arts and culture organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19.
   
   
   
• The USDA Rural Development’s Business & Industry (B&I) CARES Act Program is making available up to $1 billion in loan guarantees to help rural agriculture businesses meet their working capital needs.
  Deadline: September 15, 2021
   
  Tourism Tip: This opportunity can help any rural agritourism businesses struggling to meet working capital needs.
   
   
• First Nations will award 20 to 25 $1,000 to $1,500 scholarships for the 2021-2022 academic school year to Native college students majoring in agriculture and agriculture-related fields.
  Deadline: September 30, 2021
   

  Tourism Tip: Use this scholarship to help fund your education in an agriculture related field to start an agritourism business.

   
   
• Endangered Language Fund provides grants for eligible tribes and languages through the Native Voices Endowment: A Lewis & Clark Expedition Bicentennial Legacy. Grants are available for work on documentation and revitalization of the languages of these tribes.
  Deadline: October 1, 2021
   

  Tourism Tip: Use this grant to revitalize your Tribe’s Native language.

   
   
• The National Historic Publications & Records Commission (NHPRC) is accepting applications to fund projects that will significantly improve online public discovery and the use of historical records collections. The Commission encourages projects centered on collections of America’s early legal records, such as the records of colonial, territorial, county, and early statehood and tribal proceedings that document the evolution of the nation’s legal history.
  Deadline: October 6, 21
   
  Tourism Tip: This fund can help support the growth of historical document collections for your museum or cultural center.
   
   
• Through the Travel, Tourism & Outdoor Recreation program, EDA is focused on accelerating the recovery of communities that rely on the travel, tourism and outdoor recreation sectors.
  Deadline: March 15, 2022
   
  Tourism Tip: Use this grant to recover your tourism-centered economy.
   
   
• Through the Indigenous Communities program, EDA is allocating $100 million in American Rescue Plan funding specifically for Indigenous communities, which were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
  Deadline: March 22, 2022
   
  Tourism Tip: Use this grant to revive your community from the impact of COVID-19.
   
   
• The Potlatch Fund aims to build on the Native tradition of giving by increasing philanthropy for and among Tribal communities through grants and empowering community leaders with the tools they need to succeed through training.
  Deadline: Rolling
   
  Tourism Tip: Use this grant to support your training to increase philanthropy initiatives in your community.

Contests & Awards

Successful Cultural Tourism Funding

For examples of Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian tourism, arts and cultural heritage programs that have received funding, please view our Successful Cultural Tourism Awards document now.