The Native American Artist-in-Residence (NAAIR) program was created for the purpose of exposing Native American artists working within traditional art forms to Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) collections in order to:

advance their understanding of the traditional form of art and
bring this advanced understanding to their communities in a way designed by the artist.
NAAIR will allow the MNHS collections to benefit tremendously from knowledge shared by the artists regarding what they have learned about the construction, style and meaning of various collections items. More importantly, these historic resources can serve as platforms upon which cultural learning and sharing takes place.

NAAIR is open to artists practicing in all forms of (material culture) traditional art. Traditional art can be defined as art forms and techniques that are passed down through generations. In regards to Native American traditional art, this includes beadwork and quillwork, but also utilitarian forms such as bow-making and canoe-making.

Applying artists will submit a proposal that encompasses both a research and output component that outlines his/her plan of study into the Native American collections, as well as a plan for developing the community-based output project.