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Last summer, we reclaimed our spaces in the ancestral lands of the Nacotchtank, Piscataway and Pamunkey lands (also known as Washington, DC) during the 25th anniversary of the First Peoples Fund. At The Kennedy Arts Center, world renowned for creative arts over the last 50 years, we showed and shared our cultural lifeways and diversity as Indigenous Peoples with the public.

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First Peoples Fund Board President Sherry Black (Oglala Lakota) says that We The Peoples Before celebrated film, theater, performances like spoken words, and music. It was also a way for the First Peoples Fund to correct the stereotypes of Native Peoples through the performing arts and how the theory of Indigenous Arts Ecology, which leads our work, is reciprocally linked to the worldviews and cultures of who we are as cultural bearers and artists.

Being on the board for First Peoples Fund for over a decade, Black adds that the nonprofit carries on the momentum of the work of the National Congress of American Indians, which had coined the phrase, “We Are The People Before We The People.” Black tells of how FPF pluralizes ‘Peoples’ to include global Indigenous peoples and the hard fights of changing and recognizing our demographic as peoples instead of generic labels of identifying Indigenous populations.

“It is a recognition that we're humans,” Black said. “So many people don't understand the different meanings behind all this. And art is part of everything. We cannot separate it.”

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Start the Bus!

Our mobile bus, which brings arts to your community, is a pop-up that fosters creative energy. Earlier this month, we resumed our Rolling Rez Arts workshops and hosted Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) artists, Tara Gumapac and Ikaika Bishop, both from Hawaii.

During Gumapac’s two-day workshops, attendees sipped tea provided by AUNTEAS, learned painting techniques and talk story with Gumapac. Being in Lakota Territory was Gumapac’s second visit, jointly made possible through First Peoples Fund, the Pa’i Foundation and Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI). As an artist, she makes sure to elevate the voices of her people because of how often Kanaka Maoli are misrepresented by the mainstream media.

By centering her people’s cultural narrative, Gumapac shared the significance of Lizard Woman or Freshwater Guardian to contextualize the role and power of feminine deities. “She’s one of those deities that I think a lot of people don’t talk about,” Gumapac said, adding that Lakota community members were also able to learn and paint their version of Lizard Woman on canvas.

Along with this cultural exchange, Gumapac traveled with her children and husband, Ikaika Bishop, who taught two additional workshops on anime creation using coding from MIT’s Scratch platform. Bishop is known for his creative work as a podcaster and digital media expert elevating the voices of those with disabilities. As a person considered legally blind, Bishop says creating animation is vital to reach all audiences.

Bishop told First Peoples Fund that he was inspired by the long sunsets across the prairies and found cross-cultural connections with his visit to South Dakota, including learning of the controversy of the Black Hills and the Dakota Access Pipeline.  

“To listen to the story of the people up there, I understand that there's still a lot of struggle going on for all of us and I'm happy to stand in solidarity with them,” Bishop said. “Hopefully, if we can get more of this media out there or advocate for tangible action, we can start to struggle a little less together.”

Bryan Parker (White Mountain Apache), FPF’s Program Manager for Rolling Rez Arts, said that the workshops held by Gumapac and Bishop showed how different mediums of storytelling can be told. As strong as oral storytelling is among Lakotas, it is also sharing with them visual techniques to reach different age groups and learning curves, he said.

Now that the Oglala Lakota Artspace (OLA) is now open to the public, Parker imagines more robust programming and the Rolling Rez Art (RRA) workshops, like those offered by Gumapac and Bishop, being an extension of the creative artspace. He says that OLA and RRA will focus on different mediums of art and skill levels of creativity.

“The bus really serves as a creative vehicle to point people in the direction to come to this arts space to build upon their skills and different things that we're teaching,” Parker said.

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From listening to the needs of our community, we are now celebrating the official grand opening of the Oglala Lakota Artspace. It is a creative space that celebrates our artists and cultural bearers on and around the Pine Ridge reservation. The space includes built-in studio and production spaces, as well as being a center for year-round programming. On May 20th, we will celebrate its grand opening.

This space also means that Lakota culture bearers and artists can share their knowledge with community, youth and other organizations. A music program and recording studio is also provided for all Lakota artists who want to create music.

“Arts and humanities are critical for all communities to help with stress levels, allowing people to come together to create and learn new techniques like traditional and contemporary quill work, beading, sewing, painting, music, and sculpture,” says Leslie Mesteth (Oglala Lakota), FPF’s Program Manager for the Oglala Lakota Artspace.

The Oglala Lakota Artspace partially originated from a 2013 market study that examines the arts economy as an economic engine for Native communities. An arts space is one of six resources Native artists need to be economically successful, according to our 2019 Investing in the Indigenous Artists Ecology report.

On May 19th, which is known as Native Nonprofit Day, you can make a donation to support the Oglala Lakota Artspace.

Last month, we hosted and welcomed cultural artists, who are known for their work in folklife and traditional arts, from across the U.S., to Lakota Territory. The first such gathering of the National Folklife Network – a new collaboration among the First Peoples Fund, the National Endowment of the Arts, Southwest Folklore Alliance and the Alliance for California Traditional Arts – attendees were exposed to Lakota values, culture and foods. The purpose of the National Folklife Network is to provide resources to uplift, connect, and nurture artists and cultural bearers from seven regions of the U.S.

Emmy Her Many Horses (Sicangu/Oglala Lakota), Program Manager for Special Initiatives for  First Peoples Fund says, ”The National Folklife Network enabled First Peoples Fund to host about 30 artisans, some traveling from as far away as the San Juan Islands.” These visiting artists experienced Lakota lands for the first time in their lives, which also served as a teaching moment for them as guests to see how creative art is present, vibrant and alive.

“Grounding them in our culture and values is necessary for the network to understand and process what folklife means to us. While the term ‘folklife’ can be problematic,” Her Many Horses says, “there are efforts to make sure folklife is inclusive of all.”

To get these artists grounded in our culture, they saw the social-cultural-economic experience of our people living in and between Rapid City and Pine Ridge, and how that influences our creative pursuits. The network members also found similarities and differences in the folklife each comes from, including the challenges of the meaning behind folklife, which for Native communities can be polarizing to view our lifeways as arts and crafts, Her Many Horses said.

Even so, this is where First Peoples Fund comes in as a nonprofit to facilitate these hard conversations with the network but also empower the voices of our artists and cultural bearers.

“We thought deeply about what local traditions we could bring into the space, that are things that we still do, but they're not taught in a formal class structure,” Her Many Horses said. “Typically, when someone's learning them. They're taught when you go to your grandma's house, and she says, ‘Hey, come here, help me with this.’ And you're there and you're learning naturally, through intergenerational transference of knowledge.”

From their visit to our motherland, one member from Memphis Voices, Corey Travis, wrote a reflection piece about experiencing Lakota folklife through intergenerational transference of knowledge.

“As Emmy and others, we encountered and they poured out every ounce of their heritage, family, and culture with us through purposeful experiences, food, and activities I could only just sit back and take it all in. To be reminded of what the Native American people went through, suffered, and experienced only to see the still lingering lasting effects both positive and negative was so grateful to feel and be a part of. Upon arriving I met the sweetest lady in the lobby of the hotel named Diane from Idaho who hosts the biggest sheep festival in her hometown and boy we were joined at the hip for the rest of the trip! We and my other Memphis Voices hung out every day and enjoyed everything about Rapid City and we even went to visit Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. Both of those experiences were one of a kind as well. The NFN workshops began and boy did they open up thoughts and provoke our thinking! We were put into groups and the first question asked was, "Who are you and who are your people?"  WHOA, what a question that I never have even asked myself before and to hear the answers from the others took my group into a deep conversation, highlighting who we are and where we come from. The exercise of trying to wholistically define culture, folklife, culture bearers, and more was eye-opening. The community connectors and voices that were chosen were from heaven. Hearing the talents, community work, and passion of each person was mind-blowing. It makes you think that there are really amazing people doing some extraordinary work and are extremely unnoticed and not represented at all in many ways which is sad and somewhat unjust. The connections made were priceless and ones that I will cherish for a lifetime. Overall, being chosen to have this opportunity has been something that changed the way I looked at a lot of the work I do and the cultural work of others I know and connect with. It made me so excited to come back to Memphis and think of ways to enhance the awareness of folklife in Memphis and afar,” - Corey Travis

In April, we welcomed our 2023 Cultural Capital and Artist in Business Leadership fellowship recipients and Native Arts Ecology Building (NAEB) grantees to the Indigenous Arts Ecology - Cultivating Entrepreneurship in Indigenous Communities convening. Typically an annual gathering that provides reciprocal support to the professional and personal growth of our fellows and grantees, this was the first time since 2019 (pre-COVID) that we’ve been able to bring everyone together. Because of that several fellows and NAEB grantees from the two previous years (2021 and 2022) were also able to attend. The focus of the convening this year centered on how to best support the entrepreneurial spirit of the artists and cultural bearers.

“The Indigenous Arts Ecology convening was an excellent opportunity for all grantees under the FPF umbrella - Native artists and Native-led organizations - to meet and network while rejuvenating the Indigenous Arts Ecology as we finally step out of a global pandemic that greatly affected Indigenous communities,” said Ryan Parker (Northern Cheyenne), FPF’s Regional Program Manager of Community Development.

From the workshops we offered, grantees were able to connect and learn from each other through panels like what is the Indigenous Arts Ecology, Tax Preparedness for Artists, Native Community Development Financial Institutions, and the topic of climate change’s impacts on our artists and cultural bearers, among other conversations.

"I loved it and I was engaged throughout. Creating, networking, and strengthening our creative economy has been heavy on my mind." - James Pakootas, Cultural Capital Fellow

"I didn’t expect such knowledge from this session, very informative!" - Seth Brings Plenty (a community artist who traveled with our NAEB grantee Four Band Community Fund)

The ILI Fellowship stands out as a unique and impactful program in the Indigenous community. In addition to providing top-notch training to its fellows, the program prioritizes building a sense of community and collaboration among its participants. By fostering a deep understanding and appreciation of each other's knowledge systems and values, the program helps to build a powerful BIPOC coalition that can work together to effect positive change in their communities. This emphasis on community building sets the ILI Fellowship apart and makes it a powerful force for progress and equity in Indigenous communities.

Curated by our partners at the PA'I Foundation, ILI profoundly impacted the fellows who participated. They consistently expressed how deeply the Indigenous ways of knowing and being resonated with them. This observation suggests that the Fellowship provided a unique opportunity for fellows to gain insights into different cultural perspectives and ways of thinking. In particular, the emphasis on Indigenous ways of knowing and being likely challenged fellows to think critically about their assumptions and biases and develop a deeper appreciation for diverse worldviews. Overall, it seems that the ILI Fellowship was a powerful learning experience that had a lasting impact on those who participated.

If you're a prospective applicant for the next ILI Fellowship cohort, I would advise interested applicants to approach the program with an open mind and a willingness to learn. The ILI Fellowship is a unique opportunity to gain new perspectives and ideas from individuals from different cultures, and it's important to be ready to receive these gifts. At the same time, it's important to be willing to contribute your own knowledge and experiences to the group. By actively participating and sharing your own perspectives, you can help make the ILI Fellowship a truly enriching and collaborative experience for all involved.

The ILI Fellowship aligns perfectly with First Peoples Fund's mission and impact goals. First Peoples Fund's mission is rooted in the belief in the Collective Spirit®, which aims to nurture our shared humanity and honor our connection to one another, the lands around us, those who came before us, and the spirit of all things. The ILI Fellowship creates an environment that celebrates and nurtures our shared humanity and connection. The fellowship provides a platform for indigenous leaders to unite, share their knowledge and experiences, and build relationships honoring their cultural heritage and values. By doing so, the ILI Fellowship helps to strengthen the indigenous communities and support the preservation of their traditions, which is aligned with First Peoples Fund's goals of promoting and preserving the cultural heritage of indigenous communities.

Writing is healing. Speaking is healing.

Together, they create spoken words. That is what Dances With Words (DWW), a program funded by First Peoples Fund, accomplishes among Lakota youth by empowering them to look within and channel their creative spirits.

During the Lakota Nation Invitational Poetry Slam in December, Kinsale Drake, a Diné poet, editor and playwright from Navajo Mountain, Utah, encouraged Lakota youth about the importance of being themselves and to look for healthy coping mechanisms like poetry to express themselves. After all, oral history is embedded in the Indigenous cultures of the Dakotas, as is storytelling and music.

As a mentor for DWW, Drake has taught the meaning of prose and activism with her poetry. She is a 2020 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellow and was recently selected as the winner of the 2022 Joy Harjo Poetry Prize in the annual Cutthroat Contest. She is also an alumnus of Yale University and has created spaces, like NDN Girls Book Club, for Indigenous women and girls to write and find community in art.  

“Many of our first love languages were stories, told to us by older generations. Poetry is an intricate and emotional vehicle for that storytelling; it helps us to make those stories our own but also inherently makes them selfless,” Drake told First Peoples Fund. “They are almost always doing good, or expanding some kind of relationship between an audience and a poet, between friends, between instructor/learner.”

”This type of reciprocity is visible, and sometimes forgotten, across Indigenous cultures, and funding to create programs like DWW is vital for Native youth because poetry is a source of healing and empowerment, “ Drake said.

Established in 2014, DWW is a play on the 1990 movie titled, Dances With Wolves, which is famous for casting Indigenous actors. DWW pokes fun at the film and has its own spin on it. With a focus on youth engagement and individual sovereignty through a writing community, DWW encourages youth to express themselves freely.

Some write and speak about environmental activism or the ongoing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples epidemic in their spoken words. Others explore substance abuse, suicide ideation, or the rampant alcoholism in their communities and how that is partly attributed to the historical impacts of colonization and generational trauma. In the end, healing is the center of these words no matter the subject.

According to Pte San Win Little Whiteman (Oglala Lakota), who was among the first cohort of DWW poets and now serves as FPF youth development program coordinator, DWW is youth-led on purpose.

“Our space is not just a place for our youth to connect with each other, but also to connect with themselves and their creative abilities and what they’re able to create and bring to the world,” Little Whiteman said.

They added that DWW strives to include various Indigenous cultures, including Lakota world views presented in its programming. DWW also offers a space for youth to talk about their lives, such as what they’re experiencing in their development as young teenagers.

“We have the highest teen suicide out of all the races. And that’s awful,” Little Whiteman said. “I just don’t want our youth to fall into that pit of just ‘Nothing’s going to be better.’” For Little Whiteman, and others, poetry has changed their lives for the better.

DWW, in some ways, is a healthy coping mechanism, says Augusta Rattling Hawk, DWW’s program manager for youth development. This year’s Poetry Slam, Rattling Hawk said, featured six participants, who also received training from the Cornerstone Theatre Company.

“Writing has such an intimate connection with just feeling and living and expressing one's emotions that a lot of times we see youth using this as an outlet to express themselves or feel better or bring about attention to problems that their communities face, or contribute to overall movements and causes like environmental activism poems,” Rattling Hawk said.

First Peoples Fund’s Oglala Lakota Artspace (OLA) has hosted many events supporting tribal creators and culture bearers since opening in early 2022. Amid workshops, a storytelling festival, jam sessions, and a new residency program, OLA also hosted a three-session sewing class for students from Pine Ridge Girls School in South Dakota in November 2022.

Oglala Lakota Artspace Program Manager, Leslie Mesteth (Oglala Lakota) says the sewing classes stemmed from a series of OLA sewing circles held during the fall of 2022. The sewing circle caught the attention of  Pine Ridge Girls’ School which lead to a partnership and a series of sewing classes. attention who in turn partnered with OLA to develop a class for their students. The Pine Ridge Girls School dress code requires students to have a ribbon skirt. Often, this is a challenge for families experiencing financial hardship and/or a lack of access to materials and resources. OLA saw this as an opportunity to not only develop a relationship with a regional school but also to share cultural knowledge while addressing a need among students and families.

The classes, hosted by Helene Gaddie (Oglala Lakota), taught participants how to create traditional items like ribbon skirts for use at their school and in cultural activities. Gaddie spent each session teaching students how to use sewing machines to create clothing like ribbon skirts and tea dresses appropriate for traditional hand games or sweat ceremonies. As a lifelong pow-wow dancer, Gaddie’s history with creating regalia and her existing studio at OLA made her the perfect choice to host the class. “She started out making regalia, so she learned a lot of these things from her family members, and now she’s able to pass that knowledge down to the community,” Mesteth said. “I think it’s really important to know these things - to carry on the ceremony and the cultural teachings.”

“They really like it - they like what they learned. I know one of the girls. She is my little niece, and she went home to her dad with her skirt and said, ‘look what I made on my own,’” Mesteth said. “It’s a time for them to come and create something at the art space they learned to do on their own.”  On the cultural impacts the sewing sessions present to youth participants, Mesteth said, “The sewing sessions allow knowledge to continue flowing from one generation to the next.”  

OLA continues to make strides toward creating a space for the community to gather, learn and share in a safe and comfortable environment. In the coming year, OLA will continue its work as a nexus of cultural knowledge and expression beginning with a series of star quilt workshops, the OLA Jam Sessions in partnership with Playing for Change - an international organization charged with inspiring and connecting the world through music, a beadwork workshop, and an inaugural Artist-in-Residence (AiR) program set to begin in 2023. First Peoples Fund is excited to see the OLA space activated by the community and we look forward to seeing it grow.

To learn more, contact leslie@firstpeoplesfund.org and visit our events page for regular updates.

Here at First Peoples Fund (FPF), we believe storytelling and poetry are crucial cornerstones in preserving traditional knowledge and culture. We also believe intergenerational work and focusing on our youth are critical to sustaining and growing the cultural fabric of our communities and our ability to thrive.

Through our Dances With Words (DWW) program, First Peoples Fund cultivates and support young literary and spoken word artists on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota – a program inspired by and born out of our experience with the nationally renowned, San Francisco-based Youth Speaks. Our youth programming grew beyond DWW in 2021 with the introduction of the  Emerging Poets Fellowship - a program supporting Lakota youth in building their artistic skills and professional development connections while building new paths for their success. And this fall, our youth development team hosted the first annual, Wooyake Theca Oyate, or Youth Storytelling Festival, at the Oglala Lakota Artspace in Kyle, South Dakota.

In organizing this event, First Peoples Fund collaborated with regional partners at the Cheyenne River Youth Project in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, Nis’to, Inc. in Sisseton, South Dakota, and the Indigenous Peoples Task Force in Minneapolis, Minnesota to bring 14 Native youth to the Artspace for a three-day celebration. These storytellers, ranging from 12 to 19 years old, gathered to celebrate their stories through poetry, song, and visual art, led by fellow artists and culture bearers. Together the group composed a rap song, created a short book of poetry and art, and painted a mural.

Youth participants had the opportunity to learn first-hand from accomplished Native artists and mentors who are part of the First Peoples Fund family. Tusweca Mendoza (Oglala Lakota, Sicangu Lakota) and Michael Patton (Oglala Lakota) led the mural painting, while First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital fellow Talon Bazille Ducheneaux and Terrance Jade led a songwriting workshop with the festival participants. Students learned writing and poetry fundamentals from Cultural Capital fellow Kinsale Drake. Together with First Peoples Fund Associate Director of Youth Development Autumn White Eyes, the group created a safe place for Native creatorsto tell Native stories.

“Native storytelling often hinges on sharing deeply held beliefs and traditions with others, building a sense of community and reciprocity in the attempt. Whichever form those stories ultimately take, they stem from a place of vulnerability and connection, which means creating the appropriate place to share them can be crucial,” White Eyes says. “Creating art can be this really vulnerable experience, especially for Native youth who struggle with so many things. [This event] gave people their own space, and [the opportunity] to take up that space during the festival. They worked together and shared their work with each other. That reciprocity is something we talk a lot about with the youth and that is really central to storytelling.”

White Eyes sees Wooyake Theca Oyate as another way to support the goals behind Dances With Words™, and First Peoples Fund’s mission toward celebrating and lifting up Native storytellers. FPF plans on hosting the festival again next year while working to expand the ways participants may express themselves and engage with their culture. White Eyes said she hopes to host the program during the summer, and include film as a medium.

From expanding our staff to reintroducing and expanding our community outreach through programming, events, and grant-making initiatives - 2022 was been a big year for First Peoples Fund. To add, our capstone 25th anniversary We the Peoples Before (WTPB) celebrated at the historic John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., provided an opportunity to amplify the critical work our network of Indigenous artists and culture bearers perform nationally. The 3-day event provided a platform to engage with a larger audience and build relationships through workshops, films, and performances designed to know, honor, and share the cultural fabric of Indigenous peoples. To add to the momentum of this remarkable year, First Peoples Fund expanded its reach by introducing the We the Peoples Before Education and Impact Initiative.

Through a partnership with the Kennedy Center’s premier digital and arts education programs, the WTPB Education and Impact Initiative is creating a high school curriculum centered on Indigenous cultures, history, art, and stories from first contact through the present day. Six of the nation’s leading educators were selected to lead the initiative, alongside First Peoples Fund Program Manager of Special Initiatives, Emmy Her Many Horses (Sicangu/Oglala Lakota), through the inaugural We the Peoples Before Education Fellowship. They include Leona Antoine (Sicangu Lakota), Brigitte Russo (Kanaka ‘Oiwi, Siciliana), Benjamin Grignon (Menominee), Sandy Packo (Inupiaq), Lynette Stant (Dine), and Nicole Butler-Hooton (Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians - Chetco Band, San Carlos Apache Tribe). Each fellow brings intersecting backgrounds in education and art and is actively working to develop a curriculum that helps educators across the country respectfully and effectively learn and share Indigenous culture and history.

“We have come together to explore these content areas and tribal histories, and to develop materials not only for students but also for educators so they can rethink their understanding and perpetuation of how they've learned about Native peoples and in turn have taught about Native peoples,” says Emmy Her Many Horses. “Also, in understanding how stretched educators are, we have realized how many resources the classroom teachers need, not only to access the content but to access it respectfully - in a way that honors the stories we share.”

The resulting curriculum will center its framework on six principles: resilience, dispossession, reclamation, adaptation, sharing, honoring and knowing. “Through this curriculum and the development process, we're utilizing a framework born out of First Peoples Fund’s beliefs and understanding of the world, and how we connect with communities,” Her Many Horses continues. Since the launch of the WTPB Education and Impact initiative, the fellows and Her Many Horses have presented their work at national education conferences like the recent National Indian Education Association Conference to increase visibility and to garner additional support needed to move this project forward and into the classroom.

As the first round of the curriculum nears the implementation phase, Her Many Horses reflects on the potential this project has to provide Native and non-Native students, teachers, and families nationwide. “We want to help them connect art and cultural history - to see how all these things come together,” Her Many Horses said. “The idea is to take a holistic approach by helping students and educators understand the art and work in front of them and where it came from.”

In September’s Collective Spirit newsletter we hear from Associate Director of Youth Development, Autumn White Eyes (Oglala Lakota, White Earth Anishinaabe), on the most recent cohort of Emerging Poet Fellows. In this piece, Autumn shares the impact of the Emerging Poet Fellowship on the youth participants and how this work informs their current and future prospects in their community and beyond.

A RETROSPECTIVE ON THE DANCES WITH WORDS EMERGING POETS FELLOWSHIP

This summer, Dances with Words (DWW), First Peoples Fund’s (FPF) spoken-word Youth Development initiative, hosted the second year of the Emerging Poets Fellowship. The Fellowship is an opportunity for young people to take their writing and artist development to new heights and refinement. After taking a year off from offering the fellowship to focus on providing virtual DWW workshops during the ongoing pandemic, FPF was able to offer the fellowship at the new Oglala Lakota Artspace once there was a low number of COVID-19 cases in the community.

Youth Poets participated in the 8- week fellowship centered on an advanced poetry curriculum and professional artist development. The poetry curriculum was developed by Oglala Lakota poets and educators Layli Long Soldier, Autumn White Eyes, and Helen Thomas. Through the course of the fellowship, youth met three times a week with their mentors in Kyle, SD, and Rapid City, SD. They read and discussed a variety of poets such as Joy Harjo, Orlando White, Haryette Mullen, Simon Ortiz, and a variety of forms of poetry including found poetry, erasure poems, prose, dadaist, public art poetry, and using the white space on the page. The poets also attended a professional development workshop each day which included learning skills such as writing an artist bio and resume, creating budgets, and pricing their work.

Among the fellows were Omaka Nawicakincinji Mendoza (He/Him, Oglala & Sicangu Lakota, 13 years old) and Charlize Pourier (She/They, Oglala Lakota, 18 years old).  

““I am a poet in so-called Rapid City, SD who strives to include aspects of life into my work whether it being political or just capturing nature in my art. I have participated in the Dances with Words program and emerging poets fellowship and I strive to learn as much as I can and broaden my mind in all aspects of life.”

— Omaka Nawicakincinji Mendoza

Charlize Pourier (Oglala Lakota) Her Red People Woman is eighteen years old. She lives on Pine Ridge rez and is a Senior at Red Cloud High School. She writes poetry to express her personal experiences and to shed light on the casual abuse in Native Women and Children within their community and outside.

““One thing that i really enjoy about the fellowship program was the people who were part of it. They all treated me with so much kindness and helped me improve my writing. I’m glad to be able to meet these amazing people and be part of this community”

— Charlize Pourier

Youth worked on developing poetry anthologies and culminating the fellowship with creating their own chapbooks (short books of poetry) and planning a poetry reading for their community.

Omaka read selected poems from his chapbook, “Red Word, and Charlize read poems from her chapbook, “Red Woman.” Audience members included family, friends, and community members. The poetry reading ended with an open-mic and local youth poets also performed selected poems. Through the course of the fellowship, both Omaka and Charlize grew exponentially in their craft and performance.

Autumn White Eyes, the Associate Director of Youth Development says, “One of the most rewarding parts of the fellowship was seeing the ways in which the youth would connect their poetry back to societal and political issues and engage in discussion on these issues. One of the goals of our programs is to assist youth in becoming engaged members of society and in seeing them connect and writing poetry about issues impacting their lives was truly inspirational and shows the power of artistic expression for Native youth speaking their truth.”

Over the course of the summer, the fellows were also heavily involved in the planning of Wooyake Theca Oyate Festival (Youth Storytellers Festival) and selecting the theme, Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Relatives. This October 7-10, 2022 Oceti Sakowin (SD, ND, MN) Indigenous youth artists will gather at the Oglala Lakota Artspace to attend poetry, music, and mural-creating workshops with featured artists, Tusweca Mendoza, Michael Patton, Kinsale Drake, Talon Bazille Ducheneaux, and Terrance Jade.

RED

By Charlize Pourier

The color red is associated with war, wealth, power, aggression, the fires of Hell.

Is that what they saw in me?

With their white marble skin and cheap gold crosses

An aggressive, red indian

Is that what they hoped for me if i didn’t bend and knee to kiss their feet?

The color red is an symbols of energy, passion, strength, love, warmth, and beauty

Is that what my mom saw in me?

With her warm red hands holding mine

She saw beauty in my skin and passion in my eyes, strength in my words and love on my lips

Is that what she hoped for me?

To be loving, warm, and passionate red beauty??

Luta  

To be red is to be a determined person who refused to be pushed over by the white

To be red is to be powerful being that scares the color out of their marble skin

To be red is to melt the cheap gold to make beautiful earrings that speak when they move

To be red is being myself

I WISH

By Omaka Mendoza

The bugle that the elk makes in the hills carries down to rapid hitting me like a hard wind it makes me want to take our lands back and give them a place to thrive I want tatanka to be left alone without being pet like a dog by aliens to my homeland I want our people to drop the bottles and be warriors not for themselves but for the people I want us to have land where we don't have to worry that in the future they might be bulldozed for profit over people we should not have to make sure to not have our hands in our pockets when we go into the store or having our hood up because we look suspicious. I want to have a place where elders are laughing and telling stories and have children playing running around and have hunters return with a good hunt…it stops and I snap out of it, Omaka! Come here we need to finish.

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In February 2022

First Peoples Fund announced the new cohort for the Cultural Capital (CC) and Artist in Business Leadership (ABL) fellowships, including honorees for the annual Community Spirit Award.

“Being selected for the fellowship is already exciting,” says Del Curfman (Crow Nation of Montana), a painter of Apsáalooke culture and a 2022 ABL fellow. Curfman is developing a series of paintings for a project titled Faces of Our Land: Decolonizing Urban Identities. “[My] inspiration is to connect with fellow Indigenous people, [and] to hear their stories and create meaningful artwork,” says Curfman.

The Artist in Business Leadership (ABL) fellowship is one of three grant-gifting opportunities for Indigenous artists at First Peoples Fund. Since 2004, ABL has supported more than 100 artists by building their entrepreneurial, marketing, and networking skills. But what excites Curfman most is collaborating with current and past fellows.

“First Peoples Fund alumni and established collaborators are so talented and inspiring,” says Curfman. “I am honored for the support [from First Peoples Fund].”

Similarly, Ursula Hudson (Tlingit), a fashion designer and visual artist, is ready to network outside of her small town in Colorado. “I’m generally very isolated from other artists, let alone other Indigenous people,” says Hudson, also a 2022 ABL fellow. “I’m thrilled to expand [outside] my community.”  

For her fellowship project, Hudson is creating fashion pieces for Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto and for a fashion show hosted by the Southwest Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA).

“Many Indigenous artists that I follow and admire have received Artist in Business Leadership (ABL) fellowships.”

- Ursula Hudson (Tlingit)

The Collective Spirit of Community

In addition to the ABL fellowship, the Cultural Capital (CC) fellowship strengthens the Collective Spirit of artists who perpetuate generosity, wisdom, and integrity through community-based and cultural preservation projects. And Wetalu Rodriguez (Nimiipuu) is among the eight 2022 CC fellows who will strengthen the Collective Spirit of their communities over the next year— and beyond.

Rodriguez, a beader and seamstress, is coordinating a powwow camp for children. “This powwow camp will be all-inclusive and recommended for experienced and non-experienced dancers,” says Rodriguez. “It is important to introduce these dance styles at a young age [in order] to develop a firm cultural bond.”

First Peoples Fund has supported over 50 CC artists and cultural projects that share and strengthen ancestral knowledge. “As Nimiipuu, we are taught [that] the more you give away, the more it comes back full circle,” says Rodriguez.

“I knew if I received the opportunity for funding and resources offered from the [Cultural Capital] fellowship, it would allow me to be a cultural mentor without the heavy financial burden— and that is a huge inspiration.”

- Wetalu Rodriguez (Nimiipuu)

Blossom Johnson (Diné), a storyteller and playwright, is also strengthening her community’s Collective Spirit through her CC fellowship. “I’ve been wanting to work with my community for years,” says Johnson. “And the fellowship allows me to plan and develop a five-week playwriting workshop.”

Johnson’s fellowship project is inspired by her mothers, sisters, and aunties (who also encouraged her to apply to the fellowship). She is developing a new play that will be translated into Diné. “When I write,” says Johnson, “I re-learn things I’ve forgotten, like culture, tradition, language, and history.”

“I have so much planned for the fellowship,” says Johnson. “But building a strong relationship with my community will be the most important part, because without [community], I would not have had the courage to apply in the first place.”

Inspired to Lead the Way

The alumni network of ABL and CC fellows consists of over 230 artists and cultural bearers. And Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti (Kanaka Maoli), a musician and composer, was inspired to apply to the ABL fellowship because of the talent she admired in previous cohorts.  “I greatly respect Moses Goods (Native Hawaiian),” says Lanzilotti. Goods is an actor, playwright, and 2021 ABL fellow.

For Lanzilotti’s own 2022 ABL fellowship, she is excited to connect with Indigenous artists from different disciplines. “It is a great help to have this support, both in terms of concrete financial support and community,” says Lanzilotti. “[I] can dream big!”

Filmmaker and reporter Tsanavi Spoonhunter (Northern Arapaho) was also inspired to apply because of previous fellows. “I remember reaching out to Ben Pease (Northern Cheyenne, Crow, Hidatsa, Cree) a few years ago to work on a poster for my short film,” says Spoonhunter. “I learned he was a [2019 ABL] fellow, and I think that's what really encouraged me to submit my application.”

“A lot of respected artists in Indian Country have gone through the [First People Fund fellowship] programs.”

- Tsanavi Spoonhunter (Northern Arapaho)

For her fellowship project, Spoonhunter is opening a filmmaking production company. “I've struggled to figure out where to begin,” says Spoonhunter. “And I knew this fellowship would give me that guidance.”

In all, First Peoples Fund selected 19 Artist in Business Leadership (ABL) fellows and 8 Cultural Capital (CC) fellows. Moreover, 4 Community Spirit honorees were selected, too.

Through a $25,000 award, the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award celebrates artists who exemplify their People's cultural assets in their creations and in their way of life.

“Community Spirit honorees embody their community's ancestral, cultural, and linguistic knowledge,” says Rachael Nez, who leads the selection process. “It's important we recognize and support their work.”

The 2022 honorees include basket maker Ed Carriere (Suquamish Tribe), fiber artist Renee Dillard (Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians), canoe builder Shawn Brigman (Spokane Tribe of Indians), and storyteller Charlie Soap (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma).

Pushing Forward

With a community of 31 fellows and honorees this year, First Peoples Fund staff will host workshops and virtual gatherings for fellowship recipients. And Tsanavi Spoonhunter is ready for the work ahead. “I'm excited to get to know all the artists in my cohort,” says Spoonhunter. “Indigenous-led organizations [like First Peoples Fund] are unique because they provide a space for like-minded individuals with similar backgrounds.”

“That's something I appreciate,” says Spoonhunter. “And [that’s] what I look forward to being a part of.”

Are you interested in applying to the 2023 Cultural Capital or Artist in Business Leadership fellowships? Do you wish to nominate a cultural bearer for the Community Spirit Award? Applications open in June 2022. Stay updated by visiting www.firstpeoplesfund.org, and follow new updates on First Peoples Fund’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.