Bill Holm Center Grants

Photo: Burke Museum
Photo: Burke Museum

The Bill Holm Center offers research grants to Native artists and other researchers as well as University of Washington graduate students who are interested in Northwest Native Art.

Our Connections to Culture grant program facilitates opportunities for artists, researchers, and students to engage in collections-based study with the Northwest Native Art and Plateau collections at the Burke Museum. Through this program, grantees can expand their artistic and cultural knowledge, inspire personal practice, and aid in the transmission of artistic and cultural knowledge throughout communities and across generations. 

Additionally, Connections to Culture grants also support discourse and dialogue on best practices for the exhibition of Indigenous art through an annual Curatorial Workshop. This program provides a forum for curators of Native American and First Nations art collections to discuss issues of ethical exhibition practices, protocols of care, access, and collaboration.

Connections to Culture programming is funded by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

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Connections to Culture grants

The Bill Holm Center's Connections to Culture program grant funds artist and researcher travel to the Burke Museum in Seattle, Washington, for 1–3 days to study the Northwest Coast and Plateau collections.

Grant awards cover the following for all project participants, including mentors, apprentices, elders, and colleagues:

  • Research stipend of $750 per person
  • Meals, transportation, and lodging in Seattle, Washington

Applicants may also apply for:

  • Hourly compensation for demonstrations in the Artist Studio
  • Onsite collections-based workshop supplies and fees
  • Virtual collections access before or after in-person visits

Grant applications are reviewed by the Bill Holm Center Advisory Board and staff. The Board will consider proposals from artists and researchers with projects that benefit from researching the Burke Museum's Northwest Coast and Plateau collections. Applicants who have received a Connections to Culture grant in the last two years will not be considered.

We are here to help! Please contact bholmctr@uw.edu with any questions during the application process.

Before starting your application, we strongly encourage you to please review the 2026 Connections to Culture Grant Overview Document (PDF) for more details about the program.

Applications for Connections to Culture grants will be open January 20 – February 20, 2026.

Apply now

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a group of individuals clean baskets during a workshop
Photo: Sara Siestreem
Photo: Sara Siestreem

Sara Siestreem, contemporary Indigenous artist and traditional Hanis Coos weaver, invited the BHC outreach team to bring museum objects and share object-handling best practices at a two-day basketry workshop. 

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two men sit at a large table with objects
Photo: Burke Museum
Photo: Burke Museum

Nuxalk artist Latham Mack (right) and his mentor Tahltan/Tlingit artist Dempsey Bob study Nuxalk frontlets, paddles, masks, and rattles in the Burke collections in June 2014.

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a woman sits next to a chilkat blanket she's creating
Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum
Photo: Rachel Ormiston/Burke Museum

Tlingit artist Lily Hope works on her Chilkat blanket in the Burke Museum lobby demonstrating the complex weaving technique during a grant visit with her sister Ursala Hudson in April 2017. 

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a group of women sit around a large table during a basketry workshop
Photo: Burke Museum
Photo: Burke Museum

Pat Courtney Gold leads a collections-based workshop with Patsy Whitefoot in the Burke’s collections before teaching the students how to weave wa’paas (root digging bags) and cornhusk bags. Workshop participants learned how to teach these same basketry techniques to K-12 students in Yakama.

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four colorful woven baskets on a table
Photo: Cathy Morris/Burke Museum
Photo: Cathy Morris/Burke Museum

Christina Tahkeal and Sky Weaselhead demonstrate Plateau-style weaving techniques used in cornhusk bags, tule mats and wa'paas (root digging) bags as part of their BHC workshop at the Burke Museum in March 2018.

Questions?

Bill Holm Center
206.543.5344
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The work of the Bill Holm Center is made possible by the generous support of individuals and foundations passionate about fostering appreciation and understanding of Northwest Native art. 

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Photo: Richard Brown Photography
Photo: Richard Brown Photography