The Institute of Native American Arts was founded in 1962 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the only federally chartered fine arts college dedicated to the study and practice of Native arts and cultures. Born from an earlier federally run school with a deeply complicated legacy, the Institute was reconceived under the leadership of Native artists and educators who insisted that Indigenous people — not government administrators — direct the institution's vision and curriculum.

Over six decades, the IAIA has graduated thousands of artists, filmmakers, writers, and performers who have shaped contemporary Indigenous culture on the national and international stage.

The campus museum houses a permanent collection of over 7,500 works spanning traditional and contemporary Native American and Alaska Native art.