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By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015  

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Micheal Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota) is an artist from Rapid City, South Dakota and the Red Shirt Table community located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, also in South Dakota. Micheal received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in 2009. He was awarded a 2015 Artist in Business Leadership fellowship, served as the Northern Plains Artist in Residence at the University of South Dakota in summer 2016, and was a 2018 IAIA Artist-in-Residence. Micheal is a multi-media artist with a focus on printmaking.

Studio, warehouse, bedroom, basement. Micheal has always found space to do his art despite distractions. This past year, he transitioned into a large studio inside Racing Magpie — a hub for creativity, congregation, sustainability, and learning. It’s given Micheal new opportunities for his career — and for fellow artists.

“I opened up my studio for a lot of other artists to come and work on their own projects or on collaborations,” Micheal says. “We also run it as a music studio. It’s multi-functional.”

Micheal recently collaborated with FPF employee, Bryan Parker (White Mountain Apache, Muscogee Creek, Mississippi Choctaw) and Racing Magpie to create a mural on the side of the building. Micheal grew up in a family of artists in the Red Shirt community where the tourist economy thrived on the stereotypical art of Natives. The mural they created needed to be more than that. Micheal and Bryan decided to start with telling a traditional Lakota story of the great race between the magpie and the buffalo, which also the inspiration for the building’s name, Racing Magpie. It evolved from there.

Years before at IAIA, Micheal was challenged to look past the stereotypical, to ask questions, to think critically about his art and the purpose behind it.

Now his studio space at Racing Magpie has grown into a community of its own. Printmakers are especially interested in a rare piece of equipment that came to their region through Micheal’s 2018 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital (CC) fellowship: an etching press bed.

With his CC fellowship, Micheal plans to hold community workshops to teach printmaking, and allow fellow artists to use the press bed.

“Give me a piece of charcoal, I can make something,” Micheal says. “But there’s something else to be said about having these tools and materials. You have this responsibility as well for other artists that are learning, that are willing to come and take your workshop or listen to the lecture. You become a teacher.”

“There’s something else to be said about having these tools and materials. You have this responsibility as well for other artists that are learning, that are willing to come and take your workshop or listen to the lecture. You become a teacher.”

— Micheal Two Bulls, 2018 Artist in Business Leadership Fellow

Micheal is challenging students to ask questions and push beyond the boundaries of their views on art as he learned to do.

He says, “I feel that it is important for students to have a strong sense of place and who they are and where they come from.”

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

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Maintaining entrepreneurial tenacity on the front lines of art creation, markets, and staying afloat with their business, artists need a big vision to stay dedicated to their occupation. Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation (CPCDC), based in Shawnee, Okla., is helping Native artists in their local community stay dedicated through their Individual Development Account (IDA) program, which will match an artist’s savings 1:1. When artists have barely enough money to create art and get to market, it takes a leap of faith to begin setting aside money for investing in their business –– but knowing their investment will be doubled makes that leap much less intimidating.

Funded by First Peoples Fund’s Indigenous Arts Ecology grant, CPCDC’s IDA program encourages artists to save by providing a $500 match when the artists reach their goal of saving $500. Of the eight artists currently enrolled in the IDA program, each artist is saving for items specific to their mediums, including things like a commercial sewing machine, recording equipment, computer software, and displays for art markets. Once they have these tools in place, they can move to the next phase of their business.

“So many times we don’t plan for the future,” says Felecia Freeman (Citizen Potawatomi, Sac and Fox, Kickapoo), the commercial loan officer at CPCDC. “We just put out today’s fires. But we know successful businesses do stop and plan, and these artists are getting that.”

Before enrolling in the IDA program, artists take the initial steps in learning how to plan their business by attending one of First Peoples Fund (FPF) Native Artist Professional Development (NAPD) trainings. Charles Clark (Potawatomi) and 2016 FPF Artist in Business Leadership Fellow Leslie Deer (Muscogee), led three NAPD trainings in 2018.

“So many times we don’t plan for the future, we just put out today’s fires. But we know successful businesses do stop and plan, and these artists are getting that.”

— Felecia Freeman, CPCDC commercial loan officer

The trainings, hosted in Shawnee, Lawton and Tulsa, averaged 10-15 artists in attendance who received formal instruction through the values-based curriculum, complete with a workbook they could take home for future reference. As with any NAPD, not every artist who attends is at a point where they can implement all the elements referenced in the training, but it boosts their confidence in believing they can take their business to the next level.

“It gives them a vision,” says Felecia. “Through taking the training they could actually see where they wanted to go and where the gaps were; what they needed to fill so that they could move forward.”

““It gives them a vision. Through taking the training they could actually see where they wanted to go and where the gaps were; what they needed to fill so that they could move forward.”

— Felecia Freeman, CPCDC commercial loan officer

Once artists complete the training, they are offered the opportunity to enroll in an IDA program. This is a challenge for most of the artists — committing to invest funds they scarcely have. But the NAPD curriculum gives them confidence in their plan to earn back their investment.

“The IDA program is a huge commitment on their part,” Felecia says. “But their willingness to participate tells you about the impact of the First Peoples Fund training. They feel confident that, ‘I’ve done all these things, now if I invest in my art business, my projections show me that I’m going to grow here.’ You see that ‘aha’ moment. When you sit down and write your plan out, it is easier to follow the path to get there.”

In an effort to plan their own path forward, Felecia and CPCDC artist advisor Amber DuBoise (Prairie Band Potawatomi, Sac and Fox, Navajo) attended FPF’s Indigenous Arts Ecology Grantee Convening earlier this year in Phoenix during the Heard Museum Art Market. Networking with the other Native CDFI grantees gave them ideas for how CPCDC could adapt the model for the artists they serve throughout Oklahoma. Inspired by Kawerak, Inc.’s Bering Strait Arts and Crafts Facebook group, CPCDC now has a Facebook page for artists in progress.

The IAE convening also encouraged them to set up databases. Hired part-time through the IAE grant, Amber is creating spreadsheets to track market calendars, deadlines, entry fees, gallery options, and other resources to disseminate to artists. Their work spans a broad geographic area, impacting fifteen tribes throughout Oklahoma, so the databases will help keep track of all the moving pieces.

Header Image: Photo by Roxanne Best (Colville)

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2017

The Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Awards honor and provide financial resources to Native culture bearers based on exceptional commitment to passing on cultural knowledge and sustaining community spirit. Marie Meade (Yup’ik) of Anchorage, Alaska, and Peter B. Jones (Onondaga) of Versailles, New York, embody this vision with their dedication, constant hard work, and generosity in their communities.

During recent First Peoples Fund-sponsored community honoring celebrations, Marie and Peter were honored for their work to preserve cultural traditions and practices and perpetuate traditional Native art at the community level.

Marie Meade - A Symbol of Strength and Resiliency

On stage, Marie listened to family and friends share about her life as a culture bearer during her Community Spirit Award (CSA) honoring in October 2018. Along with First Peoples Fund staff, they gathered at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage.

“It was this wonderful feeling of being alive, breathing, hearing their words, and listening to them,” Marie says. “It was an experience.”

Friends and family met Marie’s gaze, and they felt it, too, because she almost didn’t make it to her honoring. This past summer, Marie was in the hospital on life support after a harrowing bout of food poisoning. Family and friends were fearful that she might not recover, however after weeks of worry Marie was finally well enough to return home, and return to carrying on the traditions she loves sharing with others.

Practicing and Sharing the Art

From a young age, Yup’ik song and dance have been an integral part of Marie’s life. When she dances, her regalia includes qaspeq (woman's dress), nasqerrun (headdress), naqugun (belt), piluguuk (fur boots), and tegumiak (dance fans).

Marie has traveled the world sharing her culture with a larger global community through the Thirteen Grandmothers Council.

“Every country we went to, the people would ask me, ‘Do you have a CD?’ I would say no, that I’ll make one. I kept saying that in almost every country, so I’d better do it,” she laughs. “I promised all those people.”

Marie is recording the songs with help from her son and the musical group he is a member of, Pamyua. She is also finalizing a three-year project to document, translate (from Yup’ik to English), and transcribe knowledge of their subsistence lifeways for a book.

“When I do that work, so much is gathered about the culture,” Marie says. “That is something I’ve been doing for about 40 years. The elders I worked with when I first started are all gone now. But what we documented is recorded from the life histories of those many, many elders.”

Along with mentoring her sons, grandchildren, and relatives, Marie has taught Yup’ik dance at the University of Alaska Anchorage for several years. She is a professor there for Yup’ik Language, Yup’ik Orthography, and Alaska Native Dance.

Nominating Marie

Marie’s Community Spirit Award nominator, Joy Demmert (Haida) — who knows her through Marie’s son — articulated her work in the community.

“You can see that she is a symbol of strength and resiliency when you watch her sing and dance like her ancestors have done for thousands of years,” Joy wrote in her nomination of Marie for the Community Spirit Award.

Though this isn’t the first time Marie has been recognized for her work, she felt the Community Spirit Award honoring was unique.

“It’s the most special award that I’ve received,” Marie says. “Gathering as a huge family and friends to experience it, food being shared, friendship  –– all of it. Thank you to First Peoples Fund, and thank you to Jennifer Easton for her vision and her dream and her work.”

Peter B. Jones — Revitalizing an Ancient Artform

After studying at the Institute of American Indian Arts in the 1970s, Peter realized he knew more about Southwestern pottery than his own people’s pottery. That realization set him on a journey to research, document, and understand what pot making was in the 1500s. Peter’s commitment to learning continues today, along with teaching what he has found over decades of studying this ancient artform.

Practicing and Sharing the Art

Peter has strived for decades to bring Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) pottery back to life in his home communities where he works within the Six Nations Iroquois communities of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora people. His pots reflect what was originally made with clay gathered from stream beds and altered with the addition of crushed shell, crushed granitic rock and sand to create a clay body that was useful and durable after it was fired.

Peter produces art in his studio regularly and is preparing to teach another round of classes before the year ends.

“I don’t think we would have gotten the budget for the pottery if it hadn’t been for the Community Spirit Award,” Peter says. “It shows how necessary this is. We lost pottery once before in the 1500s. We’re just now bringing it back.”

“We lost pottery once before in the 1500s. We’re just now bringing it back.”

Peter is known in his community as a clay artist; his willingness to teach others has made him a sought-after mentor for those learning the practice. But it wasn’t until the Community Spirit Award that many people realized the scope of his work.

“You don’t have to move off the reservation to achieve the level of art that is recognized around the world,” he says. “I’ve been doing this for a living all my life, so I know it can be done.”

Culture Bearer Honored

Carol Ann Lorenz nominated Peter for the Community Spirit Award. She serves as a faculty member and museum curator at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

“I believe it is safe to say that Peter nearly single-handedly revived the making of clay pots in Iroquois country,” she wrote in her nomination. “Largely through his efforts, there are dozens of Haudenosaunee artists working in clay today.”

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

As we focus on investing in the Indigenous Arts Ecology, our family continues to evolve and grow. In recent months, we’ve welcomed new staff to First Peoples Fund — three young women from diverse backgrounds who are enriching our programming while supporting artists and culture bearers at the heart of our work.

MEET GOLNESA ASHEGHALI

Born to Iranian parents in Northern Virginia, where she grew up, Golnesa has practiced traditional Japanese Karate, Shotokan, for the past 25 years. When her Sensei, Ahmad Ali Mazhari, decided to relocate, Golnesa, her husband, and her mom chose to follow their teacher to Rapid City, SD, in Oceti Sakowin homelands.

Shortly after moving to Rapid City, Laree Pourier (Oglala Lakota) invited Golnesa, then a high school teacher, to bring some of her students to the Dances With Words annual poetry slam at Lakota Nation Invitational (LNI). The young people were excited and inspired by what they witnessed, prompting Dances With Words to expand to Native youth in Rapid City and Laree and Golnesa also began working together to offer weekly after-school workshops.

For two years Golnesa served as a poet mentor for the Dances With Words program, facilitating workshops, open mic nights, participating in Tiospaye Building Days, and coaching the teams at the international youth poetry slam, Brave New Voices.

“I’ve witnessed beautiful growth and transformation in young people who are members of our Dances with Words community,” Golnesa says. “I’ve seen Dances with Words poets who went from rarely speaking in classrooms or workshop spaces to performing regularly at our open mics, at school wide talent shows, and even on the international stage at Brave New Voices.”

This fall, Golnesa joined FPF as the Program Manager of Youth Development. Laree, now working as a classroom educator, continues to work with and support the Dances with Words poets, as a beloved mentor and facilitator. Golnesa continues to express gratitude for Laree and her unwavering commitment to creating truly youth centered spaces that embody Lakota kinship values and oral traditions. Golnesa shares, “I have learned and continue to learn more than can be named from working with Laree and serving as a poet mentor, under her guidance.”

On her own transition out of the classroom and into her position at FPF, Golnesa says, “My work and intention are always driven by young people. I’m grateful I can do this work, authentically, in our Dances with Words programming and I’m excited to expand our youth programming beyond Dances with Words.”

MEET AMBER HOY

Originally from Yankton, South Dakota, Amber moved to Rapid City in 2018 to join First Peoples Fund as the Program Manager of Fellowships. She served in the US Army for 8 years, and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Ohio University in 2015, focusing on audio and visual storytelling. Before coming to First Peoples Fund, she was the Artist Program Manager at a non-profit community print studio in Berkeley, CA where she ran the residency and fellowship program. She is also an interdisciplinary artist who highlights stories of women in the military and stories often untold.

“My relationship with art has been changing while I’ve been at First Peoples Fund,” she says. “I learned there isn’t a word for art in the Lakota language because it’s so ingrained in life. Seeing how family and community come together to learn and share practice is amazing. From cooking to quillwork, art can be both aesthetic and functional, there’s no separating it. Art increases your quality of life, allows you to slow down and appreciate the way something is made, the amount of time and energy that goes into it.”

Working with the 2018 Fellows, Amber has noted how open and generous the artists are in sharing and giving of knowledge.

“I’m inspired by all the artists that I have talked to,” Amber says. “I’ve been reaching out to the current fellows, having one-on-one conversations about their practice.”

She keeps up her own art projects and sharing of her knowledge through guest lecturing on museum studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and also with curating exhibitions there.

“I’m excited about the 2019 Fellowship cohort and seeing how the program grows.”

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation) writes fiction and nonfiction for children featuring contemporary characters and compelling biographies. She is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and gained literary representation by Emily Mitchell of Wernick & Pratt Agency. She holds a Master’s degree in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin. She and her family recently moved to Wagoner, Oklahoma.

Where are the children’s books about contemporary Cherokee people? Traci asked herself, combing through a stack of books at the library. Those kinds of books were nowhere to be found. How could she read aloud to her son about who the Cherokee people are—and who he is?

“I said, ‘okay, you better figure out how to write these books because there are clearly some holes here,’” Traci says. “Storytelling is huge in our Native cultures, and we need to tell the stories.”

And so she did. In September 2018, after years of honing her writing craft and networking with veteran Native children’s book authors, Traci’s debut book, We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, was released by Charlesbridge Publishing.

Since the release, welcomed by starred reviews from Kirkus, School Library Journal, Horn Book Magazine, and Shelf Awareness, Traci has traveled to D.C. and New York to promote the book at conferences, libraries, and more with help from her 2018 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership program. She is also using the support to visit Title I (low income) schools within the Cherokee Nation in northeastern Oklahoma.

Through the busy launch season and family health challenges, Traci keeps writing. Two more of her children’s books are under contract, set to release in 2019 and 2020. She was pleased when the publisher chose an illustrator from the recommended list she sent. Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota), a 2017 FPF fellow, will illustrate Powwow Day.

Back home, Traci was thrilled to release her debut children’s book at the Cherokee National Holiday in September. Her people were the first to have We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga.

“We have to be grateful for the survival of our ancestors after the Trail of Tears,” Traci says. “We’re still here.”

While at the fair, newly selected 2018-19 Junior Miss Cherokee, Kaitlyn Pinkerton, came by Traci’s table to get a copy of the book. Kaitlyn plans to take it on school visits, excited to have a book she can read to children about contemporary Cherokee people. She now has what Traci couldn’t find for her son.

“I write for the child in me who never had books showing existing Native culture and people,” Traci says.

She is grateful.

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

Throughout her distinguished career, singer/songwriter Annie Humphrey (Anishinaabe/Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe) has collaborated with Keith Secola, Jim Boyd, Chris Eyre (movie soundtracks), Wayne Horvitz, Winona LaDuke, Keri Pickette, and James Starkey. She partnered with John Trudell on the award-winning video “Spirit Horses.” Her CD projects include UnCombed Hair, The Sound of Ribbons, Edge of America and The Heron Smiled.

Annie was raised on an Ojibwe Indian reservation, and was a 2017 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellow.

We caught up with Annie this month after she wrapped a tour with the Long Hairz Collective, and receiving a prestigious honor: Native American Music Awards (NAMMYS) 2018 Artist of the Year with her newest album, The Beast and The Garden.

Congratulations on your latest award, Annie! What does this award mean to you?

Thank you. I had won other NAMMYS back in 2001. I was out on the road with my kids from 2000 - 2004 and then I put them in public school and had to get a part-time job. I wasn’t playing or writing from 2005 - 2015. Coming back and starting all over — the award really confirmed that I was doing what I should be doing again. To be recognized by industry people, the public, it felt good to get back to where I was from 15 years ago.

What was that experience like of performing during the award show?

It was a bucket list moment because I got to perform on stage with two of John Trudell’s bandmates, Mark Shark and Quiltman. These guys are epic performers. I said on stage that even though John wasn’t there physically, that these two guys were the next best things.

Why did you compile The Beast and the Garden?

I wrote it during the time I was working for Honor the Earth. I was an active organizer against the Line 3 pipeline that runs through our land. Most of the songs are about the environment and social justice.

That record was made possible directly because I had gotten a grant from First Peoples Fund, so a big thank you because that grant helped to make that record, allowed me to go to the NAMMYS, allowed me to get the award.

What was a highlight of the 2018 tour?

I took the album on tour — Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota. The highlight was that Mark Shark flew in from Portland and he did two or three shows with me. Just making music with those guys, and that they would come when I asked them, was a huge compliment.

I remember when I finished recording my very first CD, John had come in [he did spoken word parts on The Heron Smiled] on the last day of recording, and I asked him, “John, what do you think, how do you think it compares to other Native artists?”

And he said, “Don’t compare yourself to anybody else — let the music stand on its own.”

I feel like I have to follow the things he told me.

Something else First Peoples Fund paid for was to get Mark Shark on the record. It’s all connected, all woven in with John and the things he told me, all the advice he ever gave me. It was a special project, and the tour was special. I feel really honored to have known him.

““Don’t compare yourself to anybody else –– let the music stand on its own.”

— John Trudell (Santee Dakota) in response to Annie asking how her CD compared to other Native Artists

How do you feel your time as an FPF fellow impacted your career?

It helped me do this comeback. The grant and having Lori’s support, it is what made this project possible, what made me educate myself and actually learn more about social media. I’m 62, and I really don’t know anything about social media. It was brought to my attention, especially being with all the other fellows. There were a lot of young ones that were there. They’re all so knowledgeable about that whole arena I know nothing about, so being there with them taught me that importance. Now my niece manages my social media.

I remember when I went to the fellows convening in Minneapolis. Lori was sitting next to me in this big talk-circle. She said, “I can’t believe that I’m sitting here at our First Peoples Fund convening next to Annie Humphrey.” I thought that was such a huge compliment, and I won’t forget that moment.

Just being selected as a recipient of the grant was awesome. It made the record possible, it made the nomination possible, it made the Artist of the Year possible.

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

2018 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital fellow Lisa Iron Cloud (Oglala Lakota) is a listener, community member, teacher, sewer, beader, traditional food maker/trader, hunter, and mother. Her husband, Arlo Iron Cloud Sr. (Oglala Lakota), is also a 2018 Cultural Capital fellow. He works for KILI Radio and Thunder Valley CDC on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The couple reside in Rapid City, South Dakota, with their four children.

Like a river, knowledge flows from elders and culture bearers. Then it branches off into communities, families, and individuals. Lisa and Arlo are in those streams as they take knowledge poured into them and let it flow to others.

In 2012, the couple created the Lakota Sewing Circle / Wiyan Omniciye. Lisa is using funds from her Cultural Capital fellowship to support the work of the circle, providing classes through the Lakota style of learning. She purchased arrow making supplies for the class to work with while listening to Joseph Marshall III (Sicangu Lakota) tell the story of the arrow.

“We have a passion for revitalizing our culture with nontraditional learning,” Arlo says. “Our work is hands-on — we’re teaching as we’re learning.

After a parfleche bag making class, Lisa received calls asking if the family could teach outside of Rapid City. “Being able to go to other people to do these teachings was something new to us,” Lisa says, “It worked well.”

Arlo’s Cultural Capital project focuses on preserving the history of the KILI Radio station through interviews with its founders.

While working on the project, Arlo continues learning and telling stories of their people’s traditional ways with the assistance of modern technology.

Using a camera and drone he purchased with his FPF funds, Arlo went on buffalo hunts with elder Richard Sherman (Oglala Lakota). Richard told Arlo to watch the buffalo, and the way they moved. Flying the drone above the running herd, they could see the flow of the buffalo herd as they moved just like a school of fish — knowledge long held by elders viewed through technology.

“These places that I love so much, I’m able to see them from a different perspective,” Arlo says. “And that’s what a lot of our community members like — seeing those perspectives. Because of the drone, I was able to show people shots of places we just can’t go.”

There is no separation from art and life for Lisa, Arlo, and their four children. The family works together as those streams branching off from a river of knowledge to keep it flowing through their communities and beyond.

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

Boxes and drawers in The Heritage Center collection at Red Cloud Indian School allowed Gwylene Gallimard of ​​Charleston, South Carolina, to travel through Lakota culture. The collection includes nearly 10,000 pieces of Native American art. As Gwylene stood in the midst of the large storage facility, she felt as though she was in the past with the people who created the works. Gwylene appreciated the art in The Heritage Center gallery, yet it was the archives that drew her fully into Lakota Territory.

“Some of the pieces were very old and some were more recent,” Gwylene says, “but they were all considered important for the culture of Lakota people.”

A 1st generation French immigrant and co-leader in the “conNECKtedTOO” project, Gwylene is one of 29 fellows in the 2018 - 2019 Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) cohort who visited Lakota Territory. ILI is a year-long intensive leadership program for artists, culture bearers and other arts professionals. A collaborative program of Alternate ROOTS, First Peoples Fund, National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures (NALAC) and PA’I Foundation, ILI seeks to challenge dominant social norms while honoring differences of histories, traditions, vocabulary and more.

The cohort traveled to the ILI Lakota Territory convening — hosted by First Peoples Fund — September 12 - 16, 2018, for an immersive experience. Their journey began with grounding in the place through ceremony at Pe’ Sla, one of the sacred sites for Lakota people.

“When I was there in Lakota country, it was a much more diverse crowd than I’ve been in for a long time,” Gwylene says.

Visiting the collections and gallery at The Heritage Center gave the ILI cohort a chance to experience efforts to preserve and perpetuate Lakota history and culture. The gallery allowed them to see artists today who are working toward the same experience.

Joe Tolbert, a current ILI fellow from Knoxville, Tennessee, discovered the world of Native art for the first time.

“I felt like this whole world and tradition of art emerged out of nowhere,” Joe says. “I wondered why I didn’t know these artists existed, because their work is amazing. Had I not been on this trip, I probably never would have gone to the Red Cloud Heritage Center. I never would have seen these artists.”

Joe is the founder and lead cultural strategist for Art at the Intersections, a scholar, and Cultural Organizer. Coming to Lakota Territory for the first time laid foundational thought for interculturality, deepening his commitment to the goals of ILI to build stronger strategic intercultural collaborations, and promote traditional and contemporary practices of artists and culture bearers.

“After spending time with elders and cohort, and really taking in the learning that First Peoples Fund allowed me to experience, I came away being committed to helping people understand the Native American perspective,” Joe says. “I feel more committed to doing the hard things and getting through the hard things, to being able to share and educate in every way I can.”

Coming together to support transformative practices of artists and culture bearers allows these ILI fellows to align with one another and create a unique network of professionals with shared values. They are poised to fill in gaps that exists along cultural lines.

While lodging at High Country Guest Ranch, fellows and staff were treated by The Sioux Chef, Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota), a 2015 FPF Artist in Business Leadership fellow. ILI fellows enjoyed an exquisite meal and Sean’s accompanying presentation on Indigenous foods and his efforts to revitalize traditional foodways.

“I have followed Sean Sherman’s career closely,” says ILI fellow Tara Moses (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma). “Not only being able to experience the food and lecture, but also having a one-on-one conversation with Sean was great because he and his team were always open and available.”

The intimacy throughout the convening was unique for Tara, an experience unlike she’s had with other fellowships and programs. She is a director, playwright, and Artistic Director of Binge Theatre Company, the world’s first online theatre company. Tara decided to apply for ILI after spotting the opportunity posted on Twitter.

“It was the first and only intercultural fellowship of its kind that I’ve ever seen, so that was a big enticer, especially since one of the founding partners is a Native organization,” Tara says. “It’s also cross-disciplinary in the arts which is something I do as a community organizer and artistic director. It felt as though it was an individually-designed fellowship just for me.”

“I felt like this whole world and tradition of art emerged out of nowhere,” Joe says. “I wondered why I didn’t know these artists existed, because their work is amazing. Had I not been on this trip, I probably never would have gone to the Red Cloud Heritage Center. I never would have seen these artists.”

Joe is the founder and lead cultural strategist for Art at the Intersections, a scholar, and Cultural Organizer. Coming to Lakota Territory for the first time laid foundational thought for interculturality, deepening his commitment to the goals of ILI to build stronger strategic intercultural collaborations, and promote traditional and contemporary practices of artists and culture bearers.

“After spending time with elders and cohort, and really taking in the learning that First Peoples Fund allowed me to experience, I came away being committed to helping people understand the Native American perspective,” Joe says. “I feel more committed to doing the hard things and getting through the hard things, to being able to share and educate in every way I can.”

Coming together to support transformative practices of artists and culture bearers allows these ILI fellows to align with one another and create a unique network of professionals with shared values. They are poised to fill in gaps that exists along cultural lines.

While lodging at High Country Guest Ranch, fellows and staff were treated by The Sioux Chef, Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota), a 2015 FPF Artist in Business Leadership fellow. ILI fellows enjoyed an exquisite meal and Sean’s accompanying presentation on Indigenous foods and his efforts to revitalize traditional foodways.

This month First Peoples Fund and partners Lakota Funds and Artspace broke ground on Oglala Lakota Artspace, an 8,500-square-foot Native arts and cultural center on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

The $2.75 million construction is scheduled for completion in late 2019 and will include individual artist studios, shared workspace for group collaborations, a recording and sound studio, a classroom for art classes and business trainings, commercial space, a storefront for Lakota Federal Credit Union and more. The new arts space will be located across from the Pine Ridge Chamber of Commerce near the Prairie Ranch Resort and the Oglala Lakota College administrative offices and a few miles down the road from Thunder Valley CDC.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, First Peoples Fund President Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota) said, “Oglala Lakota Artspace didn’t just happen overnight. It has been in the works for many years and we’re having a moment of celebration.” Lori and Sherry Salway Black, First Peoples Fund board chair, were a part of the founding of the Lakota Funds in the mid-1980s. Lakota Funds’ early research made a strong case for supporting Lakota artists and culture bearers.

Others echoed that sentiment, chronicling the years of work that have gone into making Oglala Lakota Artspace a reality.

“Many years of enormous effort have gone into this –– building relationships and trust, years of community outreach and market studies to project planning and development,” said Kelley Lindquist, president and CEO of Artspace and a member of First Peoples Fund’s board of directors. “It’s a great privilege to be collaborating here on Pine Ridge and collaborating with such extraordinary people.”  

For Artspace, the leading nonprofit for real estate development for creative communities with over 50 mixed-use rural and urban facilities across the U.S., Oglala Lakota Artspace represents their first project in South Dakota and their first-ever reservation-based project.

“We might leave this world and leave these positions,” said Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribal President, Scott Weston, “but those artists, their work is going to continue. Oglala Lakota Artspace is about sustainability for our tribe, for our traditions, our ways and our culture. It’s my honor to be here, because this is what we as tribal leaders push for.”

The local community has been pushing for Oglala Lakota Artspace as well. Years of community engagement meetings helped confirm the need for the facility. Consistently the need for physical workspace was a top priority both for individual studios and for gathering space where artists could collaborate.

Identified in First Peoples Fund’s 2013 market study as one of the six resources artists need to succeed, space is provided through the creation of Oglala Lakota Artspace. The facility also aims to provide access the other resources: Business knowledge and training, new markets, networks, supplies, as well as credit and capital.

Elsie Meeks (Oglala Lakota), board chair of Lakota Funds, said that throughout her many years of work in economic development on Pine Ridge and throughout Indian Country, it has been evident that artists are a key component of local economies.

“We started out Lakota Funds to help people get into business, and most of the people that were even around the edges of getting into business were artists,” she said. “So the market study published in 2013 really confirmed what we already knew, which was that 51% of the households on Pine Ridge depend on a home-based enterprise of some kind to provide income. And that 79% percent of those home-based businesses are arts-based.”

Lakota Funds has been instrumental in bolstering the local economy of Pine Ridge and helping to create local access to essential economic infrastructure. Since its founding in 1986 as the first Native Community Development Financial Institution, Lakota Funds has been a leader in local economic development and in the Native CDFI field. In 2017, Lakota Funds provided over a $1 million in loans, created over 100 jobs and helped launch nearly 50 businesses.

“I think Lakota Funds is doing incredible things here every day to break down road blocks and create economic opportunity on Pine Ridge. I really applaud your leadership.”

— Dennis Alvord, U.S. Economic Development Administration Deputy Assistant Secretary of Regional Affairs

Tawney Brunsch, executive director of Lakota Funds, emceed the event. She has been a fierce advocate of creating access to financial resources throughout her career. She was instrumental in helping to establish the Lakota Federal Credit Union –– the  first banking institution on Pine Ridge, which shattered projections for accounts opened and financial products provided within the first quarter of operation. Oglala Lakota Artspace will expand that success by providing another permanent location for the Lakota Federal Credit Union.  

“I can’t lie, I’m most excited about the financial piece of this project,” said Tawney. “Oglala Lakota Artspace will provide a second location for the Lakota Federal Credit Union –– although we might have a location in Pine Ridge before then!” she said, laughing.

“And I want to mention that we’ve had a bit of practice in this testing out this partnership through the Rolling Rez Arts bus helping Lakota Federal Credit Union take our products out to meet the needs of our members in the districts,” Tawney said. “It means a lot ot us at the credit union to be able to take those services out into the community where they’re needed.”

First Peoples Fund’s Rolling Rez Arts bus is a state-of-the-art mobile arts classroom and banking unit, which, depending on the day, can be found providing banking services to community members or hosting art classes taught by one of the 22 local artists and culture bearers. In three years of operation, the bus has driven over 8,500 miles and taught over 75 Native art workshops to nearly 1,000 artists of all ages.

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

Nanibaa Beck (Diné) was exposed to contemporary Native American art and practice at an early age. After 20+ years of assisting her father, Victor Beck, Sr., a master Navajo silversmith, Nanibaa created her jewelry line NOTABOVE in 2013. Her earlier research work and museum fellowships included the National Museum of American Indian and the Peabody Essex Museum.

Originally from Pinon, Arizona, Nanibaa currently resides in North Carolina.

Nanibaa watched the young Diné woman approach her jewelry table at the Heard Museum Market. When Diana Onko tried on the necklace with a black abalone stone, the connection was immediate.

The two women had an unspoken language forming between them, words and emotions woven into the necklace Nanibaa began six months prior as part of healing from her mother’s passing.

When Nanibaa learned Diana’s mother had passed and that her favorite stone had been black abalone, she made sure Diana was able to purchase the necklace.

“I know what I put into that necklace,” Nanibaa says. “I know that she feels it in a way no one else would have understood quite like her.”

While Nanibaa’s father taught her the art of metalsmithing, her mother redefined love.

“Before she passed, I was able to really reconnect and strengthen my relationship with my mom,” Nanibaa says. “Her amount of the love, the number of prayers—she defined then redefined love for me. It made sense to connect that feeling with blooming. That’s why I have the hashtag: ‘I am blooming from my mother’s prayers.’”

Nanibaa carries on that love through her Language Collection. The Diné word for writing means “tracing the line.” As a jewelry maker, she takes time to create each piece by hand using a mini saw blade to trace and cut out lines.

“That’s important to me because it’s going back to the way that we understand what writing is about,” Nanibaa explains. “You’re moving along the line.”

Nanibaa carried her mother’s love into a space where she elevated her skill with an 8-week concentration class at Penland School of Crafts.

“It was a nice chance to learn how other people not only work and are artists but to enhance my knowledge of the work I want to create,” Nanibaa says. “And also getting myself into a mindset that allows me to grow.”

She carries her mother’s love into the fellowships she was blessed with this year—First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership and Artist in Residence at the School for Advanced Research, both of which propelled her forward in formal education and equipment.

Nanibaa’s experiences in the fellowships helped her focus on creating around blossoms for her Bloom Collection: #Iambloomingfrommymothersprayers.

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015  

Fox Spears’ (Karuk) primary medium is monotype printmaking. He uses hand-cut stencils and layers of ink on paper to create images inspired from Karuk basketry designs. His prints are in the collection of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Washington.

His other mediums include drawing, painting, and installation work. Fox resides in Seattle, Washington.

Fox lays out supplies for a printmaking workshop, his mind envisioning what the projects can be. But he leaves the creativity open-ended when students arrive.

During the flood of workshops he hosted this spring and summer, Fox demonstrated his own work with the supplies and offered ideas to Native youth, fellow artists, and elders. Then he let them bring their own vision to life with stamps and tissue paper or drawing with sharpies on squares. At some of the workshops, public art experiences, and drop-in studio sessions, he had a small press to allow participants to do actual printmaking.

“I’m always amazed at the diversity of creativity that can exist within a group of people,” Fox says. “Seeing what everyone makes is so fun.”

Having space to create is one of the greatest challenges for artists. Through his 2018 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership program, Fox was able to purchase a small print press he uses at home and workshops. His fellowship helps support the workshops where he provides creative space and inspiration for potential artists to find their voice as he did after returning to college in his late-twenties.

Fox pursued interior design, wanting that structure, but a visit to the National Museum of the American Indian in New York opened the world of printmaking to him. It was also the first time he saw contemporary Native artwork in a show.

Fox developed a voice in printmaking with guidance from James Lavadour, co-founder of Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts on the Umatilla Reservation in northeastern Oregon.

Working full-time at his day job, Fox retreats to Crow’s Shadow twice a year with a small group of fellow Native artists to focus on printmaking.

Fox is pushing into the remainder of the year with more workshops planned and brief residency in the Seattle Public Library, where he hopes to involve visitors in assembling the art.

“As an urban Native who lives away from our ancestral homelands, I find that making art is the way I am best able to maintain a regular connection with Karuk culture and language,” Fox says. “It’s a way that I can formally document my relationship with my ancestors, and a way to share Karuk culture with others.”

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

A non-profit tribal corporation, Kawerak, Inc. provides services within the Bering Strait Region of northwestern Alaska. They offer services to twenty federally recognized tribes located throughout sixteen communities.

Kawerak is headquartered in the hub community of Nome, employs 230 individuals throughout the region, and serves the approximately 7,400 Alaska Native residents. One of their missions is to advance the arts community within the Bering Strait Region. Kawerak’s Community Planning and Development provides technical assistance to approximately 30 artists in the region per year.

Online platforms like Etsy and Facebook are changing market opportunities for these artists. They are no longer limited to underpricing their handcrafted carvings, seal skin parkas, slippers, and beadwork for a quick sale to cruise ship tourists. Kawerak launched the Bering Strait Arts and Crafts Facebook page to connect these beautiful items with potential buyers. The page has grown to nearly 5,000 artists and shoppers.

“That blew open the market online where folks are being able to sell on a national level,” Alice explains.

Training artists in how to utilize these new markets, especially e-commerce, is one aspect of Kawerak’s work in building an Indigenous Arts Ecology through their long-time partnership with First Peoples Fund (FPF).

Alice first learned of FPF shortly after she was hired on at Kawerak as a training specialist. She read a notice in Anchorage about a Native Artists Professional Development (NAPD) training. She attended and was amazed by the program’s potential to help artists with marketing and business skills.

“The NAPD incorporates the discussion of our traditional and indigenous values along with business tools and resources,” Alice says. “That’s the first I’d seen that.”

“The NAPD incorporates the discussion of our traditional and indigenous values along with business tools and resources. That’s the first I’d seen that.”

— Alice Bioff (Inupiaq)

With additional funding through FPF, Kawerak sent two of their artists through the Train the Trainer program —traditional tattoo artist Marjorie Tahbone (Iñupiaq / Kiowa) and carver Randall Jones (Alaska Native Shishmaref). These artists consistently bring valuable training by boat or plane to rural artists.

“It’s a collaborative effort between Kawerak, First Peoples Fund, local communities, tribal offices, and the trainers,” Alice says.

“It’s opening artists’ eyes to what options are out there for them,” Carol Piscoya (Nome Eskimo Community) says. She is the vice president of Kawerak’s Community Services Division.

Thousands of miles away from urban hubs, in communities that can only be reached by winter trails, aircraft, or boat, Native artists are receiving training and assistance from Kawerak, Inc. The nonprofit organization is committed to bringing resources to even the most remote areas.

“With the internet becoming more accessible in our region, we have people who hold smartphones in their hands now,” Alice Bioff (Inupiaq) says. She works in Kawerak’s Community Planning and Development Department as the Business Planning Specialist. “The whole landscape is changing. We have folks selling online using social media.”

“With the internet becoming more accessible in our region, we have people who hold smartphones in their hands now. The whole landscape is changing. We have folks selling online using social media.”

— Alice Bioff (Inupiaq), Business Planning Specialist for Kawerak, Inc.

Most Alaska Native artists in the region practice the subsistence lifestyle of their ancestors. Their way of art follows their way of life. Hunting whale, walrus, seal, moose, and caribou follows the tradition of not wasting animal by-products. This often becomes art ranging from seal skin sewn mittens to walrus ivory transformed into works of art through figurines, jewelry, and utilitarian tools.

GATHERING THE DATA

What do the artists in remote areas need most from Kawerak? Where can funds best be utilized to have the highest impact on artists and their communities? To answer these questions, Alice and her staff are surveying artists, which is not an easy task with rural and hard to access communities.

Part of their Indigenous Arts Ecology program is to complete this survey with a goal of reaching 60 artists. They met with carvers, skin sewers, dancers, and singers to start collecting data. They want a better understanding of how they can support the art community, especially in knowing what tools and resources would be beneficial.

“We hope to create a strong program that will continue to support the arts in our region,” Alice says. “We need good data on what the arts community looks like.”

With this data, Kawerak can evaluate the needs of artists and how best to meet those needs while building networks within the Bering Strait Region between artists and source partners.

“I’m excited about the artist survey,” Carol says. “I’m curious what the results will be because it gives us an idea of where we may fill in the gaps of what the artists themselves need or want.”