Dawn M. Spears, Narragansett
kitompanisha

Dawn Spears, (Narragansett) Director of Northeast Indigenous Arts Alliance (NIAA)  has worked regionally to support Indigenous arts, most recently focus has been to promote markets in New England, initiating IFAM East in 2016 and in 2017 was contracted to produce the inaugural 2018 Abbe Museum Indian Market.

Dawn served as the Narragansett Tribe’s Tribal Secretary for two terms, she is a past board
member for Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum, and Native Americans in Philanthropy.  Dawn currently serves on the Narragansett Tribes’ Election Committee and Economic Development Commission.
In 2021, she was nominated as the first New Bedford Art Museum, Artist in Residence. She is a 2020 Assets for Artists grantee, a 2015 RI State Council for the Arts (RISCA) Master Apprenticeship grantee, and in 2014, along with her husband they formed the Narragansett Food Sovereignty Initiative. 

Dawn and her husband Cassius have been married for thirty-five years, with three children: Cassius Jr., Kiowa and Coty and seven grandchildren, their work together truly supports the belief in the preservation and education of our culture and traditions, Dawn has been teaching and demonstrating for over 25 years in many forms of art and still works creatively when time allows, exhibiting and selling at local galleries and markets. Dawn continues to work consulting regionally and nationally supporting arts programming and business training for artists. Dawn Spears (Narragansett) is the Director of the Northeast Indigenous Arts Alliance (NIAA).  For more than twenty-five years Dawn has worked to support Indigenous arts as an artist, educator, demonstrator, and organizer.  Most recently Dawn produced two of the largest and most significant markets in New England, including the Indigenous Fine Arts Market East in 2016 and the inaugural Abbe Museum Indian Market in 2018.  She is a 2020 Assets for Artists grantee, a 2015 RI State Council for the Arts (RISCA) Master Apprenticeship grantee, and was the Community Artist in Residence at the New Bedford Art Museum in 2021.  Dawn has exhibited at the most prestigious Indian art markets across the country including the American Indian Arts Marketplace at the Autry Museum in Glendale, CA, Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market in Phoenix, AZ, and the SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market in Santa Fe, NM.  Dawn has served on the board of the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum and Native Americans in Philanthropy and continues to work consulting regionally and nationally supporting arts programming and business training for artists.

An active member of her tribal community, Dawn served as the Narragansett Indian Tribe’s Tribal Secretary for two terms and currently serves on the Narragansett Indian Tribal Election Committee and Economic Development Commission. In 2014 Dawn and her husband of thirty-five years formed the Narragansett Food Sovereignty Initiative, a farm-based organization devoted to reclaiming food and cultural ways for Narragansett people.  Dawn also enjoys her role as mother and grandmother to her three children and seven grandchildren. Dawn's work within her family, community, and in the arts is driven by her belief in the preservation and education of culture and traditions.