October 6, 2016

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu to Visit Rapid City, South Dakota, October 7- 8, 2016

Photo by Steve Peterson/www.stevepeterson.photo

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Washington, DC – On October 7-8, 2016, Jane Chu, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), will travel to Rapid City, South Dakota, where she will visit organizations that are actively engaging, serving, and promoting the arts in the Native American community. Chairman Chu will visit the Crazy Horse Memorial, participate in a Repatriation Ceremony at Tusweca Tispaye Lakota-Dakota-Nakota Language Summit, attend the Black Hills Powwow, and give remarks at the First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Awards.

On October 7, Chairman Chu will visit the world’s largest sculpture, Crazy Horse Memorial at the Indian Museum of North America. This monument depicts Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, riding a horse and pointing into the distance. The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, and sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski.

On October 8, Chairman Chu will participate in a Nation-to-Nation repatriation ceremony of Oglala Lakota cultural audio artifacts. During this ceremony, Chairman Chu, on behalf of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, will transfer Oglala Lakota audio artifacts (recordings of traditional music) to the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Oglala Lakota College. Chairman Chu serves as an ex-officio Board Member of the American Folklife Center. The American Folklife Center is digitizing the audio at no cost to the NEA or to the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Oglala Sioux Tribe President John Steele; a representative from Oglala Lakota College; and, Mike Carlow, founder and director of Tusweca Tiospaye and community liaison for The White House Initiative on Youth and Education at Pine Ridge will also participate in the ceremony.

Next, Chairman Chu will attend the Black Hills Powwow. The Black Hills Powwow is a significant American Indian cultural gathering, hosting hundreds of dancers, singers, artisans, and several thousand spectators from across several U.S. states and Canadian provinces. The Grand Entry will celebrate this year’s First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Awards recipients.

That evening, Chairman Chu will give remarks at the First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Awards Ceremony. Each year, First Peoples Fund honors and celebrates exceptional American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian artists who embody the Collective Spirit—that which manifests self-awareness and a sense of responsibility to sustain the cultural fabric of a community. First Peoples Fund chooses its Community Spirit Award honorees for their commitment to sustaining the cultural values of Native people. The First Peoples Fund is an NEA grantee and their FY 2016 grant is supporting the Community Spirit Awards ceremony and Rolling Rez Arts workshops.

Media should contact Judith Kargbo at kargboj@arts.gov if they would like to attend any of the site visits or request an interview with Chairman Chu.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Arts and the agency is celebrating this milestone with events and activities through September 2016.

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