Tribal member awarded 2026 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellowship

Stephanie Craig, a seventh-generation traditional basket weaver and Grand Ronde Tribal member, has been named a 2026 Cultural Capital Fellow by the First Peoples Fund.

The fund is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1995. Its mission is to honor and support Indigenous artists and culture bearers.

Craig is one of only seven Indigenous culture bearers selected nationally for this yearlong program, which provides a $10,000 grant and professional development to those dedicated to passing on ancestral knowledge within their communities.

The fellowship will directly support Craig’s work through Rooted Ways: An Indigenous Cultural and Ecological Initiative, a nonprofit she leads with co-executive director and fellow Tribal member Molly Leno.

According to a press release from the First Peoples Fund, by focusing on the work of placekeeping, “Rooted Ways seeks to revitalize the connection between Indigenous people and their ancestral landscapes.”

“Receiving this fellowship from the First Peoples Fund is a profound honor that centers the importance of placekeeping,” Craig said. “Placekeeping is about more than just remembering the past; it is the active, daily work of honoring our ancestral belongings and ensuring our traditional ecological knowledge remains a living, breathing part of the landscape for the next seven generations.”

The Cultural Capital Fellowship is designed to support artists who enrich the Indigenous arts ecology, according to the press release.

“Their artistic creations and sharing of traditional knowledge not only enrich individual lives, but also strengthens cultural continuity and community well-being,” First Peoples Fund Director/Program Weaver Jaren Bonillo said.

Under the leadership of Craig and Leno, Rooted Ways is planning a series of traditional ecological knowledge gathering weekends held in partnership with private and public land stewards. These events will focus on the sustainable harvest and management of traditional materials and ancestral foods native to the Pacific Northwest.

According to the press release, Craig, who has a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, “continues to bridge the gap between academic research and lived traditional practice. Her 2026 initiatives include ongoing research into Indigenous cultural belongings held in museum repositories and the preservation of ancestral foodways and traditional heritage projects.”