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

Mist settled over the pine trees clustered on the mountainside backdrop of the stunning Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau, Alaska. First Peoples Fund’s Indigenous Arts Ecology (IAE) program regional convening was underway, though not in the way we’d planned. Mechanical issues on the ferry and too much fog for a plane ride prevented us from visiting the Chilkat Indian Village in Klukwan.

Past Community Spirit Award recipient Lani Hotch (Tlingit) had planned to host us to see their thriving arts ecology. In a community of fewer than 100 people, they have built a strong tourist destination with a culture center, public art, and artists’ work to celebrate and preserve their culture.

“A main component of the IAE grant itself is for these regional convenings,” said Jeremy Staab (Santee Sioux), First Peoples Fund program manager. “The grantees come together with First Peoples Fund and the site managers to meet and share collective knowledge between the sites. They also get professional training from our lead consultants, Ben Sherman and Theresa Secord.”

Since we were unable to witness the work in the Chilkat community firsthand, the Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau welcomed our convening into their facility.

The group settled in the Clan House — built by past Community Spirit Award (CSA) recipients David A. Boxley (Tsimshian) and his son David R. Boxley (Tsimshian) — within the Sealaska building. The facility also highlights art by former CSA recipients Nathan Jackson (Tlingit), and Chilkat weaver Anna Brown Ehlers (Tlingit), a 2017 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow.

We shared introductions between staff, facilitators and representatives of the IAE grantees — Four Directions Development Fund (Red Lake), Lakota Funds (Pine Ridge), Northwest Native Development Fund (Colville) and Native American Community Development Corporation (Browning).

Each area partner brought one or two artists because, at its heart, an Indigenous Arts Ecology is an artist-led movement. The program is about building better infrastructure for artists within tribal communities.

“Any program like this has to be artist-led,” said Theresa Secord (Penobscot), co-organizer, IAE site manager, and FPF trainer. “What do artists need, what are their strengths, what can they look to others for in the way of assistance or in sharing their gifts?”

Theresa, a former FPF board member, CSA honoreee, and National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow, recognized the symbol of success the Juneau area represents for Indigenous artists in the modern economy.

“Meeting in Juneau at Sealaska was a very rich experience,” she said. “It’s a showcase of Alaska Native culture; an amazing building and meeting space.”

“The First Nations people of that land treated us very well,” said First Peoples Fund artist fellow and trainer John Pepion (Piikani). He represented the Northwest Native Development Fund at the convening.

FPF staff brought together our relations in the Juneau area to create an Indigenous Arts Ecology experience for the grantees. Crystal Worl — 2017 Artist in Business Leadership fellow and co-owner of Trickster Company — made time in the chaos of her schedule to come to Sealaska and introduce herself.

She was amazed to see three people wearing Trickster apparel as she shared her story of how helpful First Peoples Fund was to her and her Juneau-based business that promotes Indigenous design. Her brother Rico Worl — who had opened the convening with a blessing — and Crystal started Trickster Company with a long-term vision of being part of the growing art mecca in Alaska.

“Often, individual artists don’t have the capability to open a shop,” Crystal said. “One long-term goal of Trickster Company is to give artists that space to sell their designs on skateboards, clothing, and accessories.”

Crystal invited five of the IAE guest artists to her home, where she served seal she’d butchered and salmon she’d caught.

“We talked about each other’s art and exchanged art ideas,” Crystal said. “I spoke with John Pepion about using some of his designs on a product to be featured through Trickster Company and doing cross-branding with him. It was short but super sweet to have them (the artists) here.”

“Everyone we met in Alaska was knowledgeable, kind and generous,” John said. He enjoyed his first experience in that state. With the constant mist and fog, it felt like a chilly rainforest as a group from the convening hiked up the Mendenhall Glacier and took in the view. On the banks of the lake near Nugget Falls, a black bear ambled out in front of them.

John became a fan of the unique Northwest Coast formline art designs. “I was inspired by the local scene,” he said. “Some of the artists had their own shops and studios right downtown. I feel like that community supports their Indigenous artists because their art is everywhere, even on signs and coffee shop menus. It was awesome to see.”

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015
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“I expect you to change the world.”

Mary Bordeaux’s (Sicangu / Oglala) father spoke those words to her at her high school graduation. At the time, Mary, who joined FPF as program manager for fellowships earlier this month, had no idea how she could change the world. It weighed on her, an impossible expectation.

It wasn’t until years later that Mary understood her dad’s statement. When her oldest son Austin was born and looked into his eyes, she realized she was his whole world at that time. Did Mary’s dad mean she was to change the world or to change her world?  

“I started to think of it as a statement of empowerment,” Mary said. “That I need to change how I interact with the world and how the world interacts with me. That’s what I need to be changing.”

Mary decided from then on to try harder, to push herself, to leap.

“First Peoples Fund’s entire board and staff are thrilled to welcome Mary to our team,” said Lori Pourier, FPF’s president and CEO. “We have worked with Mary on Pine Ridge and through a variety of programs for many years. The breadth of her knowledge and experience with Native art and artists is already fueling our programs in exciting ways.”

Born and raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Mary moved to Santa Fe in 1998 to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts where she earned her bachelor’s degree in museum studies. Being at IAIA let her be around art, let it envelop her, to take classes but not be an artist yet.

“I wish I could be an artist, but my skin’s not thick enough,” Mary said. “So I do my best to support artists and art in the best way I know how.”

After graduation and an internship at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., Mary came home to Pine Ridge. She found a job at The Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School.

“It was supposed to be a one-year position, and I ended up staying ten years,” she said with a laugh. She worked in all capacities at the museum, eventually leaving as interim director.

Mary gained her Master’s of Fine Arts in exhibition planning and design from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia while still working for The Heritage Center from afar.

After she came home, Mary eventually moved to the Indian Museum of North America at the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills. She became the museum curator and director of cultural affairs where she helped develop and expand their artist programs.

In 2016, she shifted focus to begin working on her doctorate at St. Mary’s and also take her accumulated knowledge to open an art gallery, Racing Magpie, with her husband, Peter Strong. Racing Magpie, founded in 2016, is an Indigenous art gallery and artists space in downtown Rapid City. That became a place where Mary could fulfill her heart’s desire to work with artists.

“It’s so humbling to be a part of,” she said, “working in museums, in collections, and giving access to communities and artists so they can see art created by their ancestors. I want to be here as a helper.”

Mary has seen the power of art to heal, and how it draws old and young people to one another, people with different political and socio-economical backgrounds. It brings people together who wouldn’t connect if they weren’t in front of or interacting with art.

“It gives people the opportunity to have dialogue with each other,” Mary said. “I want to be there to facilitate art and to help it do its job. Sometimes artists have a hard time communicating their message to the rest of the world. I want to help the world understand what artists are saying.”

Having witnessed the work of Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota) and First Peoples Fund for many years, Mary was excited to move into the position of program manager for fellowships earlier this month.

“I have such a desire to work with artists, to help them amplify their voices,” she said. “I couldn’t think of a better place to do that than with First Peoples Fund as their program manager for  fellowships. I get to work directly with artists. They spend so much time being such great artists; I want to help them be better at the business side of things, giving them more brain power or energy to spend on their art. First Peoples Fund gives me the opportunity to do that.”

With her husband managing Racing Magpie, Mary still sees herself continuing to curate shows that push boundaries, that won’t be the romantic view of who Native people are, exhibitions that talk about current issues.

“I’m interested in interactive art that people can experience,” she said. “It doesn’t happen a lot in our area. I’m excited to have a space where artists can do that.”

Thovugh Mary still doesn’t claim the title of “artist,” she has found herself changing the world for Native artists and others. Her oldest son is now a junior at the IAIA in Santa Fe, and she spends as much time as possible with her youngest son, a creative eight-year-old. They build projects together as she teaches him about his world.

“I expect you to change the world.”

“I always work to do things that are going to empower Native people,” Mary said, “and so that my sons see that you can be Native in this world and be good at things and be okay even if you’re uncomfortable. That’s what that statement from my dad has come to mean.”

The Ford Foundation announced today that First Peoples Fund President and CEO Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota) is one of 25 new Art of Change fellows. The fellowship supports visionary artists and cultural leaders in creating powerful works of art that help advance freedom, justice, and inclusion and strengthen our democracy.

“First Peoples Fund has spent nearly 20 years advocating for the advancement of Native artists and culture bearers at the tribal level.  It is an honor to be recognized by the Ford Foundation for our important work,” Lori said. “The award will give us the opportunity to uplift the voices of culture bearers and artists who are restoring and rebuilding the very fabric of their tribal communities through art and cultural expression.”

Pourier is joined in the award by diverse arts and culture luminaries such as dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, writers Edwidge Danticat, Sandra Cisneros and Joy Harjo (Creek, Muscogee). Alternate ROOTs executive director Carlton Turner, a member of First Peoples Fund’s board of directors and a partner in Intercultural Leadership Institute, is also a fellowship recipient.

“Lori has devoted her career to supporting Native artists and culture bearers and the communities in which they live, particularly through the work of First Peoples Fund,” said Sherry Salway Black, chair of First Peoples Fund’s board of directors. “She leads this important effort to strengthen tribal communities now and for future generations — this award will help to elevate and continue this work.”  

The artists and cultural leaders selected for Art of Change fellowships all have a demonstrated commitment to social justice, and reflect a powerful diversity of experiences and creative voices. Drawn from a wide range of artistic fields, the fellows span generations, backgrounds, geographies and life experiences — and together tell a rich and varied American story.

The Art of Change fellowship builds on the Ford Foundation’s decades-long commitment to advancing the arts and creative expression. Today, the foundation’s Creativity and Free Expression program explores how culture affects and shapes our world, and how the arts, journalism and film can contribute to fairer and more just societies.

“Art is essential in a free and flourishing society. Artists are the visionaries who can shine light on complexity and possibility, and inspire us to make those societies more just and more beautiful,” said Elizabeth Alexander, the Ford Foundation’s director of Creativity and Free Expression. “This fellowship recognizes an extraordinarily diverse group of brilliant artists and innovators whose works embody social justice, and enables them to come together and collaborate toward a more just and inclusive future.”

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

A strong wind blew across the grasslands as we huddled together, sheltering between vehicles. It was a quiet moment for a group of 50, a time of silence as all gathered close and waited. We stood at the top of a hill near the Wounded Knee Cemetery and the site where a band of Lakota people were massacred in 1890.

We prepared for this time at the Lakota College Historical Center in Kyle where we viewed photos and heard the story of Wounded Knee. The time came to experience the place and feel the emotions.

First Peoples Fund President Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota) introduced Tashina Banks Rama (Oglala Lakota / Ojibwe), daughter of Dennis Banks, to share a piece of the second Wounded Knee story when the American Indian Movement occupied the town in 1973. After tearful stories, Tashina went around to those gathered, offering tobacco for ceremony and was embraced with long hugs by the those in the group.

Led with a prayer song by Guss Yellow Hair (Oglala Lakota), who bore the Eagle Staff, the group fell in line to enter the cemetery and pray as we slowly walked around the chain link fence that marked and protected the mass grave. Circling to the front again, Guss opened up the time for anyone to sing or pray. Hawaiians in the group offered chants and wove the braided lauhala leaves they’d brought with them for this purpose they around the top of the fence. “We wanted to bring deep aloha,” said Vicky Holt Takamine (PA’I Foundation Executive Director).

American Indians used the hand drum for prayer songs or gave a warrior’s cry. African Americans offered brown sugar. Some people knelt on the earth and prayed for healing. Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) fellow Angie Durrell played “Closer to my God” on violin.

“It was so beautiful,” Lori Pourier said. “That’s never happened, for someone to play a violin there.”

Across the cultures, we felt the pain of the past and connection with that place.

This moving time at Wounded Knee came in the middle of the Intercultural Leadership Institute — Lakota Territory, hosted by First Peoples Fund (FPF). The journey had begun a few days before in the Black Hills, HeSapa, sacred ground for the Lakota People.

Ron Martinez Looking Elk (Isleta / Taos Pueblos), FPF trainer and board member, organized the opening circle. Carlton Turner, Alternate Roots Executive Director, officially passed ILI to Lori Pourier and FPF from the institute’s previous immersion experience in Jackson, Mississippi in March.

The circle continued around with fellows, partners, and guest introductions. People from Hawai’i and California, across to New York and Rhode Island and states in between came to South Dakota where they learned about Lakota people and their homelands.

The focus throughout was immersion in Lakota Territory, giving the 30 ILI fellows an opportunity to experience that place. One fellow commented that it was “a privilege to be in this space, that Lori trusts us to bring us here to learn about their history and culture.”

It wasn’t always an easy experience. Emotional, physical and mental drain on the group was brought up by some of the fellows. Leaders of the partner organizations that founded ILI adjusted the schedule and allowed for time to process the traumatic history and the pain of similarities woven through all cultures.

The group covered hard topics about the structure of ILI and how to address issues in the future. The partners welcomed input about the previous convening, and fellows voiced concerns and also their appreciation for the collaboration efforts to grow interculturally as leaders and embody the purpose of the institute. ILI aims to develop an innovative, arts-centered, bold demonstration of intercultural collaboration, learning, and leadership development.

“The work you do is rooted in your heart and your values,” Lori said. “Take these 18 months to build relationships.”

The fellows have made many connections through the institute so far. “I’m here to learn, and I’m enjoying learning from every one of you,” said ILI fellow and First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellow Wesley May (Red Lake Band of Chippewa). “We interconnect and share goals. We learn the most from each other.”

That was a takeaway for everyone — the commonalities we have and the efforts to reclaim what was taken or lost. It’s complex work.

“We knew we wanted to help create a different paradigm of the way arts, culture and our communities are supported,” said Maria López De León (NALAC President and CEO). “With shared understanding, we have a greater voice. We’re asking you (ILI fellows) to come along with us and together, find those answers and develop that new paradigm. You’re a part of creating this.”

The fellows acknowledged the importance of building solid foundations on common goals. ILI nurtures community, an atmosphere of like minds coming together with their different perspectives yet same thoughts.

“All these cultural experiences and these shared celebrations,” ILI fellow Jonathan Clark said, “It’s beautiful that humanity crosses all those different things.”

““All these cultural experiences and these shared celebrations. It’s beautiful that humanity crosses all those different things.”

— ILI fellow Jonathan Clark

“Most of all I see harmony,” Cassius Spears (Narragansett/Niantic) said. “What we’re doing is important, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Closing the Lakota Territory ILI Convening

On the final day, there was an opportunity for everyone’s voice to be heard in the closing circle when facilitator Tufara Waller Muhammad asked everyone to share what was resonating with them in that moment after all they’d experienced during five days of immersion in Lakota Territory. Responses ranged from sincere gratitude to Lori and First Peoples Fund for hosting the journey, to the emotional bonding and support for one another among the fellows.

Throughout ILI there were moments of honoring, gifts given to speakers and leaders after sessions. After the final sharing, Lori gifted parfleche boxes made by FPF fellow Mike Marshall (Sicangu Lakota) and filled with sage bundles tucked inside by her daughter.

The convening concluded with intercultural leadership at work. Lori asked Angie Durrell to close out the Lakota Territory convening with a tune on her violin. ILI fellow Adam Horowitz planned to stay two extra days and shoot a video with Bryan Parker, FPF Rolling Rez program coordinator, about the importance of acknowledging place.

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

Through this series, we highlight the extraordinary people who serve as First Peoples Fund’s board of directors. They are the culture bearers and leaders from national nonprofits within and beyond Indian Country who graciously guide First Peoples Fund and strengthen the Collective Spirit®.

MEET CARLTON TURNER

Carlton Turner works across the country as a performing artist, arts advocate, policy shaper, lecturer, consultant, and facilitator. He is the Executive Director of Alternate ROOTS, a regional arts organization based in the South supporting artists working at the intersection of arts and social justice.

Carlton is co-founder and co-artistic director, along with his brother Maurice Turner, of the group M.U.G.A.B.E.E. (Men Under Guidance Acting Before Early Extinction). M.U.G.A.B.E.E. is a Mississippi-based performing arts group blending jazz, hip-hop, spoken word poetry and soul music together with non-traditional storytelling.

Carlton currently serves on the boards of First Peoples Fund, Imagining America, and Project South for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide. He is the founder of the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production, an arts and agriculture venture to support rural community, cultural, and economic development in his hometown of Utica, Mississippi where he lives with his wife Brandi and three children.  

Q&A

Carlton, we appreciate your taking time for this Q&A. Who taught you the values you hold closest? What role did that person play in your life and what lessons did you learn from them?

My mother and father were instrumental in the lives of myself and my siblings. We were grounded in knowing who our family was, and connected to the history of our community. That gave us a sense of place that made everything else flow. It allowed us to be solid in our identity no matter where we went or what we encountered.

That sense of place is the thing I think is most important in the raising of my own family: keeping them in a community that values them as individuals.

What professional accomplishment do you believe says the most about who you are and what’s important to you?

Development and collaboration with my peers, mentors, and friends in the Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI). Working with people on things I know are important — intercultural relationships and strategies, and to acknowledge our shared connection in this world and the power we have as a collective body. The leaders of First Peoples Fund, the National Association of Latino Arts & Culture and the PA’I Foundation have become my family, my mentors, my aunties.

ILI is a great summary of some of the most important work I’ve ever done.

How long have you served on the First Peoples Fund board and why did you get involved?

This is my second year on the First Peoples Fund board. I got involved with FPF through our common relationships with the Ford Foundation. The way Lori Pourier spoke about her people, her community, their struggle, their triumphs and their dreams for a better life resonated with me in the way I think about my own community. It was a great opportunity to work together because we already had so much in common. That was 13 years ago.

I’ve been to Pine Ridge multiple times and Lori’s been to Mississippi. We’ve worked together in at least 20 states. Joining the board was a logical step to help support her leadership at First Peoples Fund.

What are the most significant challenges Native nonprofits face? How does FPF overcome those challenges?

I think the primary challenge is that their work is too often viewed as secondary. The way First Peoples Fund negates that is they look first for validation within their communities before seeking validation from communities outside.

Culture bearers are being nominated from within the communities for the Community Spirit Award. The community is telling you who’s important to their cultural existence and to the continuation of their practices. That’s an important process FPF upholds that shifts the way they are able to validate the work of their people.

What do you wish others knew about First Peoples Fund?

As a leader of an organization, I know it’s not about the individual because it takes a whole team to sustain the work. But I can absolutely say that being around Lori for the past decade-plus — seeing her work, seeing the depth and breadth of her relationships, her knowledge — that Lori is a genius. I don’t know that she’s recognized for her brilliant leadership as much as she should be. People should know that this woman has transformed the organization and carved out a space for Native artists to be recognized at the highest level of excellence.

How do you see First Peoples Fund changing lives and communities?

They’re not working in philosophical ways; they’re working in tangible ways. They take this idea of how important the spirit of their community is to their work, and that’s how they develop the programs.

The Rolling Rez Arts Unit is taking the work and space to people’s homes, bringing it to your community center. It has financial institutions embedded in it, and it has connectivity there through their training modules around economic development. This is about transforming the material conditions of their community.

That work is not lofty; it’s tangible. You can see the difference in the people they’ve worked with and their ability to make a living from their art, to be able to sustain their work and to be recognized as both business people and culture bearers, and for those things not to exist in a contradiction.

Do you consider yourself an artist? What is your art form?

I’m primarily a writer, but I’m also a musician and a theater artist. I’ve done all of those things professionally. Those are the places where I spend the bulk of my artistic time.

I’m working on a new piece with Pangea World Theater in Minneapolis that will premiere in the fall of 2018. I’m in the process of writing that piece with another artist.

What else would you like to share that we haven’t asked about?

First Peoples Fund is a people’s organization. It is for the people, and it is for the community. I’m moved by the balance the board achieves in doing the business of the organization. The business is important, but those elements of spirit, tradition, ceremony, ritual, and story are all a part of our board meetings. You’re not going just to do finances and minutes. You’re going to understand who the people are in the room, understand the land you’re on, be introduced to the local artists, engage in story and ceremony.

Lori planned a sweat lodge for the partners of ILI before we entered the Intercultural Leadership Institute — Lakota Territory in September. That’s the kind of person she is, that’s the kind of work First Peoples Fund does, and that’s what sets them apart from traditional arts organizations.

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

Jason Garcia (Santa Clara Pueblo Tewa) earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking within his 20-plus-year art career. He has participated in the Comic Art Indigene at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, and Native Pop! at the New Mexico Museum of Art. His work has led to top awards and honors, including a Ronald N. and Susan Dubin Fellowship at the School for Advanced Research, and Best of Classification and Artist’s Choice awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market.

In 2017, Jason participated in numerous shows and exhibits, including “A Grand Celebration” at The Poeh Museum. Jason resides in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico.

Okuu Pin — strong like a mountain and the patience of a turtle. Like the meaning behind his traditional Tewa name, Jason has learned the best things take a little time, but it’s worth it in the end.

Jason brings the ancient into the present, inspired by everything around him. Hand gathering clay, native clay slips, outdoor firings — he fuses modern icons with these traditional practices. Jason examines life and interprets those things through his art. His finished works, often clay tiles created in the traditional Pueblo way, offer a rich visual mix. His art is always telling a story.

Jason’s first graphic tile in 2002 solidified his lifetime calling and expanded the norms of contemporary Pueblo art. He experiments with blending ancient Pueblo designs, his people’s stories, and stunning landscape with Western pop culture.

He values his tribal community’s acceptance of his work. His art also reaches the non-Native world with interpretations of his people and their past, but also their often overlooked present.

“I feel I am always educating the public about my work and my process,” Jason said.

With his First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellowship, Jason is creating a serigraphy/silkscreen print studio to expand his work as a full-time artist. “Serigraphy is a wonderful medium to get across many of the stories and ideas that my artwork portrays,” he explained.

Whether through traditional or modern mediums, Jason knows it is important to keep ceramic practices alive and to pass them down, as they were passed to him from time immemorial. He said, “I feel these materials and techniques connect me not only to my ancestral past and landscape but also connect myself and future generations to our Tewa cultural traditions.”

A Q&A SESSION WITH "REAL ARTISTS DON'T STARVE" AUTHOR, JEFF GOINS.

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

I’d like to share this special book with my family at First Peoples Fund. After writing dozens of FPF artist stories the past few years, I wanted to spread the word about an inspiring book by one of my favorite authors, Jeff Goins.

Jeff is the best-selling author of five books including The Art of Work and Real Artists Don’t Starve, and teaches online courses (including the popular Tribe Writers). He’s also a speaker and consultant.

On his blog, GoinsWriter.com, Jeff shares his thoughts on writing, life, and creative work. He says, “We all have a creative gift worth sharing with the world, and that is our art. So whether you have a business idea, a book in you, or some other project you want to start, my goal is to help you get that work out of you and into the world. And here’s the thing: you don’t have to starve to share your best work. If you have a passion for creativity and changing the world, this is the place for you.”

I asked Jeff to share about his newest book, Real Artists Don’t Starve, with my family here at First Peoples Fund. I hope you are as inspired and encouraged as an artist as I was by his answers.

Q&A

Welcome, Jeff. Let’s start with the chapter in Real Artists Don’t Starve about apprenticeships. It speaks especially to Native artists, many of whom learn from elders and culture bearers. Why do you think learning from a master is important to an artist’s career?

Because how else do you become great? Greatness is caught more than it’s taught. You have to see mastery in action. It’s an experience, not just an education. This is a lost art in most cultures.

Many Native artists struggle to gain recognition and respect for their art within their communities. What is one key thing they can do that would help them thrive locally?

Practice in public. Find a way to share a part or piece of your work with an audience every single day. As your audience grows, so will demand for your work.

What advice would you give artists who are working to create an “art scene” in their community?

Be patient. Scenes take time. Be flexible. The community you need may or not be the one you expect. And be generous. Build the kind of community you'd love to be part of.

What would you say to someone preparing to leap from part-time to full-time artist?

Don’t take a leap. Build a bridge. Slow and steady wins the race. It’s better to build a creative career gradually over time.

What else would you like to share that we haven’t asked about?

Whatever you do, please understand that we need you. If your art is your duty, that something that you can't not do, then I hope you'll create anyway. In spite of the fear. In spite of the shame. I hope you make your art in spite of the thousand reasons not to. Because there's one voice we’ve still not heard.

Yours.

Jeff, thank you for that, and for taking time for this Q&A!

If you’re an artist and not sure how to make the transition to full-time, I recommend you read Real Artists Don’t Starve. Let it set you on a path from Starving Artist to Thriving Artist. Check it out here: DontStarve.com

You can read my full review of Jeff’s book on my blog at SarahElisabethWrites.com

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By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015
Erin Genia is an Olympia-based artist of Dakota descent. With her skills in two- and three-dimensional techniques, she creates mixed media sculptures, drawings, paintings, prints, pottery, and jewelry.

Erin studied art at the Institute of American Indian Arts and Evergreen State College. Her award-winning work has exhibited nationally and internationally. One of her pieces recently won the Honoring Innovation Award at a show at the Washington State History Museum.

A little boy in a ball cap tugged against his mother, straining to stay under the morning stars overhead. All those bright colors of the rainbow drew his attention while light filtered through the 35-foot banner of morning stars.

While still carrying a heavy message typical in her work, Erin created the Dakota Pride — Anpa O Wicahnpi (morning star) — banner to act as a little blessing and a reminder to embrace our differences as well as our commonalities in the shared struggle of humanity. Through this public art piece, displayed at the Seattle Center, Erin shares the resilience of urban Native people even when far from home.

“Something about the colors makes people happy,” Erin said. “When they walk underneath it, their spirits are lifted.” This public art piece came about through a Seattle-based art program which added to Erin’s full life as an artist and mother of five.

She’s become more methodical through her 2017 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership program. Through business training in the program, Erin developed a line of work to support her while she pursues graduate school at Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall where she’s in the Art, Culture, and Technology program. This “bread and butter” line of work also allows her time to focus on mentoring her son, Samuel, an accomplished young artist with the creative spirit alive in him.

“With knowledge and skill come responsibility,” Erin said. “I must bring others along with me on my journey.”

She also brings the past forward. This spring, through a fellowship with the National Museum of the American Indian (an FPF Our Nations’ Spaces partner), Erin conducted research for her project, “Canupa Inyan: Researching the Carvings of My Ancestors.”

She took the rare opportunity to carefully study designs to pass along the knowledge her ancestors left for her. She recreates pieces in soapstone or clay while she continues to learn traditional pipestone forms. In this way, she brings the pipestone pieces back to her people — and to the public.

Like that little boy in the ball cap, Erin hopes they are drawn to the resilience and hope of her people.

CALL FOR 2018 FELLOWS

Through our Artists in Business Leadership and Cultural Capital Fellowships, First Peoples Fund partners with Native artists and culture bearers to strengthen their business skills and to ensure that art, culture and ancestral knowledge are passed from one generation to the next.

Applications for 2018 fellowships are now open and are due October 31, 2017. Selection notification is by December 1, 2017 with fellowships starting January 2018.

First Peoples Fund is excited to announce new developments in our fellowship programs beginning in 2018.

We will continue our national programs with funding priorities to deepen our work in the following tribal communities: Colville, Pine Ridge, Blackfeet, Red Lake, Citizen Potawatomi, Hawai’i, Bering Strait Regional Corporation, and Cheyenne River.

We are also excited about expanding our Artists in Business Leadership and Cultural Capital fellowships into the Southwest region.

We extend a special invitation to Native performing artists from ALL states to apply for the fellowship programs. Performing artists from most traditional and contemporary art forms are encouraged to apply, including musicians, hip-hop artists, spoken word artists, dancers and performance groups emphasizing cultural tourism and/or sharing and teaching others within their communities.

Twenty to twenty-five artists are selected annually for First Peoples Fund's one-year fellowship programs. Fellows receive $5,000 project grants, technical support and professional training to start or grow a thriving arts business and to further their important work in their communities.

Applicants must be an enrolled member or provide proof of lineal descendancy of a U.S. federally recognized tribe, a state recognized tribe, or be an Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian.

WHICH FELLOWSHIP IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

ARTIST IN BUSINESS LEADERSHIP

The program's purpose is to develop independent, satisfied, and credible Native artist entrepreneurs who are generous in spirit. The fellowship supports artists to pursue specific arts business development goals for themselves and their families. Artists should have attended a Native Artists Professional Development workshop and/or have at least two years of experience marketing, distributing and/or presenting their art.

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CULTURAL CAPITAL
The program's purpose is to strengthen the Collective Spirit® of those artists who perpetuate generosity, wisdom, and integrity in their communities. The fellowships are designed for artists and culture bearers who are deeply rooted in their communities and are committed to passing on ancestral knowledge and cultural practices within their tribal communities.

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Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer and her mother Lynda Kay Sawyer, both tribal members of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, opened their filmmaking and creative writing class for young students at this summer’s Chickasaw Arts Academy with what seems like a simple question: “What’s the first thing you need to make a film?”

Actors, cameras, lights the students guessed.

“The answer,” Sarah explained, “is a good story.”

Sarah, a 2015 Artists in Business Leadership fellow and First Peoples Fund’s eSPIRIT writer, knows good stories. A storyteller of traditional and fictional tales based on the lives of her people, Sarah, just 31, has published five books. She also works as a freelance copywriter, primarily with Native organizations working in Indian Country.

Sarah’s upcoming book tells the story of the Choctaw code talkers of World War I.

“They were the first tribe to work as code talkers. They used their Native language to transmit messages that brought a quicker end to the war,” Sarah said. “At that point, Oklahoma had been a state for ten years, the Choctaw Nation was no longer sovereign, boarding schools were in full swing and our language was actually being taken from us.”

Sarah spent six months researching the book, now in draft form and due for release 2018 in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the conclusion of WWI.

At the heart of every good story, fiction or nonfiction, is character transformation, Sarah said. She has brought this key concept of character transformation to her creative writing classes at the Chickasaw Arts Academy for the last five years. The Chickasaw Arts Academy is an intensive two-week learning experience offered free to students across cultures ages 8-18 that provides classes in theater, dance, visual art, music composition, vocal music, creative writing, textile design, photography and video production. The Academy is held on the campus of East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma.

As an instructor at the Academy, Sarah has witnessed valuable transformations among her students. There were two students last year who entered her class believing that all writers were “hobos.” One of their parents discouraged them from writing, but meeting and working with Sarah shifted their perceptions. This year, there was the “little genius” who wrote poems with perfect meter but not much heart. Working with Sarah, he learned to connect with and convey his feelings.

Most classes at the Academy include Chickasaw culture but don’t focus on traditional art forms. Participants come together at the end of the day for Culture Time to “keep Chickasaw culture in the center,” Sarah said. The Academy culminates with a Gallery Walk and Showcase open to the public.

Chickasaw storyteller Lori Carmichael encouraged Sarah to apply to teach at the Academy after seeing her work with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, where she was honored as a literary artist through the 2012 Artist Leadership Program for her work in preserving Trail of Tears stories. This year for the first time she teamed up with her mother at the Academy to teach a combined class on video production and creative writing.

Sarah said she and her mother, a photographer and filmmaker, “partner on just about everything.” They live together in Sarah’s childhood home in Canton, Texas, and her mother assists Sarah with research and is her first reader and editor.

Sarah said she inherited her love of writing from her mother and also her father, Ara C. Sawyer, a singer songwriter who passed away 5 years ago. “He was a storyteller and a half,” she said. “He taught me that stories make the world go round.”

Read more about Sarah’s work at SarahElisabethWrites.com.

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By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015  
After several years of working with Sweetgrass Consulting to collect data, First Peoples Fund was ready to further integrate our work via a new in-house position, a Story Tracker/Data Analyst.

“The role is to sort through the extensive data we have collected and compiled since 2004 and begin to weave the story across programs that strengthen the quantitative data,” Marsha Whiting (Chippewa Cree, Sicangu Lakota), Vice President of Operations and Programs, explained. “It is time to get to the heart of our work through storytelling.”

Becky Monnens, previously a program officer at The McKnight Foundation, returned to her home state of South Dakota a few years ago and worked with the Black Hills Area Community Foundation before recently filling the Story Tracker/Data Analyst role at First Peoples Fund. Becky brings an understanding of the value of data and stories to nonprofits, foundations and the field.

“First Peoples Fund takes a holistic approach of paying attention to the heart and the head,” Becky said. “I think our massive database is the head. The challenge is how to capture the heart. It’s there when you start reading trip reports, talking to program staff, leadership, and board members. There’s a lot of the heart there.”

“First Peoples Fund takes a holistic approach of paying attention to the heart and the head. I think our massive database is the head. The challenge is how to capture the heart. It’s there when you start reading trip reports, talking to program staff, leadership, and board members. There’s a lot of the heart there.”

— Becky Monnens, FPF Story Tracker/Data Analyst

Becky grew up on a ranch near Isabel, South Dakota. She did her undergrad studies at South Dakota State University where she majored in Political Science with a minor in Spanish.

From there, she moved overseas and worked at the Unidad Académica Campesina-Carmen Pampa in Bolivia for three years. The college has several partnerships with U.S. universities, including South Dakota State University. Becky’s work there consisted mostly of grant writing and development, and as a liaison with the partnerships the college had. They roped her into teaching a few English language classes as well.

When she returned to the U.S., Becky did her graduate studies at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota. She earned her masters in Organizational Leadership.

Becky continued working in international development at small nonprofits in the Twin Cities, and she spent eight years at The McKnight Foundation working in their international program. Most of her work was in sustainable agriculture in a number of South American and African countries.

To be closer to family, Becky decided to make the move back to South Dakota with her husband and son. They settled in Rapid City close to her parents, sister and a collection of aunts, uncles, and cousins. She enjoys working with her hands — woodworking, welding, knitting, and gardening. “I like being connected to the earth,” she said.

In Rapid City, Becky started working with the Black Hills Area Community Foundation, and became acquainted with local non-profits.

Becky’s initial experience with First Peoples Fund was attending the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Awards (CSA) in the fall of 2016. Through her previous work, Becky knows an organization is more successful when they recognize how people are connected to the place in which they live, and the culture and relationships around that place. She witnessed this at the CSA celebration that honored culture bearers.

“Everything I’ve seen so far goes back to that center,” Becky said. “It’s always where the data is drawing you back to — the culture bearers and being grounded in people and space.”

First Peoples Fund believes a holistic approach creates stronger results and impact. In every level of programs, this balance between head and heart must be present.

Becky firmly agrees. “Studies show that any development program that’s not connected to cultural values is less successful, so you must have that balance and be able to tell the story using that balance,” she said.

From the start, Becky was immersed in the rich culture at First Peoples Fund. “I could describe my first week as taking a deep breath and going underwater all day long and coming up at the end of the day and starting to breathe again,” she laughed. “It’s complete immersion, in learning how First Peoples Fund describes themselves, and in that super rich institutional knowledge that all the staff has. And also an understanding of why things are done certain ways. It was a lot of listening and observing.”

First Peoples Fund President Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota) appreciates having Becky in her new position to learn the process of collecting data for our fellowship programs and how we measure business growth while placing equal value on our core values of integrity, generosity, respect, and wisdom.

“There is the heart-based data and then the more head type — the business side,” Lori said. “Becky is a huge asset. She understands the work we’re doing because she comes out of philanthropy and supporting grassroots communities. And although it was with mainstream communities, it’s all related and connected. Mitakuye Oyasin.”

“The main things that brought me to First Peoples Fund,” Becky said, “was recognizing all they’re doing, and then the opportunity to develop and continue using my skills to help an organization do great work.”

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

Established in 2010, Native American Community Development Corporation(NACDC) Financial Services, Inc. is a tax exempt, non-profit Native community development financial institution  located in Browning, Montana on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. NACDC is part of a Native-owned and operated community development financing network, and a 2016-2017 First Peoples Fund Indigenous Arts Ecology grantee.  

The audience watched in awe. They had never experienced anything like this. Flashes of color, the heartbeat of the drum, the Native dancers and their fluid movements captured this moment in time for the audience to reflect on for years to come.  

In the expansive Montana country, so few encounter the culture lived and practiced by Native people. But the Native American Community Development Corporation (NACDC) is bringing authentic Native culture back into the world of the annual Western Art Week which takes over Great Falls, Montana, every year in March.

“They used to have the Great Falls Native American Art show there, run by Great Falls Native American Art Association,” Darrell Norman (Blackfeet) said. “It went on for about 26 years, a great gathering of Native artists.”

Darrell specializes in traditional and contemporary forms of Blackfeet art, and is a past recipient of the First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Award and two-time recipient of the Artists in Business Leadership fellowship. He serves on the NACDC board of directors’ loan committee, and as a general advisor for all things related to Blackfeet culture. He’s exhibited at the Western Art Week since 1985.

“The Native American art show was really missed in the few years when we didn’t have anything during the Western Art Week,” Darrell added.

Through his encouragement, Native artists came back in strength to the Western Art Week by exhibiting within The Great Western Living & Design Show in 2016. The artists were supported by NACDC in part through their Indigenous Arts Ecology program granted by First Peoples Fund. Audiences are once again able to view and purchase work created by Native artists.

“The art week is centered around Charles Russell,” Darrell said, “but a lot of the imagery and paintings depict Native American people, so for us to be a viable part of that Western Art Week was very important since we were the ones being represented so much.”

NACDC Executive Director Angie Main (Gros Ventre) said, “The first year, we only had about eight or nine Native artists, but it grew in 2017. We had 19 artists. They came from Canada, Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota. Because it’s generating so much interest with the Native artists, we’re going to have our own Native artist show next year. We hope to have 30 artists.”

NACDC covered the expenses of the show with various funding sources leveraged with their Indigenous Arts Ecology (IAE) grant. They also worked with First Peoples Fund to create marketing material for the show.

The relationship between the work at NACDC and First Peoples Fund is layered through many years. It was Elouise Cobell (Blackfeet) who helped connect NACDC and FPF. Elouise is best known as the plaintiff in the groundbreaking class action suit Cobell v. Salazar which successfully challenged the federal government’s mismanagement of trust funds belonging to 500,000 individual Native Americans and resulting in a $3.4 billion settlement. Elouise was head of the Blackfeet Development Loan Fund which later became the NACDC. An early activist and leader in the field of Native community economic development, she was also part of an advisory group that formed FPF more than 20 years ago.

Elouise worked for many years on the Harvest Moon Ball with the NACDC, and her longtime friendship with First Peoples Fund President Lori Pourier brought the two areas of work together for a partnership that spans time and space.

In 2010, FPF began collecting survey data from the region. After NACDC became a certified Native CDFI in 2012, FPF conducted a Native Artists Market Study (The Artist Landscape: Blackfeet Indian Reservation) examining the needs of artists in the area.

Because of the survey, and an Indigenous Arts Ecology grant from First Peoples Fund, NACDC was able to begin tackling challenges specific to the growth of artist-entrepreneurs. FPF assisted NACDC with developing a line of credit for Native artists, and conducted FPF’s Train the Trainer program with them, certifying local artists to conduct FPF’s professional development workshops. Artists need access to technical and business training, and FPF offered its values-driven Native Artist Professional Development workshops to cover topics like marketing, business planning, and market booth setup.

“It’s a lot of just empowering the artists, to say that they can do it. They can be full-time artists,” said Jeremy Staab (Santee Sioux) FPF Program Manager. “We’re encouraging them, helping them grow as emerging artists to part-time and full-time artists. We see them supporting one another within the region and district.”

Top on the list of challenges is the vastness of the region where the artists live. It is at least a two-hour drive and steep expenses to sell at markets and art shows.

Through the IAE grant, NACDC now takes artists to shows that expand their markets, including the Western Art Week in Great Falls. Some of these artists are current or former FPF Community Spirit Award recipients or FPF fellows like John Pepion. John is a 2017 Artist in Business Leadership fellow, a longtime exhibitor at the Harvest Moon Ball, and one of the artists to exhibit at the Western Art Week.

One of Angie Main’s goals through the IAE grant is to create an economy for these artists to promote their work collectively. “There’s really not a market for the Rocky Mountain area,” she said. “We’re trying to raise the visibility of artists in the Rocky Mountain region, or you could call it Great Plains Native American artists. It would encompass North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, that whole area. There’s still a lot to do to raise the visibility of just the region.”

“There’s really not a market for the Rocky Mountain area. We’re trying to raise the visibility of artists in the Rocky Mountain region..”

— Angie Main, NACDC Executive Director

Taking artists to shows — especially the Western Art Week — expands their market and exposes them to new buyers who may turn into lifetime collectors of their work.

FPF’s Theory of Change — uplifting individual artists who then come together at the community level with guidance from culture bearers, and ultimately gain momentum on a national level — is at work through the NACDC. Artists who are supported through the IAE program circle back to work in their own communities, teaching youth to ensure art and culture continue to the next generation. Several former CSA recipients, like Darrell, guide the work.

This Indigenous Arts Ecology breathes, moves, and interrelates across a broad expanse of time and space. As the weave tightens between FPF and the NACDC, the ecology thrives.

“I’m looking forward to networking with the other groups that are a part of the First Peoples Fund IAE program at the upcoming convening,” Angie said. “It’ll be great to hear how everybody talks about their own regions and how they support their artists.”

Meanwhile, the Native artists assisted by the NACDC are many steps further down the path in their journey to a sustainable art career in the midst of a vast and exceptionally rural landscape.