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For the second time in four years, the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art is the recipient of a $2.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.
The Indianapolis museum, 500 W. Washington St., plans to use part of the latest funding to create an exhibition based on Native American tattoo practices and styles. The Eiteljorg announced the grant Monday and indicated the tattoo exhibition would debut in late 2026 or early 2027.
Lilly Endowment made the grant through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative. In 2020, an identical Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative grant of $2.5 million allowed the Eiteljorg to present the exhibition “Acts of Faith: Religion and the American West” and create the position of director of religion and cultural initiatives. “Acts of Faith” was on display at the Eiteljorg earlier this year.
“The Eiteljorg Museum will continue to engage our audiences in the exploration of religious and cultural expressions in the American West and among the Indigenous Peoples of North America, developing a better understanding of this complex subject,” Eiteljorg CEO Kathryn Haigh said in a written statement. “We are grateful to Lilly Endowment Inc. for generously supporting this effort that will make an impact for years to come.”
Lilly Endowment launched the Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative in 2019 with an expressed goal to “fairly and accurately portray the role of religion in the U.S and around the world.” Past recipients of grants include The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Angel Mounds State Historic Site in Evansville, Lilly Library on Indiana University’s Bloomington campus and the University of Southern Indiana for efforts to preserve the utopian legacy of New Harmony.
In 2022, the Eiteljorg hosted a Spirit & Place Festival event titled “Inking Identity: Indigenous Tattoo Practices.” Stephanie Big Eagle, a handpoke tattoo artist who lived in Indianapolis at the time, led the Spirit & Place session and told the IBJ that her practice originated from sacred ceremonies.
“Tattoos on the face were traditionally received by those who had very high status within the Indigenous communities,” she said. “Chiefs, wives of chiefs, matriarchs and their descendants. The most decorated warriors had the most tattoos.”
In addition to the planned tattoo exhibition, the Eiteljorg plans to use its latest round of Lilly Endowment funding to:
- Reinstall artworks in the museum’s Western Art Galleries.
- Host representatives of Native communities for traditional observations of cultural belongings in the museum’s collections as well as support repatriation research.
- Conduct evaluation surveys and convene focus groups related to exhibitions.
- Create a dedicated endowment that will earn investment income to fund future projects based on religion and spirituality.
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