Lara M. Evans

About Lara M. Evans

The arts help us think, help us feel, help us connect. The arts help us find problems we didn\'t know existed. The arts help us tolerate (and sometimes thrive) with ambiguity and uncertainty. I have a special talent for understanding the complexity of the arts and culture ecology, seeing gaps, and devising ways to support artists and their communities in ways that support culture, health, and social, and economic well-being. I excel at helping my team build their confidence, creativity, and genuine collaboration. In an environment of social and economic instability, being able to respond to changing conditions is crucial for survival, but I\'m aiming for a team and an organization that can adapt and thrive, all while holding firm to cultural values and organizational mission. I am an art historian specializing in contemporary Native American Art and an enrolled member of Cherokee Nation. I came to art history in a roundabout fashion, beginning as a writer and then finding myself in studio art classes at Scripps College, where I majored in Studio Art. I eventually entered graduate school for an interdisciplinary degree that combined studio art, Native American Art history, and women studies focusing on the intersections of race, class, and gender. This combination of fields served me well in my doctoral program in Native American Art history and then as faculty at The Evergreen State College and now at the Institute of American Indian Arts, where I have been for the past ten years.My professional experiences include administrative experience as the founding director of the IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (current position), member of the Board of Directors for College Art Association, Associate Academic Dean, Department Chair, grant administrator, board service for The Longhouse Education and Cultural Center, guest curation, and writing about contemporary Native American Art in books, exhibition catalogs, journal articles, and art criticism blogs.

Experience

1. Senior Vice President, Programs

   First Peoples Fund

   Sep 2025 — Present · Santa Fe, NM, US

Education

• Oregon State University

  MAIS, Native American Art History, Studio Art

  1997 — 1999

• The University of New Mexico

  Ph.D., Native American Art History

  1999 — 2005

• Scripps College

  BA, Studio Art

  1990 — 1994