Walker Youngbird Foundation Introduces Núhi Grant to Support Community-Based Indigenous Art

Inaugural Recipient Hayden Haynes to Honor Seneca Name Givers with Antler-Carved Medallions and Portrait Series

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Walker Youngbird Foundation announces the launch of the Núhi Grant, a new program dedicated to supporting Native artists working within their own tribal and community contexts. Named after the Hidatsa word Núhi, meaning "to uplift," the grant reflects the Foundation's mission to support creative work grounded in Indigenous tradition, place, and lived experience.

The Núhi Grant is awarded to artists whose proposed projects are not only inspired by tribal culture, but created for—and shared with—the communities that shape them. The inaugural recipient is Hayden Haynes, a citizen of the Seneca Nation and member of the Deer Clan, known for his work in antler carving, photography, and cultural storytelling.

With support from the grant, Haynes will complete a project honoring the eight living Seneca Name Givers—women entrusted with the responsibility of preserving and passing down traditional names within their clans, a vital role in sustaining matrilineal identity and cultural continuity.

Drawing on the traditional Seneca practice of antler carving, Haynes will create a set of eight medallion necklaces, each depicting one of the Seneca clans: Deer, Snipe, Heron, Hawk, Turtle, Beaver, Wolf, and Bear. Each medallion will be gifted to a Name Givers and worn in a photographic portrait taken by Haynes—capturing both the women's everyday presence and their enduring symbolic roles. The project will also incorporate taxidermy representations of each clan animal to deepen the visual connection between subject and tradition.

"Oftentimes these important women in our community carry out their duties behind the scenes—and sometimes who they were, what they looked like, and any honor due to them is lost to time and forgotten," said Haynes. "It's my aim to establish a tradition of documenting these Name Givers so this kind of cultural memory can continue for generations."

"The Núhi Grant was built on a simple belief: that the most vital Native art often stays close to home," said Reid Walker, founder of the Walker Youngbird Foundation. "Hayden's project honors the Seneca women who carry the responsibility of naming—keepers of lineage, language, and sovereign voice. His work doesn't just reflect his community, it uplifts the people who shape its future."

The Núhi Grant is part of the Walker Youngbird Foundation's broader efforts to expand support for Indigenous artists—from institutional exhibitions to projects rooted in home communities. By investing in artists like Haynes, the Foundation seeks to highlight the many ways Native art continues to shape contemporary Indigenous life and cultural continuity.

For more information visit www.walkeryoungbird.org.

Media Contact:
Taylor Colby
Program Director
Walker Youngbird Foundation
[email protected]

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SOURCE Walker Youngbird Foundation