There’s a new leader at Portland’s center for Native arts.

Shyla Spicer, Yakama, has been named the new president and CEO of the Native Arts and Culture Foundation, the organization announced Thursday. She’s taking over just as its Center for Native Arts and Cultures aims to gain a foothold in the city’s arts and culture scene.

Spicer, who has technically been in the position since the beginning of December, said her goal coming in is to continue to “uplift cultural consciousness and Native thought” through the organization’s mission of supporting and promoting Native artists.

A big part of that is going to be through the Center for Native Arts and Cultures, which is housed in the old Yale Union building in Southeast Portland. In 2020, the contemporary art center transferred ownership of its building to the Native Arts and Culture Foundation, guided by the Land Back movement.

“This is a place that’s alive with activation and presence with our native community,” Spicer said. “You’re going to see a lot more activity happening.”

The center is expected to be “a place for our artists, our cultural historians, culture keepers, and storytellers and the next generations to create, display and share art in ways that are defined by us and our community,” Spicer said. “I can imagine on any given night, artists preparing for their exhibits, weaving classes being taught, songs and dances being practiced, a group of carvers are gathered around planning their next project.”

While the organization has yet to fully inhabit the building, Spicer said that’s about to change. The first step is free monthly community tours, which will allow people to see the historic building, meet the staff and connect with Native artists. The tour schedule for 2024 has not yet been announced, but will posted online at nativeartsandcultures.org.

“I feel like this next year is going to be a year of me making tons and tons of friends,” she said.

While based in Portland, the Native Arts and Culture Foundation offers support, financial and otherwise, to Native artists around the country. The organization’s SHIFT program gives $100,000 two-year grants to working artists, while its LIFT program offers $10,000 grants to artists who are at the beginning of their careers. Founded in 2008 with $10 million in funding from the Ford Foundation, it now operates with more than $21 million in assets, according to its 2022 tax filing.

Spicer will be only the second president of the nonprofit, succeeding Lulani Arquette, Native Hawaiian, who has been with the organization since the start and will remain through April.

“I truly believe Shyla’s numerous talents and skills will greatly contribute to Native arts and cultures, Indigenous artists, and our communities in wonderfully new and impactful ways,” Arquette said in a news release announcing the leadership change.

Spicer grew up in Portland, but in recent years has been working in the Seattle area. In 2003, she graduated from Portland State University and spent the next 12 years at Nike, working in logistics, supply chain and marketing operations. In 2018, she earned a masters of business administration from University of Portland, and went on to work as the executive director of the Suquamish Tribe in northwest Washington.

Since 2021 she has owned and operated The Indigenous Collective, a Seattle-based organization that connects Indigenous contractors with businesses working on short-term projects. She co-founded the company with her younger brother, Toma Villa, Yakama, a visual artist who she said is her inspiration for shifting her focus to the arts.

“That’s why I understood the kinds of challenges artists go through,” Spicer said. “I think, what would somebody like my little brother need?”

At the helm of the Native Arts and Culture Foundation, she gets to offer that kind of support to a much wider community of artists. Better yet, she gets to do it in her hometown, a perk she said makes the job all the more special.

“It’s so much fun to come home, honestly, it feels so good,” Spicer said. “The thing I love is community, I love our Native community so much.”

— Jamie Hale

503-294-4077; [email protected]; @HaleJamesB

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