2008 Cultural Capital

David Moses Bridges

Passamaquoddy/Wabanaki
Birch Bark Canoes and Baskets

Project Description:

David Moses Bridges is a traditional artist, birch bark canoe maker, educator, community activist, and co-founder of Mulankeyutmonen Nkihtakmikon (We Take Care of the Homeland), a nonprofit organization committed to protecting and preserving Wabanaki original territories. David's birch bark skin canoes are built to match the traditional hull forms developed by his people, the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Malecite. While construction each canoe, he uses traditional methods of fastening and joining which is a technique where no nails, screws or other metal fasteners are used. David was taught traditional basketry techniques from his grandmother and makes basketry tools for the Wabanaki ash splint basketweavers in his region. "As I work within our Wabanaki communities, I feel a deep connection with the past and I remind our young epople that this work is not mine alone...it was created by the land and our people," remarks David.

Joseph Fire Crow

Northern Cheyenne
Recorded and Live Music

www.josephfirecrow.com

Project Description:

Joseph has been recording Cheyenne flute music since 1993, winning awards, lecturing, and leading workshops. With the help of First Peoples Fund, he plans to interview elders from the Northern Cheyenne community who are the keepers of the “Wolf Songs”, songs that come with the flute. Joseph will then incorporate the interviews into a live presentation of those treasures, combined with traditional flute music, enabling the community not only to hear, but to see the elders tell these legends the way they were intended and to record these lessons.

Jennifer Kreisberg

Tuscarora
Singer

Project Description:

Mother, Singer, Composer, Producer, Teacher, and Activist, Jennifer comes from four generations of Seven Singing Sisters through the maternal line, and has been singing since she was young. Jennifer has been singing with the critically acclaimed Native women's trio ULALI since she was seventeen. Her voice has perfectly woven the high strand of ULALI's renowned harmony with incomparable skill, and grace for over seventeen years, helping to create a new sound in Indian Country. Jennifer’s project includes the recording an album of traditional ceremonial and social songs and will be sung solely in the Tuscarora language utilizing Tuscarora community members. The album will be made available to the Tuscarora Nation for actual community use.

Marcel Bull Bear

Oglala Lakota
Traditional Performance Artist

Project Description:

For the past 20 years, Marcel has been performing the Buffalo Dance, a traditional ceremony perpetuated by the Bull Bear family. Marcel has integrated the youth of his tiospaye into his performances to preserve and perpetuate this traditional ceremony. Marcel plans on creating five buffalo headdresses to be used by the youth of his tiospaye in performances of the Buffalo Dance, performing at community events, schools and for national and international audiences.

Jackie Parsons

Blackfeet
Traditional Artist

Project Description:

Jackie is a traditional artist gaining most of her knowledge from her grandmother who raised her from the time she was 2 years old. Jackie has past her knowledge of traditional Blackfeet culture, techniques, and methods on to her six children and continues to pass her knowledge on to youth in her Blackfeet community. Jackie plans of continuing a project she started eight years ago mentoring nine youth for three months of intense training, each creating their own unique piece of traditional art to be entered into the Heard Museum Art Show in Phoenix, Arizona.

Gene Tagaban

Cherokee / Tlingit
Storyteller, Actor, Dancer, Musician

Project Description:

Gene Tagaban, an accomplished and gifted storyteller, actor, dancer, musician, trainer and speaker. Gene has fifteen years experience as a trainer, counselor, motivator and speaker. Gene has uniquely integrated his interpersonal skills, Native American heritage and performance artistry with traditional training and counseling techniques to develop inspirational and results-oriented performances; presentations and personal growth work with youth, adolescents and adults. Gene's programs emphasize the lessons one gains and how one learns to be a better person through stories. These lessons involve the role of humans in the natural world and the importance of family and lineage in one's own identity. Gene plans to record a series of three CD’s covering the subjects crucial to the future health and survival of Native people: Empowerment, Leadership, Relationship, Diversity, Spirit and Honor, prevention of alcohol and drugs, health concerns, violence, racism and low self-esteem.