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The aloha spirit flowed and coalesced to bring Hawai’i to the Pacific Northwest.  “Off the islands” Native Hawaiians and non-Natives came together in July 2019 at the 17th annual “4 Days Of Aloha” in Esther Short Park in Vancouver, Washington to experience true Hawaiian culture — singing, drumming, hula dancers of all ages and skills, vibrant leis, and Native arts.

Thanks to a 2019 First Peoples Fund Our Nations’ Spaces (ONS) grant, event host Ke Kukui Foundation was able to extend the three-day festival to a fourth day. The additional day included Pa’ina (a gathering that involves food and eating), Hapa Haole Hula Competition, Ho’ike (to showcase what they learned), a 5K Aloha Fun Run, coconut weaving workshops, and fresh lei making. It also highlighted other ethnic and Indigenous groups through a multicultural showcase that included Japanese Taiko drummers, Chinese lion dancing, Filipino dancing, and blessings from the Cowlitz Tribe. Attendance at the event nearly doubled from 23,000 visitors in 2018 to 42,000 in 2019.

“The thing I’m hearing about a lot now is the spirit within the people,” said Kaloku Holt (Native Hawaiian). “The people attending, the vendors, all the staff that is involved, presenters, instructors; there’s just a spirit of aloha that you [normally] only find in Hawai’i. You’re [now] finding it in Vancouver, Washington.”

When the longtime leader of the event, Deva Yamashiro (Native Hawaiian), passed a few years ago, her son Kaloku took the lead. Kaloku is a 2016 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellow and Executive Director of the Ke Kukui Foundation. Through funding from the ONS grant, he spearheaded expanding the “4 Days of Aloha.” The expansion created opportunities to involve more Hawaiian artists, bringing them from the islands to teach cultural workshops so that Native and non-native families could experience a one-of-a-kind encounter with Hawaiian culture in the Pacific Northwest.

“It’s an amazing thing to step back and watch it unfold,” Kaloku said.

“Teaching about Hawaiian cultural traditions is important to those family members that have moved to the Pacific Northwest that are far removed from their ancestral roots in Hawai’i,”

Ke Kukui Foundation, based in Vancouver, was founded in 2007. Its goal is to provide programs in and for the community, its elders (kupuna), and its youth so that the young ones can learn the traditions and ways of the Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and become cultural bearers for future generations in the Pacific Northwest. In 2010, the foundation opened the Ke Kukui Arts and Cultural Center, which gave them a place to offer cultural programs and workshops, as well as a place for the youth to gather and learn from their kupuna. Ke Kukui Foundation believes it is essential for Native youth to learn about their cultural heritage even though they do not live on their homeland.

“Teaching about Hawaiian cultural traditions is important to those family members that have moved to the Pacific Northwest that are far removed from their ancestral roots in Hawai’i,” said Vicky Holt Takamine (Native Hawaiian). She is a longtime FPF partner, kumu hula (master teacher of Hawaiian dance), and Executive Director of the PAʻI Foundation. Known as the kumu of Hawai’i’s kumu, Aunty Vicky, as she is known by many, has traveled to share her mana’o (thoughts or ideas) and talents at the Days of Aloha event, offering participants a rare, unique experience to learn from renowned kumu.

“I taught two classes, and then we showcased that class at Esther Short Park with all the visitors and family and friends that came out to see what was happening,” Vicky said. “It’s been a wonderful opportunity to work with the Ke Kukui Foundation for the last 17 years. They’re so enthusiastic. It’s really amazing because people came from as far as New Jersey and Canada, and all along the Pacific Northwest, and California, to learn hula.”

Each year, the festival opens the door for Native artists to move beyond their own space to access a new market and for Native performing arts groups to share their history, talents, and culture before thousands of spectators. The festival is a vehicle for current and new Native artists to express their craft.

Since adding the fourth day and actively increasing the foundation’s presence in the community, the Ke Kukui Foundation now works with new vendors, officials, and other organizations in the community and beyond. This happened by continuing to promote the aloha spirit, reaching out to new Native artists, tapping their skill sets, and using that focus to strengthen ongoing and new relationships within and beyond the community.

The family-friendly event draws in thousands of visitors each year, gaining recognition and positive momentum for the foundation. It creates visibility in the community and sets an example of building positive impact for the youth. Families come to enjoy Hawaiian culture through workshops, the variety of products from Hawai’i, and watching performing arts on stage.

There is something for everyone, and it is encouraged to participate together in aloha. The foundation hopes people “walk away with their hearts feeling full from the friendships, knowledge, and meaningful memories gained.”

The spirit of aloha that comes from within, once demonstrated by Deva Yamashiro, now lives through the seeds she planted. Reconnecting Native Hawaiians with their culture is a huge part of the festival’s mission — a way of glueing the community together simply by sharing aloha.

Note: Our Nations' Spaces grants expand opportunities for Native performing artists within and beyond their own communities and are generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

As our artists and culture bearers adjust and adapt to this unprecedented and challenging time, First Peoples Fund (FFP) is pleased to announce that we have established a Resilience Fund to provide support to those artists who have experienced a loss of income due to the COVID-19 crisis.

With initial funding from key foundation partners, First Peoples Fund has awarded more than 100 artists and culture bearers in 24 states from throughout the lower-48 states, Alaska and Hawai'i with up to $1,000 in emergency relief funding to help with their housing, food, medical and caretaking expenses.

““Thank you First Peoples Fund for this grand grant. I’m not able to travel to teach through the University of Alaska-Bristol Bay campus at this time, where I teach carving and sell to interested peoples. This grant is much appreciated and my family thanks you all. God bless you for thinking of us during these limiting times.”

— Alfred Twilly Gosuk (Togiak Tribe, Yupik Eskimo), Carving Artist

The Resilience Fund is currently focused on the 350 artists and culture bearers who are already affiliated with First Peoples Fund -- Community Spirit Awards honorees, Artist in Business Leadership, Cultural Capital and Emerging Poets fellows, Rolling Rez Arts instructors, Native Artist Professional Development artist trainers, and community partners through our Indigenous Arts Ecology and Our Nations' Spaces initiatives.

Since the pandemic hit the U.S. earlier this spring, cancellations of performances, art markets, cultural gatherings, workshops, speaking engagements, etc. have resulted in 97 percent of First Peoples Fund artists surveyed reporting income losses ranging from $150 to $35,000-plus. Performance artists have been hardest hit and impacts have been swift, completely wiping out most income sources. Visual artists are experiencing a drop in demand from direct sales, as well as wholesale purchases from gift shops and the like. As spring and summer markets cancel or postpone, they will experience even more significant losses. For example, nearly 100 of FPF artists rely on Santa Fe Indian Market, the largest in the country, for a significant amount of their annual income. Just last month, the market, usually held in August, was cancelled.

Beyond providing monetary support, First Peoples Fund continues to fulfill its work of providing workshops and training, convenings and network building -- working closely with its artists and instructors to pivot and adapt its delivery of services and programs to the challenging times. The Native Artist Professional Development group is launching a series of Resilience webinars this week to help artists adjust their way of conducting business during the pandemic. Rolling Rez Arts will be hosting Facebook Live arts demonstrations, and Fellowships are facilitating virtual gatherings, as well as providing outreach and technical support where needed. Through social media, First Peoples Fund is also helping to promote the creative offerings FPF artists are delivering online -- live storytelling and performances, instructional videos, etc.

First Peoples Fund is guided by the conviction that culture bearers and artists are the heart and center in reclaiming and revitalizing art and culture to strengthen Indigenous communities through teaching, healing and creating holistic, shared wealth. The organization, founded in 1995, honors and supports Native artists and culture bearers who are vital in nurturing culturally informed, locally-led community development that enhances tribal economies, guides cultural healing, creates positive narratives and contributes to the rich cultural fabric of vibrant Native communities and the entire Indigenous Arts Ecology.

"We are working hard to raise more funding for the Resilience Fund so that we can provide additional emergency relief in the coming weeks and months," says First Peoples Fund President Lori Lea Pourier (Lakota). "We are resilient peoples, because we have a long history of working together and always lending a hand of generosity. The impact of COVID-19 is going to have a lasting effect on the world and our communities. First Peoples Fund wants to make sure we are a steadfast source of support to our Native artist and culture bearer community. They are critical to linking our past, present and future."

To make a contribution to the First Peoples Fund Resilience Fund, please visit the giving page.

““Wow!!!! Ahéhee!! Thank you so much! With everything going on in our lives as a whole I’ve been praying for healing and protection of all our communities and had placed this ask in the back of my mind. My family & I are beyond full of appreciation on this notice! The support and care of First Peoples Fund is widely known throughout the Indigenous Art world. I’ve always been honored to be a past fellow!”

— Shawna Shandiin Sunrise (Diné (Navajo) / Kewa (Santo Domingo Pueblo), weaver, filmmaker, producer, organizer, actor, multi-media artist, floral designer

Joanne Brings Thunder is an enrolled member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe located on the Wind River Indian Reservation where she grew up in central Wyoming. She started learning traditional arts at age 5 from her mother and from her maternal grandmother Eva B. McAdams, a respected international beadwork artist.

An award-winning architect and interior designer for over 25 years, Joanne attended the Colorado Institute of Art and received her undergraduate degree in interior design. This was soon followed by a graduate degree in architecture from the University of Colorado. In 2012, she rediscovered her passion for traditional art and its healing properties. As a result, her day-to-day work reflects her love of culture and traditions mixed with a contemporary outlook. With her husband’s work, she currently splits her time between North Dakota and Wyoming.

When creating three-dimensional models for buildings, Joanne uses polycarbonate in the center of the foam core to straighten and strengthen the walls. It was when she was working on a 3D mock-up she was creating for a development group in Arizona, that Joanne suddenly started to view the architectural materials in a very different way.

At that moment, her jewelry art changed.

“I thought, ‘I wonder if I could use that [polycarbonate] as the backing for my earrings,’” she says.

After much frustration using parfleche and aspen wood for backings on her earring creations, Joanne switched to the new material three years ago.

Gripping a pair of aviation snippers, Joanne would cut the polycarbonate into chunky pieces, then use a utility knife to carve out her design.

But the toll on Joanne’s wrists and elbows quickly became evident; she developed carpal tunnel syndrome from hand cutting the polycarbonate.

The solution came through Greg Bellanger (White Earth Ojibwe), who owns Northland Visions in Minneapolis, Minn. where he promotes and mentors a multitude of artists. Greg showed Joanne the work of an artist in his shop who cuts sculptures with a laser. That was the beginning of yet another alteration she would make in her art making. And one that would ultimately introduce her to First Peoples Fund and its fellowship programs.

“He said, “You need to apply for that First Peoples Fund grant and see if you get it,” Joanne says. “And I did!”

Joanne applied for and was awarded a 2020 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellowship that will go toward purchasing a home-based 3D laser printer.

“The grant is such a godsend, and is going to help so much,” Joanne adds. “I no longer will be injuring myself by cutting jewelry by hand.”

The origin of Joanne’s art and determination for excellence goes back to when she was five, beading with her grandmother, who helped raise Joanne in the traditional way of their people.

“My grandmother was such a commanding force in who I am today,”

“My grandmother was such a commanding force in who I am today,” Joanne says. “She gave me such a good foundation of composition and color theory at a young age. Looking back, I know I was very privileged to grow up the way I did.”

Caitlin Newago (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) is a 2020 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellow residing in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Battling multiple, chronic health issues, Caitlin has found it nearly impossible to adopt traditional neurotypical work standards. However, as an artist from birth, she has dabbled in many mediums, currently focusing on mixed media art with wiigwaas (birchbark) and acrylics. She started her first business at age 21, opening Bizaanide’ewin Beadwork & Supplies in 2016 after leaving a toxic relationship and using the income to rebuild her life.

She is using the funds from the fellowship to break barriers by purchasing new equipment and securing her livelihood by growing her customer base.

The birchbark crackles and pops as the tree releases material that Caitlin needs to create her specialty jewelry pieces. She had carefully cut, then peeled away the bark from the birch tree. It was just a couple of years ago that her father taught her how to harvest the bark and to work with it. It’s now become a vital part of what she does in her art business. But more than that, working with the birchbark is therapy for Caitlin.

“Bizaanide’ewin translates to ‘peace of heart.’ I hope that my art will evoke the same emotions of joy, wonder, and contentment in others who view and wear it.”

She left her abuser in early fall of 2017 and has been working full-time from home ever since. Her five-year-old son, Makoons, is the driving force behind her healing and her art business.

“Taking my creative abilities and combining it with a historical medium, I thought it was the perfect way to do something I would enjoy and be able to support my son at the same time,” she says.

On the Bad River Indian Reservation, Caitlin harvests birchbark by hand. At home, she lays it flat to dry and presses it under weights to keep the flat shape. She cuts, files, then cleans the bark with a fast-drying disinfecting solvent. She meticulously hand paints the earrings she’s made with acrylic paints before adding any final touch-ups or Swarovski embellishments. Each piece goes through an in-depth sealing process to ensure quality and durability.

“I’ve come to find a place where I feel like I truly belong, and have finally found my calling in life. To have something feel so completely right is a blessing — I’ve never experienced anything remotely like it.”

“I’ve learned not only about my own culture, but about the unique characteristics of others as well,” Caitlin says. “I’ve come to find a place where I feel like I truly belong, and have finally found my calling in life. To have something feel so completely right is a blessing — I’ve never experienced anything remotely like it.”

She hopes she can promote healing as she connects with and uplifts other abuse survivors through the process of reconnecting with her culture.

“I try to use Ojibwe language on my website,” Caitlin says. “Bizaanide’ewin translates to ‘peace of heart.’ I hope that my art will evoke the same emotions of joy, wonder, and contentment in others who view and wear it.”

As a blizzard loomed on the horizon, a group of Indigenous women stood in a semi-circle — facing one another while connecting with their audience at the Ojibwe Language Symposium. The special event was held at the Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College in December 2019.

Filled with nerves and wondering how people would respond, it was hard for the Oshkii Giizhik Singers to think of the moment as their first “performance” for their new CD. It was more about sharing the language and culture with their own people.  But standing before everyone, firm in their 13-year history as a drum group gave them the confidence to play and sing songs of their ancestors’ and of their own making.

“It was more like an ‘informance,’ not just a performance, and I think it was well-received,” says Lyz Jaakola (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior), a former First People’s Fund Community Spirit Award recipient (2012). Also known as Nitaa-Nagamokwe, Lyz intertwines art, music, and education. A wife, mother, and dedicated community member, Lyz teaches music and directs the Ojibwemowining Language and Culture Resource Center at the Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College in Cloquet, Minn., on the Fond du Lac Reservation.

The group she founded, Oshkii Giizhik Singers (OGS), received a 2019 First Peoples Fund Our Nations’ Spaces (ONS) grant for their concert and CD project, “Anishinaabekwe Inendamowin” (Women’s Thinking).

“We were a little nervous [at the performance] because you never know how people are going to respond, but they were right there paying attention,” Lyz says. “Some members of our community learned and acknowledged that women have been singing independently from men for centuries, which was new information for them.”

OGS is a community-based group of Native women singers from the Fond du Lac Reservation/Duluth area. Since 2006, over 45 women have sung with OGS in various forms and venues. Since being awarded “Best Traditional Recording” at the 2009 Nammys (Native American Music Awards), their focus is to give back to the community.

“My community hasn’t always been the most supportive of ladies hand drumming,” Lyz says. “But we were able to demonstrate the historical context to show that women were singing 110 years ago, and even 200 years ago. We’re following in the footsteps of our grandmas.”

"We’re following in the footsteps of our grandmas.”

Many women have come and gone from the group over the years. It’s a difficult commitment to make. This was alleviated in part by the ONS grant that went toward paying the singers and drummers for the time they invested in their CD project.

“Being able to offer compensation for this work felt so good,” Lyz says. “The ability to pay these women for their time and work felt correct and respectful to them.”

While six of the songs on the CD were newly composed tracks, 10 were gathered from 100-year-old recordings held within what is known as the Densmore Collection.

Beginning in 1907, Frances Densmore was employed by the Bureau for American Ethnology. Over her lengthy career, she took 79 field trips to 54 locations, made 3,500 recordings, transcribed more than 2,300 songs, and published 16 books and hundreds of articles. Densmore spent over 50 years studying and preserving American Indian music.

Plumbing the depths of the Densmore Collection, Lyz and the other women “rematriated” several of the songs.

“I think repatriation is crucial work,” she says. “But often in that narrative, we lose track of the women’s stories. To call attention to it by coining that term ‘rematriation’ is recognizing the importance in the women’s voices.”

One song OGS drew from the collection was “The Little Girls’ War Song.” They recruited four young girls to record on the project, lifting the words and melodies from a wax cylinder into their hearts and through their lips, giving life to their ancestors’ voices.

“One of Densmore’s most willing singers, a man named Odjibwe, recorded this song that little girls would sing when playing war,” Lyz says. “So an elder man recorded the little girls’ song, we retrieved it and taught it to our little girls who recorded it with us on the CD.”

The performance at the college was the first time many of these songs had a voice among their people in over 100 years.

"We did it because we love our ancestors, and we love our culture."

“We’re the conduit to update the recordings,” Lyz says. “Those wax cylinder recordings, even digitized, are hard to listen to. We were able to bring them up to today’s standards of recording. That was really humbling. We did it because we love our ancestors, and we love our culture. Because we led with these motivations, it’s apparent to our community that we are not trying to do anything but help our people grow in knowledge and strength. This is the best way to build community in Anishinaabe country.”

After the performance, they gifted CDs to the attendees. Remaining CDs that were purchased with the ONS grant are being used as a fundraiser for a possible gig the group was invited to perform at in July 2020— Riddu Riđđu, an International Indigenous Music Festival in Norway.

Through the project, each woman developed a new level of confidence in her language and singing skills.

““This has empowered them physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually to do any of their work with more confidence. This has manifested itself in their ability to work better in their field, their job, their classroom, and some have been invited to take on more gigs or responsibility in their professional or cultural lives.”

— Lyz Jaakola

“Giving a concert, recording a CD, learning the language, painting art for the CD cover, rehearsing and singing songs for the sake of singing songs — all of these are measures of achievement in and of themselves,” Lyz says. “I think this project is considered a monumental effort by all involved. We want to do more of this type of rematriation of songs. We are very grateful for the opportunity afforded us by this grant.”

Note: Our Nations' Spaces grants expand opportunities for Native performing artists within and beyond their own communities and are generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

On a balmy -20 degree day in Minneapolis, Minn., Sarah Agaton Howes (Anishinaabe) stepped forward to wrap Oprah Winfrey in a “Renewal” blanket. Oprah had come to visit the KwePack, an Indigenous Women’s Running Group in Northern Minnesota. When they received an invitation to run during Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus tour, Sarah seized the opportunity to share her culture and her business by honoring someone who has inspired millions. The “Renewal” blanket was designed by Sarah and created as part of the Eighth Generation label.

Sarah, owner of contemporary Anishinaabe art retailer Heart Berry, is a stellar success story among Native artists who collaborate with Eighth Generation through the Inspired Natives Project. Eighth Generation is a Seattle-based company founded by artist and FPF Artist in Business Leadership alumnus Louie Gong (Nooksack), a visionary leader who hustled for more than a decade to bring his art and his company to the mainstream. He invested and reinvested his life savings into Eighth Generation along with the emotional labor it took to bring the company to life. FPF’s Our Nation’s Spaces program also contributed support through Evergreen State College.

Now a fast-growing multi-million dollar company — arguably the largest Native-owned arts company in the U.S. and Canada — Eighth Generation has reached the point of being able to launch and help sustain the careers of numerous Native artists, like Sarah.

For years, Eighth Generation worked on developing Indigenous artists across the U.S.. Sarah was among their first.

“Sarah is a star in our Inspired Natives Project”

“Sarah is a star in our Inspired Natives Project,” Louie says. “She came to us about three years ago as a beadwork artist who hardly made any money from her art. Now, she is the primary breadwinner in her family.”

The moment Sarah wrapped Oprah in the “Renewal” blanket marked a milestone in Sarah’s life, crossing a new finish line for not only the running club she founded, but in her outstanding business success.

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“When people look at that picture, they see Oprah in a blanket, and I think that’s great,” Louie says. “But I see Sarah is also in the picture and, on behalf of Eighth Generation, I feel pride in our ability to share tools that artists like Sarah need to have opportunities to seize the day.”

The root of this opportunity, and all of those created by Eighth Generation, can be traced back to Louie, an Indigenous artist who began drawing on shoes in 2008. Though he was best known for his hand-drawn custom shoes, Louie’s journey as an artist led him to wonder what could be done to push Native artists and their creations into the mainstream. That eventually became Eighth Generation and the Inspired Natives Project.

“It’s not just my effort,” Louie says. “I’ve had a lot of support in my journey, including from First Peoples Fund.”

In 2014 and again in 2016, Louie was a First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership Fellow. He remained in contact with artists from his cohort, hiring many of them as contractors.

Eighth Generation also received a First Peoples Fund Our Nations’ Spaces grant in 2016 to help grow a unique ecology for Native artists — one that supports individual artists in a way that filters money back into communities while reaching out on national and international levels. Eighth Generation is a model Indigenous Arts Ecology.

“I appreciate that kind of support, which we’ve received from key leaders within the Native communities like Lori [FPF President Lori Pourier], so thank you for that,” Louie says.

Fast forward to November 2019 when the Snoqualmie Tribe acquired the company,

“As Eighth Generation grew, the investment required to get to the next level got bigger,” Louie explains. “We reached the point where we needed to get some muscle behind the hustle.”

That meant selling the company — a big decision for Louie and his team, as well as the interested party — to the Snoqualmie Tribe, based in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. “The tribe want[ed] to demonstrate to their community that their resources are being used for investments aligned with their tradition and values,” Louie says. “And for me, there was no higher outcome for this labor of love than for hundreds of local Indigenous people to share ownership in Eighth Generation. There are a lot of dollars coming in from tribal communities, and we try to do our best to make sure the dollars Eighth Generation spends go back into some of those communities. If I look down at our activities from a high altitude, I like to see a cycle of support.”

One step at a time, Eighth Generation has become one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. and Canada, all while uplifting individual Native artists.

Louie is now in place as the CEO of Eighth Generation, ready to continue leading the company into new territory. This summer, they are opening a storefront near downtown Portland, Oregon, with cutting edge technology not yet widely used in retail stores. Interactive experiences and stunning Inspired Native art will draw in visitors to experience Indigenous cultures like never before.

Back in Seattle, the original Eighth Generation storefront has become a must-see stop for tourists. It is located in Pike Place Market, a destination that receives 10 million visitors annually.

Eighth Generation now leases 14,000 square feet of highly valuable and sought-after Seattle real estate. The Indigenous company is putting the space to good use with another groundbreaking endeavor — an urban manufacturing initiative.

“We’ll have a group of Native people developing expertise in technology that is absolutely the future of textiles. It’s revolutionary."

“From yarn all the way to a sales associate selling wool textiles to a customer in one of our brick and mortar stores, it will be Native people executing skills they learned on the job at Eighth Generation,” Louie says. “We’ll have a group of Native people developing expertise in technology that is absolutely the future of textiles. It’s revolutionary."

“By partnering with the Snoqualmie Tribe in this way, we’ll be able to bring our ideas like this to fruition faster and scale up the business so we can compete with more established national brands.”

It all starts with the individual artist taking a step in the right direction. Like Sarah. Louie. And John Pepion (Piikani), 2017 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellow and another artist in the Inspired Natives Project.

“We’re getting artists to think about the big picture and to start doing one thing a day that helps them move toward their long-term goal,” Louie says. “For the artists we work with, it’s the same long-term goal — to make the art form you love, sustainable.”

Darrell Eaglestaff is a 64-year-old Mnicojou Lakota man from the Red Scaffold tiyospaye. He grew up on four different reservations in the Great Plains area. He worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for 23 years and retired as a Realty Specialist.

After taking up photography in 2010, Darrell chose to use it to capture positive moments of tribal members on the Cheyenne River Reservation where he lives. He has photographed weddings, high school seniors, sports (basketball, rodeo, Indian relay), pow wows, wildlife, and artifacts.

His mission is, “Helping to preserve my culture, one photograph at a time.”

The voice at the end of the history video asked the visitors to remain quiet and respectful as they entered Pearl Harbor. This was a place where people had died. That moment and memory deserved reverence.

As Darrell walked out to the memorial in Hawai’i, it struck him that they could do the same thing at the Wounded Knee Cemetery, near the site where a band of Lakota people was massacred in 1890. He envisioned having that quiet and respectful atmosphere for those who died.

“Just seeing the Pearl Harbor [National] Memorial and the respect there inspired me to bring that back to my community,” Darrell says.

One of Darrell’s relatives was among those killed. He found more details about this in probate papers where Darrell’s grandmother shared detailed family history, including testimony where she stated her husband’s nineteen-year-old half brother was killed at Wounded Knee. Through the document and family stories, Darrell discovered the young man had two names — Chase in the Winter and Afraid of Lightning.

“Not only is it my job to inform my children and grandchildren of their connection to the Wounded Knee Massacre, but all the children of Cheyenne River need to be informed.”

Darrell wants to share his family’s story through photography, and have answers available for people who want to learn the history. The Cheyenne River Preservation Office gave him their blessing to photograph Wounded Knee artifacts that are held in a climate-controlled room, including blood-stained ghost dance shirts and a baby bonnet.

“I would like to inform tribal people mainly, that those people killed at Wounded Knee were from Cheyenne River,” Darrell says. “Not only is it my job to inform my children and grandchildren of their connection to the Wounded Knee Massacre, but all the children of Cheyenne River need to be informed.”

Darrell’s 94-year-old mother, also retired from the BIA, volunteers at the Lakota Cultural Center in Eagle Butte on the Cheyenne River Reservation. She fields questions of those who desire to know more about this tragedy among their people. Darrell’s photos are on hand to help tell the stories.

He hopes his 2020 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellowship project of sharing the story of Wounded Knee will create the reverence that he maintains when visiting the site and cemetery.

Photographer Dawnee LeBeau is Itazipacola Oohenunpa of the Tetonwan Oyate. She was born and raised on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, and was introduced to her love of photography when gifted her first Nikon film camera while working on a tribal youth project.

Dawnee is inspired by portrait, landscape, and documentary photography. She currently resides on the Cheyenne River Reservation with her two beautiful wakanyeja (children). She gardens, promotes wellness, the Lakota language, cultural values, and minimalism, all while photographing the beautiful and talented oyate (people) of her community.

“On this day, we had a successful hunt to nourish our family

On this day, we had a battle

On this day, we had a child born, and it was beautiful

Pictographs spread across a buffalo hide tell of specific moments in time, records of everyday happenings. This is how Dawnee understands how Winter Counts were used by her people to tell a visual story of their history. It aligns with her desire to capture moments within her family and her community.

Photography creates community connection for Dawnee whether she takes portrait studios in a cozy space in her home or in open spaces.

“I work and move within the idea that the entire world is your studio,” Dawnee says. “You can capture an image of anybody or any landscape where you’re at, as long as you have consent. I’m super aware of other people’s spaces. But my community here on the reservation have opened their homes and said, ‘Yes, use that space anytime.’”

“I believe photography helps us to continue with a modern form of documentation for our Indigenous people,”

With her 2020 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellowship, Dawnee plans to host photography camps for youth who will interact with family and community members of all ages.

“I want them to engage in how they’re doing preservation work within their families,” she says.

A similar time came for Dawnee when she took part in the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. The photojournalism project highlighted a diverse group of ranchers who live and work together on the Cheyenne River Reservation.

“It took a lot for me to ask, ‘Can I take these pictures of you and show them to the world?’” Dawnee says. “That’s asking a lot because this is our personal space, but I also feel the history should be told. Our wonderful livelihood and how we create community, that needs to be seen. My family and community were wonderful. They said, ‘Come on down. We’re feeding cows on this day; we’re giving shots to horses on that day.’”

Similar to Winter Counts, Dawnee is documenting everyday moments of life like her people have for centuries.

“I believe photography helps us to continue with a modern form of documentation for our Indigenous people,” she says.

Dawnee believes in the importance of combining today’s modern day lifestyle with the traditions of Tetonwan people. “It is essential for Indigenous people to have balance and to bring dialogue and diversity to conversations in the community and in the world,” she says.

Her project will bring the community together to share experiences while learning how to preserve the history of the community through photography.

First Peoples Fund (FPF) recently added new staff members who join our mission driven work of honoring culture bearers and being good allies. They bring additional knowledge and perspectives that will contribute to FPF’s work to serve Native artists and culture bearers in substantial ways.

Please join us in welcoming Sonya Paul Gavin, Sandra White Shield, and Hillary Presecan to the FPF family!

Meet Sonya Paul Gavin

Vice President of Advancement and Communication

“It’s so good to work in Indian Country once again.” That’s the feeling Sonya (Diné/Navajo) has as she joins the FPF team from Los Angeles, Calif.

When she was a young girl, Sonya’s mother, who was raised on the Navajo reservation, continually urged Sonya to pursue a good education and build a stable career. That mindset carried Sonya to the University of Colorado Boulder and on to work at the Native American Rights Fund and to the Alaska Public Radio Network. There, she helped empower Alaska Native villagers to operate their own stations.

Sonya and FPF President Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota) met some thirty years ago when Sonya worked at the Native American Rights Fund in Colorado.

Sonya later went to work at UCLA where she spent over 15 years until recently deciding to refocus her career around her passion for non-profits and Native communities.

One of many moments that told Sonya she was in the right place with her new position at FPF came when she attended a reception at the National Museum of the American Indian in D.C. during her first week on the job in February 2020. In walked her director from the radio network in Alaska, someone she hadn’t seen since 1994.

““That’s when I knew I was supposed to be here, getting back into Indian Country with new skills and experiences that I can apply and make a difference. It was as if I had come full circle.”

— Sonya Paul Gavin

Her love for arts in her personal life is also reawakening as she explores creative writing and photography. She is already experiencing the immersion in Native arts that comes with the job at FPF. While in D.C., Sonya met Delores Churchill (Haida), a vibrant 90-year-old Alaska Native artist. Delores is an FPF Community Spirit Awards Honoree (2002), Cultural Capital Fellow (2006, 2015), and NEA National Heritage Fellow (2006).

“It was so serendipitous,” Sonya says. “We had a connection because of Alaska, and I became her unofficial escort for the day. Visiting with Delores and everything I experienced during the entire trip made for an outstanding experience in the world of Native arts. I am so happy to be here.”

Sonya will be focusing on diversifying funding sources for FPF and leading the communications efforts. She adds, “I’ve always been a mission-driven person. I truly love working in the Native space, uplifting and helping our communities.”

Meet Sandra White Shield

Executive Assistant/Grants Manager

Sandra (Sicangu Lakota) is a life-long resident of Rapid City, South Dakota where FPF is headquartered. She comes to FPF from the Graduate Studies Department of Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where she served as administrative assistant.

“I chose First Peoples Fund because of the work they do in impacting cultural knowledge transference and in building the ability for both individuals and communities to grow economically,” Sandra says. “I hope the skills I have can be added to the effort First Peoples Fund is doing.”

“I chose First Peoples Fund because of the work they do in impacting cultural knowledge transference and in building the ability for both individuals and communities to grow economically,”

Sandra’s 3-hour daily commute to her previous job at the college did have its rewards, such as the sunrise that inspired one of her star quits. She makes star quilts to give away to family and people who have added to her knowledge base.

“The giving of the star quilt is the best way I have to outwardly show respect and honor for people who mentor me, or who make me understand in a way that I didn’t understand before,” she says.

One thing Sandra does in her role at FPF is uplift the culture bearers who undergird and guide every aspect of our work.

“It’s because of them that there is a resurgence in people reclaiming their culture in an Indigenous way,” she says. “Our young people today need to look at those people and recognize that this is where they came from. When they see someone who is truly of the culture and who truly exemplifies the virtues of the cultures [through FPF Community Spirit Award Honorings], they know it and respect it.”

Meet Hillary Presecan

Program Manager of Community Development

Hillary initially encountered FPF while presenting at the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums Conference in the summer of 2014.

“I was researching some of the partners and participants coming to the conference and noticed there was a representative from First Peoples Fund,” she says. “I loved their mission, vision, and values. I kept them in the back of my mind when I moved down here for a different job.”

Program Manager of Community Development, Hillary focuses on FPF’s Native Artist Professional Development Training (NAPD) by managing trainings, building relationships, and facilitating collaborations with tribal communities and FPF-certified NAPD Trainers.

“I enjoy getting to know tribal communities and learning about their needs and how we can bring technical assistance and other support with our trainings. I want to be a good ally.”

“I want to share resources and opportunities for Native artists anywhere that I can through this job,” she says. “I enjoy getting to know tribal communities and learning about their needs and how we can bring technical assistance and other support with our trainings. I want to be a good ally.”

Born and raised in southwest Michigan, Hillary earned her bachelor’s in art history from Kendall College of Art and Design before serving in the Peace Corps as a youth developer in Morocco. After Hillary completed her Peace Corps service, she was awarded the Peace Corps Coverdell Fellowship at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she earned her master’s degree in Rural Development from the Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development. She interned at the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Anchorage and worked with Indigenous peoples in the arts and Tribal public health before finding her professional home at FPF.

Hillary serves on boards for the annual Rapid City Native art market and cultural celebration, Native POP: People of the Plains, and the Rapid City Arts Council. She sees art as the doorway into different cultures.

“The best way to get to know another culture is through the arts where that connection of understanding and commonality binds us together,” she says. “Indigenous artists express their ways of knowing, their stories, their histories, and who they are through art. I feel art is one way to connect the rest of the world to Indigenous people and their ways of knowing to have a better understanding of who they are and to share that with the rest of the world.”

Mikayla Patton (Oglala Lakota) grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. She works primarily in printmaking and painting through the use of mixed media.

Mikayla has exhibited work at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Dahl Art Center in Rapid City, and The Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge. In 2017, she was honored with an Emerging Artist Award from the Native POP: People of the Plains show in South Dakota. Her work has been showcased at Chiaroscuro in Santa Fe, and she was featured on the cover of Pasatiempo Magazine. Mikayla is a 2020 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership Fellow, living in Santa Fe.

Standing at the sink, Mikayla dips her hands in water that is filled with scraps of paper and fabric. It reminds her of washing dishes as a child, being with her grandmother, doing everyday things. A sewer and quilt maker, Mikayla’s grandmother used scraps of anything and everything lying around to create quilts to give to her family.

“I remember her always being calm and quiet, but she really showed affection,” Mikayla says. “It was usually by the things she did with me, which was just hanging out and helping her around the house.”

Pulping paper out of scraps like washing dishes; sandwiching the paper with sheets to press it out like doing laundry — the process of creating the piece, Unci’s Love, is like a memory for Mikayla.

“After the paper [making] process was finished, the paper organically cradled the fabric,” Mikayla says. “I recently started making my own paper using leftover paper scraps in order to recycle and reduce but also to make a point that anything can be art.”

Several years ago, Mikayla relocated to New Mexico to continue her education at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Unable to afford college after the first year, she spent three years working to pay for tuition bills, then returned to IAIA in 2015, receiving her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Studio Arts in 2019.

Mikayla relies on presses to produce her work, a labor-intensive process requiring that she stand and hand-crank the press for hours at a time. She uses non-toxic inks, oil pastels, pencil, stencils, and found materials such as cereal boxes, string, fabric, plants, and beads.

As a printmaker and painter, Mikayla is exploring matriarchal ideology by navigating its complexities through Lakota artistry, design, and geometric forms. She also focuses her time on jewelry making and digital designing, at times combining the two processes to produce her own unique artistry.

It is still moments of sensory experiences that truly motivates Mikayla to continue pushing herself to share and express. Her grandmother showed her that everyday things can be art.

Terran Last Gun (b. 1989) is a Piikani (Blackfeet) citizen and printmaker, who works mainly with serigraphy to produce fine original prints. Other mediums he has used include painting and photography. The interplay between color and form have been a focus of Last Gun’s artistic practice. He often draws from Piikani geometric aesthetics and collective narratives that deepen and extend his color and exploration of shape.

Born in Browning, Montana, Last Gun received his A.S. degree from the Blackfeet Community College in 2011, and his BFA in Museum Studies and AFA in Studio Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2016. He is a recipient of awards from First Peoples Fund, 2020 Artist in Business Leadership Fellowship; Santa Fe Art Institute, 2018 Story Maps Fellowship; and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, 2016 Goodman Aspiring Artist Fellowship. He currently lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Terran inhaled the scent of buckskins worn by warriors of his people in the mid-1800s as he studied old symbols done in quill. He stood in the collections at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Canada viewing five Blackfoot warrior shirts, which had originated from his people. Terran was honored to represent the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksikaitsitapi) from the U.S. at the viewing.

“It was a powerful moment,” he says. “It made me realize I wanted to help in terms of the continuation of this work.”

That moment inspired him to pursue Museum Studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. While at the IAIA, Terran also began Studio Arts classes.

“This is one way of continuing on history and culture and also including my own interest in exploring colors, shape, and pop art.”

“I discovered that you could carry on some of this knowledge through visual art,” he says. “This is one way of continuing on history and culture and also including my own interest in exploring colors, shape, and pop art.”

While his dad is an artist, Terran didn’t consider himself one but fell in love with the hands-on process of printmaking. Screen printing quickly became his favorite.

“I like to mix my own colors and explore color interaction,” he says. “It’s the process and materials I’m working with that help determine some of my imagery, but also my own cultural research. We have a unique way of doing art. Our aesthetic is very geometric, so my work tends to be geometric and hard-edged. I draw a lot of inspiration from Blackfoot painted lodges.”

One of Terran’s favorite pieces from last year, “Sunbeam / 101989,” won the Santa Fe Indian market serigraph category. It’s inspired by Blackfoot painted lodges, and by Terran’s journey as an artist.

“I was drawn to that doorway shape and thinking about my own journey through art and where I am currently at in my life,” he says. “I was working with the square format and had a lot of fun with creating these compositions. The yellow and red remind me of the sun and the blue of big sky Montana.

“I feel like it’s doing what I’m trying to do as an artist — to continue on the symbols but in a very modern way, further elevating these geometric symbols. I feel my work is continuum art from my tribe and from my culture.”

The Waniyeta (Winter season) for the Lakota is a time for reflection and historically when the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) gathered to share significant events depicted in a Winter Count. A Winter Count is a recorded history in pictograph form in a chronological circular pattern drawn onto a buffalo hide. Waniyeta also represents a time of reflection for First Peoples Fund as we look back on the success of our programs, our partnerships and family of artists and culture bearers while preparing to transition into our next three year strategic plan.

For First Peoples Fund (FPF) and our family of culture bearers, artist entrepreneurs and community based partners, this promises to be an outstanding year. We enter the calendar year by welcoming 2020’s four Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award Honorees who will join more than 100 culture bearers and 60 tribal nations. Such as those honorees who came before, these individuals have dedicated their lives to passing on their ancestral knowledge and Indigenous lifeways. We look forward to joining their Nominator and community members as we prepare to honor them in their respective tribal Nations.

A significant milestone in August will be the grand opening of Oglala Lakota Artspace on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the home of the Rolling Rez Arts bus that has traveled more than 30,000 miles since 2017. We are anxious to see artists occupying the building and programing from the Rolling Rez Arts expanding into the building as well as a branch of the Oglala Lakota Federal Credit Union housed in the space. These artists possess abilities to have a greater impact on the economy of many families and the Pine Ridge Reservation as a whole through this new arts center. We humbly thank Artspace and Encompass Architects (Tammy Eagle Bull, Oglala Lakota tribal member) who have led the construction and the many donors who have made this vision a reality.

The Rolling Rez Arts (RRA) Bus will continue travelling across Pine Ridge delivering traditional Lakota arts classes, banking services through the Lakota Federal Credit Union, and buying days for Red Cloud Heritage Center. RRA will continue to extend its programming in partnership with the Cheyenne River Youth Project’s annual Red Can Graffiti Jam in Eagle Butte, slatted for June, Native POP Art Market in Rapid City in July, and the Indigenous Film Festival, coinciding with Oglala Lakota Nation Fair and Rodeo in August. We invite you to attend these events to see and support our artists.

Coming in March, 25 Artist in Business Leadership and Cultural Capital Fellows will gather in Minneapolis. This will be an opportunity for the Fellows to meet and network with each other and learn about business elements necessary for managing a thriving arts business. We are confident the Fellows will return home inspired with the knowledge added to their tool-kit for success.  

The Emerging Poets Fellowship Pilot Program is underway. Each of our four partners in the inaugural program — Dances with Words, Cheyenne River Youth Project, Nisto Inc., and Indigenous Peoples Task Force — have been hosting bi-weekly writing and professional artist development workshops with seven youth poets in their communities. At the end of this spring, each poet will create a chapbook and the groups will host a poetry reading for their communities.

A new spoken-word curriculum is nearing completion. We are eager to share it with mentors this spring for use with poets in the 2020-2021 school year. What do you suppose we will hear from our young poets this year?

Whether you are an artist or simply have an interest in the arts or our programs, check out the FPF Resource Library found on our website under the Programs Tab. There is information in the Resource Library about how to apply to our programs, networking, touring, community engagement, and even establishing a Native art market. We invite you to give it a look — you are sure to discover some useful information for your arts business.

Wherever you are, from the FPF family to yours, we sincerely hope each new season provides the best of all things to you and that our paths will cross until we find ourselves in the next Winiyeta.