Get Involved at The Montana Folk Festival
We are accepting applications for the 2025 First Peoples’ Market, a festival market that features the finest work of regional Native American artists.
Both deeply traditional crafts and more contemporary artistic expressions rooted in the Native American experience will be featured in the First Peoples’ Market which will be located again adjacent to the Montana Folklife Area.
If you are an enrolled tribal member, please read the guidelines and then apply to be considered for a booth at the 2025 First Peoples’ Market at the Montana Folk Festival.
Selection Process – The First Peoples’ Market features the handmade creations of the region’s finest Native artists and craftspeople. It includes both deeply traditional crafts and more contemporary artistic expressions rooted in the American Indian experience.
Applicants must comply with the definition of “Indian,” or “Indian Artisan,” under the Indian Arts & Crafts Act of 1990, and provide proof of this or show proof of being enrolled members of recognized Native American tribes.
A committee selects and invites artists based on a set of criteria that includes: quality, uniqueness, authenticity, connection to regional culture,
Note: for those in the “traditional arts” category, the festival adheres to the following definition:
Traditional arts are those art forms that are learned as part of the cultural life of a group of people whose members share a common ethnic heritage, language, religion, occupation, or culturally united geographic region. Folk and traditional arts are shaped by the aesthetics and values of a shared culture and are passed from generation to generation, most often within family and community through observation, conversation and practice.
Source: National Endowment for the Arts
If you have questions about the First Peoples’ Market or any aspect of the Montana Folk Festival, please contact us.