Call for Artists
Seeking Otoe-Missouria artists, working in any medium, to co-create an art exhibition reflecting on healing, reconciliation, and reconnecting to the land. Reflections of Our People is a key part of the new Mellon-funded initiative "Walking in the Footsteps of our Ancestors: Re-Indigenizing Southeast Nebraska." The initiative, a partnership between the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma and the Center for Great Plains Studies, aims to promote healing and reconciliation in our region by reconnecting the Otoe-Missouria Tribe to one of their homelands in southeast Nebraska and educating non-Native people about the history and ongoing presence of the Otoe-Missouria and other Indigenous peoples in our region. Jessica Moore Harjo, Ph.D. (Otoe-Missouria/Osage/Pawnee), will serve as curatorial director.
This will be the first exhibition to center Otoe-Missouria artists and their creative work. The exhibit will be held at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, which sits on Otoe-Missouria homelands, and then travel to Oklahoma.
A maximum of 20 artists will be chosen to participate based on conceptual expression and completion of requested materials. Each selected artist will be compensated with $1,500 for their time and up to $1,000 for supplies to create the work.
As part of the creative process, selected artists are being asked to attend Otoe-Missouria Day, which will be held on September 21, 2024, in Lincoln, Nebraska, and participate in an artist retreat on September 22, 2024, at Homestead National Historical Park in Beatrice, Nebraska. Travel and lodging support will be provided.
Submission Requirements:
- 18+ years of age
- Otoe-Missouria Tribal Identification (membership card or CDIB)
- Conceptual art idea for exhibition (200 words or less), support images/sketches are encouraged
- 3 examples of past work
- Artist bio and qualifications (200 words or less)
- Commitment to meeting deadlines and participation in Otoe-Missouria Day and the artist retreat on Sept. 21 and 22, 2024, in southeast Nebraska
Brief timeline:
June 2024: Call for Artists
August 1, 2024: Artist deadline to submit
September 21–22, 2024: Otoe-Missouria Day + artist retreat in Lincoln, Neb.
July 14, 2025: Art shipping deadline
September 5, 2025: opening reception in Lincoln, Neb.
December 20, 2025: exhibition closes
Traveling exhibit dates: TBAContact Information/General Questions:
Jessica Moore Harjo: jharjo@weomepedesigns.com
Ashley Wilkinson: ashley.wilkinson@unl.edu
Above exhibition logo design by Jessica Moore Harjo
The Center for Great Plains Studies and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe were awarded a three-year, $1.58 million grant to launch the project. This project is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.