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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.

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

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.

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

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

Rico Lanaat’ Worl’s (Tlingit/Athabascan) art is a focused study in learning formline design, the traditional style of the Indigenous Northwest Coast people. His skateboards are featured in museum collections such as the Anchorage Museum, the Museum of the North, and the Burke Museum in Seattle.

Rico currently serves on the board of directors for the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council. His art business, Trickster Company, is showcased online and with a storefront in downtown Juneau, Alaska.

Instead of notes, artistic sketches filled the page during class while Rico pursued his degree in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. After earning that degree, Rico came home and worked for a regional tribal nonprofit in repatriation and on designing language learning games. Though soon, he found himself creating more and more art.

Generations of Rico’s people have lived, worked, and created in the challenging climate of the Northwest Coast. He seeks to honor those values and traditions while exemplifying contemporary art and what it means to live a healthy, modern, Indigenous lifestyle.

“I create design that represents that Native people are an important part of this world.”

— Rico Worl (Tlingit/Athabascan)

Skateboards became Rico’s canvas and platform to reach youth, to instill pride in who they are as Native people.

When he decided to create a deck of cards, it took four months to design every face card as an individual piece of art. It took just four days to fund production through Kickstarter.com.

Along with Rico’s sister — 2017 Artist in Business Leadership fellow Crystal Worl — with her interdisciplinary art, Trickster Company was born. The family business provides jobs and an outlet for local artists in their community. Always striving for innovation, Rico is using his 2018 Artist in Business Leadership program to experiment with integrating leather and seal fur into his metal work.

When Rico sees youth ride a skateboard they picked up at Trickster Company, he knows centuries of living and creating on his people’s land is being experienced and upheld by the next generation.

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

Kandi McGilton (Metlakatla Indian Community) is a modern Tsimshian artist in southeast Alaska. A student of renowned master weavers Delores and Holly Churchill, Kandi practices the endangered Annette Island style of Tsimshian basketry. She received the Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award in 2017 to help continue her apprenticeship.

Kandi specializes in devilfish bags (octopus bags) through her business, Devilfish Designs. She collaborates with 2017 First Peoples Fund fellow David R. Boxley (Tsimshian) to create traditional formline designs. She co-founded the Haayk Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to revitalize Sm’algyax, the language of the Tsimshian.

Dedicated and determined, Kandi still struggled with learning how to weave. She had teachers and worked hard, but couldn’t get it down. When Kandi heard Holly Churchill (Haida) was on her island, house sitting in the small fishing community of Metlakatla, she tracked down the traditional weaver.

“I kind of threw myself at her, saying ‘I want to learn how to weave from you,’” Kandi says with a laugh.

Kandi visited with Holly in the evenings, and experienced a transformation.

Holly recognized her technique problem immediately and asked if Kandi would like to learn Tsimshian style. Shocked that was even possible, Kandi said yes.

Holly introduced Kandi to her mother, Delores Churchill (Haida), a former Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Awards honoree and 2015 Cultural Capital fellow. Delores had Kandi reverse her weaving to clockwise and with a Z-twist. It all fell into place at last.

“The Tsimshian of Annette Islands Reserve has a unique style of weaving,” Kandi explains. “It uses all red cedar twining with the incorporation of maiden’s hair fern and canary grass false embroidery.”

Kandi is now taking the gift of her knowledge into replicating ancient baskets held in museums. Selecting pieces from hundreds of photos taken at the Museum of Anthropology, the Royal BC Museum, and the Burke Museum, Kandi is sitting down and weaving the replicas. Supported by her 2018 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital fellowship, her goal is copying one piece from each museum. In this way, she is bringing the ancient pieces home.

“I’m extremely grateful for First Peoples Fund believing in this project, and understanding how important it is for me to create these replicas for our people to study and be proud of,” Kandi says.

“I’m extremely grateful for First Peoples Fund believing in this project, and understanding how important it is for me to create these replicas for our people to study and be proud of.”

— Kandi McGilton (Metlakatla Indian Community)

With moving into leadership roles in the community, Kandi still presents her baskets to Delores. She takes a float plane or ferry to leave her island and visit her mentor in Ketchikan for Delores to critique her work.

“Delores is amazing with small intricacies,” Kandi says. “She was a saint from the start.”

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

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A cultural exchange intended to immerse ArtChangeUs attendees in the Lakota story also worked to empower individual Native artists. Molina Parker (Oglala Lakota) came into the space at Racing Magpie in Rapid City, South Dakota for a collaborative art piece with Tasha Abourezk (Three Affiliated Tribes). Together, they drew people with ArtChangeUs REMAP into a group project that bonded them.

“We felt like we could trust each other,” Molina says. Both she and Tasha are former First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellows. “There was a cultural exchange, and I found that empowering. Everyone was willing to listen to each other.”  

First Peoples Fund welcomed the REMAP program to Lakota Territory in Pine Ridge and Rapid City, South Dakota, where everyone experienced a greater understanding of the climate, the people, and one another. ArtChangeUS REMAP: Pine Ridge: “Reclaiming Our Way of Knowing” engaged Native and non-Native artists, educators, activists, and changemakers in two days of immersive cultural experiences.

Arts in a Changing America director Roberta Uno says, “It was moving to hear Mary Bordeaux talk about coming to Rapid City as a child and not feeling welcome as a Lakota — and now a Lakota led-space is redefining what an arts center can be — inclusive of heritage and contemporary, as well as all people.”

The REMAP: Pine Ridge program encompassed diverse cultures and brought together people from New York, Hawai’i, Alaska, and places in between. Representatives from valued First Peoples Fund partners such as ArtPlace America and the Bush Foundation joined in the REMAP effort. We welcomed many who haven’t had the opportunity to visit the area. This led to connecting our artist fellows with larger national organizations.

“Many hands went into the effort, and it showed in every way,” Roberta says.

An initiative based out of the California Institute of the Arts, the ArtChangeUS mission is to reframe the national arts conversation by embracing the cultural assets of demographic change. REMAP is one of their primary programs. It focuses on bringing together an exceptional mix of leading artists, activists, scholars, and changemakers for cultural exchanges.

This was fulfilled in Lakota Territory with artist workshops, poets, educators, and other passionate presenters. The experience brought a better understanding for visitors of how much the area has to offer.

“There’s a Hawaiian proverb ‘Ma ka hana ka ʻike’ — basically, one learns by doing,” Roberta says. “All the artistic workshops by Mike Marshall, Molina Parker, Tasha Abourezk, Ohitika Locke, Tanaya Winder, and others were brilliant and it was a wonderful time to get to know each other and enjoy each participant’s company. Racing Magpie was ideal for these artistic exchanges; it is an inviting and inspiring space.”

In a full immersion experience that included grounding at He Sapa (Black Hills), the group had the opportunity to visit the Pine Ridge Reservation and Red Cloud Indian School Heritage Center.

“We were able to share the Lakota culture on Pine Ridge, the art that is being made there,” Mary Bordeaux (Sicangu/Oglala Lakota) says. She is the Vice President of Programs and Operations at First Peoples Fund. “It was good to bring all of those national folks to participate, see what we’re doing, and appreciate it.”

The project served to remap and recreate the image of Lakota people and their lifeways in modern times. While Native people honor and preserve traditions — mainly through art — their lives today are far removed from the romanticized version so firmly embedded in mainstream culture.

“A lot of people don’t realize that we use iPhones, we’re all on the internet,” Molina says. “We’ve started new traditions with art forms. We have a rich culture, and we want to share that with people.”

The workshop, led by Molina and Tasha, of creating quilt squares mixed with beading was a representation of how art can reshape demographics and bridge gaps. Tasha is sewing the pieces together to form a wall hanging as a reminder of the shared experience during the workshop.

“We were all laughing, enjoying ourselves, telling stories while we worked,” Molina says.  “Some of these people are directors of their organizations, and I didn’t know that going in. But no one had airs. Everyone just came and had fun. It brought us together, and I think that’s what art does.”

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.”

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

Total darkness surrounded Elaine Grinnell (Jamestown S’Klallam and Lummi) except flickering light showing through cracks in the potbelly stove. The light illuminated her grandfather’s face as he calmly peeled apples and told stories during those World War II blackouts along the Jamestown Beach.

Even with barbed wire rolled out on the sandy beach and her mother working at the ammunition depot, Elaine forgot her fears as she absorbed each word. Her grandfather, David Prince, gave her the gift of storytelling.

“I just watched the expressions on his face and listened to the tone of his voice,” Elaine says. “I don’t think he realized what he did for me, and my mother never really understood how I was passing on our culture and traditions, and preservation of things that are nearly lost, such as our language.”

Living with her grandparents, Elaine found they wouldn’t speak to her in Klallam, but her grandfather used some of the vocabulary in his stories. Not only does Elaine do this now, she became a certified Klallam language teacher in 2003.

Art and tradition are tightly woven through Elaine’s life and won’t let her retire. She still tells stories several times a week at NatureBridge, an environmental literacy education program based at Olympic National Park.

“I have the best time with the kids,” Elaine says. “If we have handicapped, that’s fine, too. I’ve had little kids come up to me and put their hands on my throat so they can hear my voice. I’m just so happy that God and my grandfather and grandmother gave me this ability to enjoy what I’m doing. I’ve gone to Africa and Japan and had interpreters, and maybe they don’t understand it, but they respond to my actions.”

At 81-years-old, Elaine continues to serve on several committees and boards. Her steadfast dedication led her granddaughter, Khia Grinnell (Jamestown S’Klallam and Lummi), to nominate Elaine for a First Peoples Fund Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award.

“She embodies so much spirit of the Klallam community. There’s a warmth about her that’s contagious.”

— Khia Grinnell (S'Klallam & Lummi), Elaine's Granddaughter

Elaine is one of the Pacific Northwest’s Native cultural and traditional treasures, and we were pleased to recognize her with a 2018 Community Spirit Award (CSA). In June, we visited Sequim, Washington to honor Elaine in her community. Over 100 people gathered at the community center from tribes in Washington, Canada, and Oregon, as well as First Peoples Fund staff from South Dakota.

“I was so thrilled,” Elaine says. “They gave me a blanket in honor of this award, and I put it on my bed, looked at it, and said, ‘It really is true, isn’t it?’ The First Peoples Fund representatives came from South Dakota clear out to Sequim. It’s way out on the Olympic Peninsula. But they found their way and came to visit and see what I was doing and where I was doing it. I’ll forever more be so deeply touched by that.”

Elaine recently went to Alaska and was able to visit with Marie Meade (Yup’ik), another 2018 CSA recipient.

“We talked about things we’ve done in the communities and compare differences and likenesses," said Elaine. "It was so interesting to listen to someone else’s culture. A lot of the things coincided with mine.”

Though storytelling is her predominate art medium these days, Elaine continues teaching three generations in her family cultural foodways and traditional basket weaving.

Along with showing her family how to gather, prepare, and weave Western Red Cedar bark, she practices traditional food gathering and cooking. She spent much of her life living on and around the Straights of Juan de Fuca (also known as the Salish Sea) where she dug clams, picked oysters, caught salmon, crab, and octopus and prepared them in traditional ways.

Elaine takes her cultural practices worldwide—or down the road to an ailing community member. “This week, I went to visit a lady who has an autoimmune system issue. She was so lonesome for Indian food, so my grandson and I took her clam chowder and fry bread. She just tore into it. That was so fun to see her smile.

“She and my grandson had a lot in common. I’m putting generations together. I want all my grandchildren to know people I know because they can benefit from their knowledge, their feelings, and their spirit.”

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

Raye Zaragoza is an award-winning singer, songwriter, and performer whose multinational heritage (O’odham, Mexican, Taiwanese and Japanese) deeply informs her music. Her song “In the River,” in response to DAPL, garnered half a million video views, national media coverage, a Global Music Award, and an Honesty Oscar. Her debut album “Fight For You” released in 2017.

Raye resides in North Hollywood, California, and is a 2018 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellow.

Music resounded from the stage under the lights in the restaurant. Raye wanted to be on the stage, not waiting tables in front of it as she made cash to support her fledgling music career.

Raye had pursued acting for a time, only to find she stayed up nights writing songs. At nineteen and singing at a pie shop three hours every Tuesday while getting booked at other local venues, she came to a realization.

“I decided, ‘I’m a singer-songwriter,” she says. “‘This means more to me than anything, and I’m going to give it my all.’”

“I decided, ‘I’m a singer-songwriter. This means more to me than anything, and I’m going to give it my all.”

2018 is Raye’s first year as a full-time musician and living on her own. It’s filled with incredible opportunities she only dreamed of.

Raye launched the year with a tour in Germany. Though her audiences weren’t always fluent English speakers, they connected with Raye’s style.

“For me, it’s the most important thing to write music with a message that can open minds,” she says. “Many people have said my music is healing, and I hope I can continue to heal those who are suffering within my community and around the world.”

“Many people have said my music is healing, and I hope I can continue to heal those who are suffering within my community and around the world.”

Raye’s year sped up when she attended FPF’s Fellowship Convening in Santa Fe.

“It was great that First Peoples Fund educated us on the importance of having a lawyer,” she says. Through her fellowship funds, she was able to hire a lawyer who can protect her rights as an independent artist.

She also connected with 2018 Artist in Business Leadership fellow Jeff Peterson (Native Hawaiian) when they co-wrote, performed, and recorded a song at the convening. He is now her guitar teacher via Skype.

“He’s taught me riffs and variations, helping me take my songs to the next level,” Raye says.

With a fast-paced year halfway behind her, Raye is trying to reflect on the journey, but things aren’t slowing down. This summer, she’s on the biggest tour of her life, opening for Dispatch and Nahko and Medicine for the People. She’s looking ahead to her FPF grant helping her finish a home studio and record her EP.

“It’s amazing to be able to just focus on music,” Raye says. “I’m really blessed.”