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

After 40 years in healthcare work, Cecelia Fire Thunder (Oglala Lakota) returned to school and was certified as a Lakota Language teacher. She taught as an adjunct instructor at Oglala Lakota College and is the president of the Little Wound School Board and Oglala Lakota Nation Education Coalition. In 2004, Cecelia ran for the highest office of her homeland and became the first woman president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

As an artist, Cecelia creates in her home office with an add-on work area for sewing, beading, doll-making, and other art. She resides in Martin, South Dakota.

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Rummaging through thrift stores where she lived in San Diego, Cecelia found the pieces of material she needed to make dolls for the first time. At age 39, she had been away from her homeland for many years. The dolls were a way to bring her homeland to her.

Cecelia sewed and stuffed dolls made of muslin, and cut bell bottoms of old dark navy sailor pants for the dresses. Soon, she began creating traditional Plains dresses and adornments for the dolls she made. This became a journey of healing, of showing who she was as a Lakota Winyan (woman).

When Cecelia returned home to South Dakota in 1988, she won a red ribbon at the Northern Plains Tribal Arts Show with one of her dolls. It was a catalyst in her life and doll making, which she continued throughout her healthcare work and political career.

In 2017, she won a blue ribbon at the same show, a testament to her journey as an artist.

“Each stitch in the creation is a stitch in my life, making it beautiful and stronger as it is about being Lakota,” Cecelia says. “My doll-making brought me home.”

For her First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital fellowship, Cecelia is reaching out to middle and high school girls with doll-making to take them through the four stages of life that correspond with the Four Directions:

Wiyohpeyata (west) represents childhood when students choose the underdress for their doll and begin cutting and sewing by hand.

Waziyata (north) is a girl’s transition to a young woman — they select the color of wool and adornments.

Wiyohinyanpata (east) takes the student into adult womanhood with a completed dress. They cut the moccasins and bead them.

Itokagata (south) reaches the elder stage and completing the doll by putting on her belt with a knife, strike-a-light bag, choker, breastplate, shawl, and a plume. The doll’s head goes on last with her hair braided.

Cecelia explains, “The dolls tell the story of what being a Lakota Winyan represents.”

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

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A collection of drums and rattles awaited in the middle of a room filled with 30 artists leaders from communities across the U.S.

Tbow Gonzales called the leaders forward, and let them each choose an instrument. An accomplished musician, Tbow, who teaches at the Carver Community Cultural Center, led the group in starting a beat.

Scattered at first, gradually the beats came together in a harmonious rhythm with one another — intercultural and intergenerational.

This was how Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) fellow Wesley May (Redlake Band of Chippewa) described one of his experiences during the ILI convening in San Antonio, Texas. Wesley, a painter and owner of Wesley May Studios, is a lead trainer for First Peoples Fund Native Artists Professional Development workshops and also a former  Artist in Business Leadership fellow.

“Tbow Gonzales brought us all together in a rhythm within a couple of minutes,” Wesley says. “The whole experience was empowering. It was using our voices together so we can come together, understanding each other’s cultural backgrounds.”

The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) hosted this final ILI convening for the 2017-2018 cohort. María López De León, President and CEO of NALAC, welcomed ILI fellows into a living Mexican American culture while opening the space for the fellows to share their experiences.

“The fellows led some of the presentations,” Maria says. “It was inspiring to learn from them and hear more about their work that is helping to shape a narrative of interculturality.”

As the first full cohort of ILI comes to a close, we see the impact of the program on the individual artist leaders and how they are taking lessons learned back to their communities.

ILI fellow and former First Peoples Fund fellow Hillary Kempenich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) went to each convening with an open mind. Hillary, also a painter, was determined to be a sponge, ready to absorb emotional energy and renew her faith and love in people.

“It’s taking the time to get to know people and building that willingness to work together. To put yourself in different frames of mind and seeing perspectives and figuring out how those correspond with your own beliefs and values.”

— Hillary Kempenich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa)

“As an artist, I’ve always been aware that my work was to have a positive impact on society, breaking molds and stereotypes as an Indigenous person. That was always important for me, but I didn’t think of it in terms of being an advocate or an activist. I’m seeing myself and my work in a new light.”

Confidence, boldness, and a sense of not being alone. Seeing these things in action in other communities so different, yet so much like her own, are impacting Hillary’s community through her.

“I feel like I’m part of several communities,” she says. “Because of this, in the last few months, I’ve more actively put myself out there, and people are recognizing the work that I do. Building that respect and curiosity in my community has been wonderful.”

At the convenings, Wesley appreciated how the presenters, partners, and facilitators of ILI practiced what they were teaching, which gave him clear examples to take back to his community.

“Seeing other participants do what they’re good at gave me more confidence to step out and do it as well,” he says.

“Our journey together over the last year was insightful,” Maria added. “It was amazing to see how the fellows nurtured each other and coalesced in solidarity and support of one another. I believe in their vision and transformative work.”

— María López De León, President and CEO of NALAC

During the San Antonio convening, the group experienced art spaces and museums in a thriving cultural experience. It was Hillary’s first visit to the Lone Star state.

“It seemed like there was a general hospitality and politeness there,” she says. “I was amazed by all the work that’s being done for the community in certain areas, including a space for youth who are going into the arts. It’s something similar to what I’ve envisioned for North Dakota. It was great to see that in action.”

Throughout the ILI convening, fellows participated in interactive workshops from the Guadalupe Theater to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center’s Casa de Cuentos.

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

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Tosa Gladys Two Heart (Lakota) was taught to keep her Lakota values with her wherever she went. Her mother, Iris Gay (Lakota), an elder and retired elementary school Lakota language teacher, instilled in her the importance of money management skills and to work hard to remove herself from their impoverished situation.

Tosa joined the First Peoples Fund staff earlier this Month as a Program Manager and works closely with Jeremy Staab (Santee Sioux), Program Manager.  She is supporting the Indigenous Arts Ecology (IAE) grant program as it continues to develop and grow.

“All Natives have art in their blood; it’s a part of our way of life,” Tosa says. “When you enrich that aspect of our culture, it impacts the rest of the community’s health and quality of life.”

During her first week at First Peoples Fund, Tosa attended the Indigenous Arts Ecology grantee convening in Phoenix, Arizona. She observed examples of what happens when organizations invest in artists and their community leadership.

“I met the grantees and the artists that are connected to them,” Tosa says. “Seeing how First Peoples Fund impacts artists firsthand was incredible.”

During that convening in March, they explored the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market. The debriefing at the end highlighted challenges emerging artists face and how communities can support them in breaking into larger art markets.

“All Natives have art in their blood; it’s a part of our way of life,” Tosa says. “When you enrich that aspect of our culture, it impacts the rest of the community’s health and quality of life.”

Tosa comes from a family of artists, including her grandmother, Gladys Gay (Lakota), who has made star quilts for over 50 years. Tosa and her mother help her grandmother with quilting, Tosa continues this art form, along with her many other mediums: drawing, painting, graphic design, fashion design, printing, mixed media, traditional and digital photography, creative writing, music, and paper sculptures. She experienced early art success in high school that included the Heard Museum Guild Student Art Show and being featured in a gallery at The Riverside Arts Walk in California.

Her values have carried her through higher education, including a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles, a Master of Business Administration at Bentley University and through Native American nonprofit work since 2008. They took her to the 2015 Miss Indian World competition where she used Lakota traditional cooking as her Traditional Talent Presentation. Her late grandfather, Wilson Gay (Lakota), preserved these traditions and handed them down to Tosa through her mother and grandmother.

“The whole competition experience made me more comfortable in my own skin,” Tosa says, “of being in public and just being me.”

With her focus on higher education, Tosa had set aside her artistic endeavors for most of her adult life until she decided to live out a high school dream to become a fashion designer. It was after she had spent a summer at the Peabody Essex Museum as a Native American Fellow in Public Relations.

“That was a fire starter to bringing me back to practicing art,” she says. “I’ve come to the realization that art makes me truly happy, and it’s a lifelong passion.”

At a 2017 workshop presented by the American Indian Business Leaders Conference, Tosa learned how to run an online shop, and the Tosa Two Heart brand became a reality.

Tosa carried her Lakota values into her brand with providing meaningful apparel for everyday people. She loves fashion that is fun, and at the same time, tells her story. The star designs are inspired by her family’s star quilts. Tosa’s two heart designs represent the double beat of one of her favorite powwow dances.

“With my brand, it’s about tying humanity into fashion,” Tosa says. “We’re all ikce oyate, everyday people, trying to make it in this world.”

Realizing the importance of art to an individual and how that connects to communities as a whole is invaluable in Tosa’s new role as First Peoples Fund’s Program Manager of Community Development.

“When I launched my graphic art apparel brand, I was invited to sell at Racing Magpie in Rapid City,” Tosa explains. “That’s where I met more of the First Peoples Fund staff. I realized I would enjoy the culture, the philosophy, and the type of work of the organization. It aligns with my personal goals and what I believe in.”

“I’ve always been an artist, but to actually do it in a professional capacity is new to me. To be in the environment where supporting artists who want to develop themselves felt like fate tugging at me. I took a deep consideration and decided First Peoples Fund was meant for me.

“There have been numerous people who have helped me, and sometimes help was sharing a meal,” Tosa says. “They reinforced that idea of being a part of community.

“All my life, I’ve felt responsible for making sure I was supporting Native people, whether with my own or in general. We all share the same circumstances and struggles. Working together has always been important to me.”

David Moses Bridges (Passamaquoddy) became part of the First Peoples Fund family when he was nominated as a Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award honoree in 2007. David's commitment to the traditional practices of the Passamaquoddy nation were recognized further by First Peoples Fund in the following years when he was selected as a 2008 Artist in Business Leadership Fellow and a 2009 Cultural Capital Fellow.

David's dedication to passing on ancestral knowledge was embodied in every facet of his life. His work was not only about the physical process of creating traditional art, but included the entire ecosystem surrounding traditional practices – from honoring his ancestors to advocating for the environment. David firmly believed that ancestral knowledge not only provided guidance in contemporary life, but that it also provided answers for how to approach the future in a way that created healthy, vibrant communities.

David passed away in 2017, however his legacy of commitment to First Peoples artists and culture bearers continues through the David Moses Bridges Scholarship. Provided through the Maine Community Foundation, the scholarship will support a First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital fellow every year. We are honored to be able to continue celebrating the life and work of David, whose impact will be felt in his community and among First Peoples artists for generations to come.

If you would like to donate to the David Moses Bridges Scholarship fund, you can do so by donating to either the Maine Community Foundation or to First Peoples Fund. Please note that your donation is going toward the David Moses Bridges Scholarship when submitting your donation. You can learn more about David's life, his work and his community by visiting DavidMosesBridges.com.

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

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Cecily Engelhart (Ihanktonwan and Oglala Lakota) has lived a life as though by design. Each step she’s taken opened up a path to the next one, leading her to the communications manager position at First Peoples Fund. But it started with a solid foundation from her youth.

Raising her in two separate households, Cecily’s parents aimed to work together to raise their daughter. She lived with her gentle, determined mother in Vermillion, South Dakota, and her warm-hearted, hardworking father in Greenwood, South Dakota on the Yankton Sioux Reservation. Her dad’s love for music, film and media helped to create the soundtrack of Cecily’s life.

“I credit him for helping me appreciate me how the world expresses itself,” Cecily says.

Part of that foundation were her grandmothers. As a retired dietician, her paternal grandmother Madonna Archambeau (Inhanktonwan) shifted the patriarchal structures on the Yankton Sioux Reservation when she became the first tribal chairwoman. Cecily’s maternal grandmother Ellen Libby (Oglala Lakota) was a tireless learner, gaining her Ph.D. and working as a speech-language pathologist.  She eventually became a professor at Northern University and received a Bush Foundation fellowship to help prospective teachers learn about fetal alcohol syndrome.

“Seeing my Grandma Madonna elected was a lesson that even if the odds seem insurmountable, you have to put one foot in front of the other and keep building relationships that strengthen your communities,” Cecily says, “And my Grandma Ellen’s drive to understand how we communicate with one another taught me that there is such a power not only in language, but in all ways of expression. Communication shapes what we believe about each other, what we believe about ourselves, what we hold as our values. I think that is part of why I ended up in this field.”

Her grandmothers, both powerhouse women, were foundational in Cecily’s life, feeding the desire in her to go to college. Her mother helped guide her along every step of the way, pushing her to finish high school and learn to navigate the demands of college, where she realized the power of the arts to promote social change.

Cecily was part of a team of Native students that created a short film with a title that played on the University of South Dakota’s diversity statement of “Everybody Belongs.” With the American Indian studies department located in a basement featuring duct-taped pipes and moldy walls, their video was titled, “Everybody Belongs…Out of the Basement.”

The next year, the American Indian studies department was moved to another facility — above ground. Though the school insisted the video hadn’t been the reason for the move, she was amazed at the stir it caused and the inspiration she felt from collaborating with her classmates. Motivated to keep learning, she applied for a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship which she used to investigate Indigenous issues on a global scale in Aotearoa (New Zealand).

From there, she would meet someone who would change the course of her life through a single conversation. Another Rotary scholar mentioned a Masters program at the University of California Santa Cruz that combined social justice issues with filmmaking, meaning that the experience she had making a documentary with her classmates could become a career path.

While filming her thesis documentary (Siouxtable Food), Cecily began with her home reservation, interviewing community leader Faith Spotted Eagle (Ihanktonwan). Then through connecting with other communities she eventually interviewed Linda Black Elk (Catawba), Karlene Hunter (Oglala Lakota), Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota) and Nick Tilsen (Oglala Lakota), the latter of which would later recruit her to the team at Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation in Porcupine, South Dakota.

When hearing that Sean Sherman aka “The Sioux Chef” would be catering 2016 First Peoples Fund’s Community Spirit Awards ceremony, Cecily jumped at the chance to volunteer preparing food, helping with kitchen clean-up and gathering footage during the event. It was there she learned that Sean was First Peoples Fund’s first-ever culinary artist fellow and learned more about the work First Peoples Fund does.

Though it was hard to leave her Thunder Valley CDC family, the communications manager position at First Peoples Fund fit Cecily’s skill set, fusing together her passion for communication, expression and art.

“First Peoples Fund recognizes art as an integral, core element of our communities, inextricable from who we are,” she says, “Whether creating networks within and between communities or providing direct support for individual artists, it’s so inspiring to see how First Peoples Fund is really aware of how the work of artists and culture bearers ripples out to impact our indigenous communities. I’m excited to help share those stories.”

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

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The Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Awards (CSA) recognizes exceptional artists who have shown a lifetime commitment to perpetuating their art and sharing it within their communities. These practicing artists embody the Collective Spirit®, and are nominated for the award by members of their communities.

“These culture bearers quietly, selflessly give of themselves in their communities year after year,” says Lori Pourier, president of First Peoples Fund. “Through the Community Spirit Awards, First Peoples Fund honors and shines a light on their work to restore and pass on ancestral knowledge and traditions, connecting their peoples to their greatest assets.”  

We are honored to introduce you to these culture bearers well deserving of their 2018 Community Spirit Award.

ELAINE GRINNELL

Jamestown S’Klallam and Lummi

Sequim, Washington

It began in frightening times for young Elaine. She sat near a potbelly stove with her grandfather, David Prince, during World War II blackouts along the Jamestown Beach. But as he calmly peeled apples and told stories, Elaine listened, her fears forgotten as she pressed each word into her mind. He gave her the gift of storytelling.

Today, this art medium overlaps with traditional cooking and basketry for Elaine.

She spent much of her life living around the Straights of Juan de Fuca (also known as the Salish Sea) where she digs clams, picks oysters, catches salmon, crab and octopus and prepares them in traditional ways.

“I have taught two generations of my family to do the same and am beginning to teach our third generation.”

— Elaine Grinnell

She is also showing them how to gather, prepare, and weave Western Red Cedar bark along with their stories.

Because of that dedication, Khia Grinnell (Jamestown S’Klallam and Lummi) nominated Elaine for the CSA.

“My grandmother has worked tirelessly to preserve and share our culture. She has served as an ambassador of our people in a manner that has made not only her family but her community proud.”

— Khia Grinnell

Following in the steps of her grandmother Elaine, Khia is a storyteller and serves on the Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association board alongside Elaine.

Elaine also serves on the Jamestown S’Klallam Culture Committee, the Native Elders Committee of the University of Washington, Northwest Native American Storytellers Association board, and is a certified Klallam language teacher.

KANOELANI DAVIS

Native Hawaiian

Kaunakakai, Hawai’i

For 37 years, Kanoelani has practiced hula, the Hawaiian dance form instilled in her being, along with other cultural practices like wood carving, weapon making, and gathering shells for lei. Her daily occupation, though, is bringing these practices into fashion design through her company, PōMahina Designs.

“It took over 34 years of understanding traditional wear to really grasp the meaning of integrating traditional and contemporary wear,” Kanoelani says.

She values the importance of understanding art and life lessons through the lens of her ancestors, and how vital it is to share those lessons.

“Once that is understood, it allows the creative to create contemporary art forms using ancestral thought process,” she says. “The idea is to allow an individual to take some ownership in the traditions of their ancestors and yet be an individual in today’s time. I foresee balance.”

In her role as Hawaiian Arts Program Director for the Molokai Arts Center, Kanoelani plans to continue holding classes with interested learners.

“Kanoelani Davis is a tireless advocate, supporter and practitioner of Native Hawaiian arts and culture,” Brandon Jones says. He is the executive director of the Molokai Arts Center. Brandon honored Kanoelani with the CSA nomination.

“Anytime she or her students perform hula, the community is confident they are witnessing an authentic act,” he says. “Kanoelani’s company, PōMahina Designs, was recently invited to show at the Pacific Fusion Fashion show in New Zealand. This sent a message to the young people of Molokai that success and recognition are possible for someone who is dedicated to culture.”

MARIE MEADE

Yup’ik

Anchorage, Alaska

“With flashes of color and escalating drum beats, Yup’ik dance envelopes the audience in a celebration of traditional sounds and culture, a blending of music, language and dance,” Marie says.

A traditional dancer, Marie embodies her belief that this gift of dance has taught her who she is as a Yup’ik person.

“Yup’ik dance can be a form of prayer that helps me connect to the core of my soul and spirit as a human being,” she says.

While maintaining strong relationships and family ties with her homeland and the Yup’ik community in Southwest Alaska, Marie travels to practice her art at public and private gatherings, festivals and celebrations. She also shares her dance with the larger global community.

Joy Demmert (Yup’ik) knows her through Marie’s son, Stephen, who performs worldwide with his Inuit soul music group, Pamyua.

“Through Marie, the traditional dancing and singing to tell stories of Yup’ik traditions and ways of life continue to be shared as they have for thousands of years,” Joy says. “She has not only strengthened our communities in Alaska through her art forms, but has spread them all over the world.”

Along with mentoring her sons, grandchildren and many relatives, Marie has taught Yup’ik dance at the University of Alaska Anchorage campus for many years. In 2015, Marie was inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame for her contributions to the Alaskan community. She currently works at the University of Alaska Anchorage as a professor for Yup’ik Language, Yup’ik Orthography, and Alaska Native Dance.

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PETER B. JONES

Onondaga

Versailles, New York

Peter is a clay artist of the Onondaga tribe in New York State. Returning to his homeland in 1977 after studies at the Institute of American Indian Art, he has worked to bring Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) pottery back to life in his home communities.

These pots reflect what was originally made with clay gathered from stream beds and altered with the addition of crushed shell, crushed granitic rock and sand to create a clay body that was useful and durable after it was fired.

Peter works within the Six Nations Iroquois communities of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora people.

“Because pot making had died out in our culture, I have studied our ancient pottery for over twenty-five years, trying to understand not only how it was made but also what it was used for and sometimes what the designs meant,” Peter says.

He shares this knowledge in classes and workshops throughout the Six Nations Communities. He says, “This returns to our people something that is uniquely ours.”

Carol Ann Lorenz nominated Peter for the CSA. She serves as a faculty member and museum curator at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

“I believe it is safe to say that Peter nearly single-handedly revived the making of clay pots in Iroquois country,” she says. “Largely through his efforts, there are dozens of Haudenosaunee artists working in clay today.

“Peter epitomizes the ideals of community connectedness and the giving spirit that the Community Spirit Award is designed to recognize and honor.”

Matilda “Tillie” Wilson has made traditional Atsugewi Indian Baby Baskets for fifteen years. A member of the Hat Creek Atsugewi Band of the Pit River Tribe, she was born in Redding, California and raised in Central Valley (now incorporated as Shasta Lake City). She has 30 years of work experience in education, health management systems, contract health service and health clinic transportation, and the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Matilda shares her knowledge and passion for traditional arts whenever she can. She has sold baskets to people all over the U.S. She is a 2018 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital fellow.

“Wear old shoes and long pants.” These are the instructions Matilda gives students as they prepare to traverse brushy and wet areas for the springtime harvest of chokecherry, gray and red willow. Before the class on weaving traditional Indian Baby Baskets begins, Matilda scouts out ideal places for harvesting. Their tribe’s natural resources have dwindled, which is one reason she advocates the tribe to grow its own willow.

“If we cannot gather in our traditional spots we must create new ones,” she says, "otherwise the art and tradition of baskets and cradleboards will be gone."

When selecting local harvest locations, Matilda keeps in mind that some of her students have disabilities, or difficulties getting around because of age. She wants her classes to be accessible for all, with no restrictions. If the terrain still proves a challenge to someone, she gathers material for them. Anyone who wants to learn can.

“After we bring our harvest in, we make them (the students) do everything hands on, from framing to cross boarding and making the bonnet — putting everything together by stages,” Matilda explains. Her husband helps her with the harvesting and classes.

Materials have changed over the years — pitch is traded for wood glue, red willow shavings for red yarn. But the process and the heart of the work remains the same, including how Matilda teaches students to thank the Creator for the willow. She sees her students becoming the future teachers of traditional baby basket making.

“I am concerned that the next generation will only read about keeping babies in baskets,” she says.

But when Matilda watches young mothers using baskets they made themselves, she knows this work will live on.

“The main goal is to carry on our traditions so that they are no longer a thing of the past,” she says.

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

Award-winning artist Dana Warrington (Menominee / Prairie Band Potawatomi) was born and raised on Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin. His primary art medium is porcupine quillwork. His art also includes beadwork, bustle-making, moccasins, and cradleboards while adding silver work as a new form in the coming year.

Dana relocated with his family to Cherokee, North Carolina, in August 2016.

Whatever Dana’s mother touched she could do, but the time came when she transferred the work of making his powwow regalia to him. His dad told him, “You can have anything you want, as long as you’re willing to make it yourself.”

At seventeen, Dana picked up a needle and thread and began creating through trial and error over the next ten years. Then he bought his first quillwork pieces, and the dream of having a full set of quillwork was born.

“You can have anything you want, as long as you’re willing to make it yourself.”

Dana had absorbed his love of art through his grandmother. “She always stressed to never abuse your craft, and to always do right by people,” he says.

He followed her teachings through his beginning years, and it brought him to great places. After he spent several winters making new pieces for each powwow season, people began asking Dana who made his regalia. Orders came in.

Over the past two years, Dana has pursued art full-time. At his first major event, Eiteljorg Museum Indian Art Market, he received Best of Show. It left him speechless.

He renamed his art business — Young Blood Artwork — in honor of his grandmother, Dorothy Young. The business is a way of keeping her legacy alive.

In 2018, Dana is looking forward to more great places. With a tribal loan, he and his family are completing a studio next door to his house, giving him space to create his art. His First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership fellowship will cover travel expenses for prestigious Indian art markets. This fellowship also opens network connections he’s never had.

Currently Dana is reaching out to other Native artists and inspiring them through his story to take their business and art to the next level. “The talent is definitely there,” he says.

In it all, he strives for balance between his business and his family while acknowledging the center of everything he does.

“I want to stay 100% focused on my art, my family, and what’s right in front of me,” Dana says. “I believe God is the center of everything, of our lives every day. I believe we have God-given talent — that’s what is pushing me to pursue it. The rest, I’ve just got to work hard for.”

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

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Roxanne Best (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation) is a photographer, culinary artist and storyteller. She grew up on the Colville Indian Reservation, then spent a season of life as a scuba diving instructor where she took underwater photos and video at the Turks and Caicos Islands. She later moved to Kauai, Hawai’i where she honed her cooking and photography skills.

After the birth of her two sons, Roxanne returned to her home area so they could learn the traditions of her family. They now reside in Okanogan, Washington.

Roxanne is a certified Northwest Native Development Fund Indianpreneurship trainer and a First Peoples Fund trainer.

Sitting down for a comfortable chat with Grandma to learn the traditional foodways of her people. This is the feeling Roxanne wants to convey to readers through an Indigenous food blog that she can eventually publish as a book.

She is combining her passion for photography and food into the project to pass on ancestral knowledge to those who, like her, feel disconnected from their people. Though raised on the Colville Reservation, Roxanne was encouraged to get an education and not worry about the traditional ways.

“They won’t get you a job,” she was told.

So Roxanne set out on a journey that eventually took her to Hawai’i where she combined her love of teaching, scuba diving, exotic foods, and photography. But it was a trip to Fiji that ultimately brought her back home.

The warmth of the Indigenous people’s embrace and their ease of living within their cultural practices birthed a desire in Roxanne to learn about her own culture. But even when she moved back to the reservation area, it was hard to find reliable information. There was only one way to truly learn — from elders. Yet Roxanne felt like many in her generation. Disconnected. Unqualified. Afraid to ask.

For ten years, she held onto the dream of documenting the foodways of her people through photos and stories. Then a way opened through an encounter with Leon Rattler (Blackfeet) at a First Peoples Fund training last fall.

“He heard my story and approached me,” Roxanne explained. “He said he would love for me to be on the committee working on an elder’s heritage manual for the Colville Confederated Tribes. That’s huge. We’re talking about traditions around food, burial, every aspect of our people. It’s been amazing. I’m the only non-elder on the committee.”

With support from her 2018 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership program, Roxanne is gathering information into a reliable resource for traditional foods. It will help others begin to fold their Native heritage into their lives.

“What you consume becomes a part of you,” Roxanne said. “I’m inspired by the stories that people have surrounding food. Being able to create those moments as a cook and also capture the process on film or in story brings me great joy.”

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

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Peter Williams (Yup’ik) produces high-end fur garments that blur the line between art and fashion. He has demonstrated the technique of sewing seal and sea otter fur by hand at museums, cultural centers, and to Alaska Natives at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In 2015, he presented at New York Fashion Week and was profiled in The Guardian. His first runway show was at Brooklyn Fashion Week, 2016.

Peter completed a Rasmuson Foundation Artist Residency at Santa Fe Art Institute, an Artist in Residence at the Institute of American Indian Arts and has guest lectured at Yale University, Portland Art Museum, and 516 ARTS. He is based in Sitka, Alaska.

Known as the “sea otter guy,” it’s hard to tell at times where Peter’s art ends and he begins.

“The deeply holistic nature of my culture not only informs my art but is the reason I create it,” Peter said.

From Alaska to New York, bridging two states at the opposite ends of the country has allowed Peter to grow connections between disparate cultures. This came from walking pathways in deep healing and his role as a Yup’ik man.

When Peter lost his father in an alcohol-related boating accident, it broke his connection with his cultural identity.

“What it meant to be a healthy Yup’ik man wasn’t modeled for me,” Peter said.

This spiraled into substance abuse and self-loathing that nearly destroyed him. Coming back to the traditional practices of sea otter hunting, sewing skins, and oneness, Peter experienced healing.

“My father, my culture, my spirituality, sobriety, and healing all became tangible through the sacred act of hunting and sewing with marine mammals,” he said.

Stretching this identity across the country, he began cold-calling fur and fashion businesses on the East Coast.

“High-end, high dollar products will allow me to hunt and create less,” he said. “I can get to a comfortable living wage while making and selling unique, high-quality products.”

Peter is now taking the next steps. Consulting with a potential sales representative, he’s pursuing wholesale outlets in New York. He was recently accepted into the Capsule fashion trade show as part of his goals with his First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership program to expand into new markets.

Peter’s art goes beyond crafting a quality product. It tells a story, a narrative of who he is, who his people are, and how they have evolved with their culture intact, thriving, and ready for the future.

“Through my culture and tradition, I found what it means to be a healthy and proud Yup’ik man.

— Peter Williams

Photo credits: Runway images provided by the artist, header image and outdoor modeling images from Gregory Thompson and Max Myers, images of Peter Williams hunting/fishing by Fabio Domenig.

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

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“There’s a huge need for Native artists to be bankable. They need supplies, but they have no credit history, no collateral, no local bank that works with them. The fact that First Peoples Fund opened the door for us to be able to reach out and start getting the artists bankable is exciting.”  

— Felecia Freeman (Citizen Potawatomi, Sac and Fox, Kickapoo), commercial loan officer at the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation

Now in its fifth year, the Indigenous Arts Ecology (IAE) program reaches into tribal communities with grants and technical assistance to community-based organizations, supporting them to assist Native artists to grow as entrepreneurs and leaders in their local Indigenous arts ecosystems. Through the Indigenous Arts Ecology program, First Peoples Fund partners primarily with Native Community Development Financial Institutions (Native CDFIs). The two-year cohort-based program builds understanding of the critical role of artists and culture bearers in tribal communities, and helps build capacity to better support artists with services, training, and mentoring.

It is our privilege to announce the 2018 Indigenous Arts Ecology Grantees. FPF invited the grantees into the program, knowing they understand and embrace the value of artists who hold one of our most significant assets — cultural knowledge.

Four Bands Community Fund

Located in north-central South Dakota, this Native CDFI conducted the Cheyenne River Artist Market Survey in 2015. This survey revealed a great need for artists to improve their business financial skills. It also acknowledged a thriving informal arts economy amid high unemployment rates and poverty on the reservation.

Four Bands uses a model called Icahya Woecun (The Place to Grow) to deliver its programs. Icahya Woecun brings together Lakota values and tradition with the wisdom of best practices to support Native entrepreneurs.

In part through their IAE grant, Four Bands envisions a thriving creative economy inclusive of  artists of all ages, and will support artists to gain access to niche markets outside the reservation.

Kawerak, Inc.

A non-profit tribal corporation, Kawerak, Inc. provides services within the Bering Strait Region in Alaska. Through the IAE grant, Kawerak is continuing a relationship with First Peoples Fund to advance the region’s art community.

At the heart of the work lies Kawerak’s goal to partner with tribal members and communities to achieve the highest quality of life while living and celebrating their Native cultures.

In partnership with First Peoples Fund, Kawerak envisions offering relevant support for artists and crafters in the Bering Strait Region so they can continue their art, pass on their knowledge, and support themselves, their families, and community.

Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement

Founded in 2001, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) is a statewide and national network of well over 100 Native Hawaiian organizations.  

CNHA’s network of artists in the community consists of local artists from abstract to contemporary artists, colorists, digital artists, sculptors, photographers, jewelers, weavers, wood carvers, other artists and cultural practitioners.

CNHA wants to direct a funding trend toward supporting the economic and professional development of its artists for the sake of impacting the community’s economy, interconnectivity, but most importantly, inspiring stories from every family (‘ohana) and elevating Hawai’i’s cultural preservation.

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Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation

It is the mission of the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation to finance, promote, educate and inspire the entrepreneurial growth, economic opportunity and financial well-being of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal Community and other underserved Native populations.

Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation collaborates with tribes and other Native CDFIs across the United States. It shares policies, procedures, impacts, and programs to enhance economic development in Indian Country.

With the IAE grant, it is poised to provide professional development training, credit building, asset building, and matched savings for Oklahoma’s Native artists.

Individual Development Accounts (IDA) and the IAE Grants

IDAs are a theme for this group of Native CDFI partners.  Matched savings programs not only dispense funding into the Native artist’s business but also teach financial management.

In addition to IDAs and unique goals within each organization, these Native CDFIs will continue to conduct the First Peoples Fund’s Native Artist Professional Development training for their artists.

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Experiencing the Heart of an Indigenous Arts Ecology

During site visits and convenings hosted by First Peoples Fund throughout the year, the IAE partners will have the opportunity to see Indigenous communities undergoing change through well supported creative economies.

“At the convening, we invite one staff member and one community artist champion,” First Peoples Fund Program Manager Jeremy Staab (Santee Sioux) said. “It’s an opportunity to collectively share knowledge and experiences that they’ve had with supporting artists in their community.

“We can always put the partners in front of a lecture, a webinar series, or go through helpful models. But every community is a little different. When we think in terms of adaptive models — learning from the experiences, successes, and failures of other communities — it helps us grow faster.”

Note:

Our previous Indigenous Arts Ecology cohort began their program in 2017 and will finish after their second year in 2018: Four Directions Development, Inc., Lakota Funds, Northwest Native Development Fund, and Native American Community Development Corporation.

The IAE grant is supported through the Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Northwest Area Foundation, and the Surdna Foundation.

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

First Peoples Fund is thrilled to welcome a new cohort of 25 artist fellows who embody the Collective Spirit® and whose lives reflect the traditional values at the heart of our work — generosity, wisdom, respect, integrity, strength, fortitude and humility. Each year, we offer two fellowship grant programs for artists: Artist in Business Leadership and Cultural Capital.

“We have such a range of mediums,” First Peoples Fund Program Manager Mary Bordeaux (Sicangu Lakota) said. “Everything from Indigenous foods to performing artists. We have artists using traditional techniques in modern ways. I’m excited about working with the artists, seeing them grow, and their projects come to fruition.”

Artist in Business Leadership Program

Out of a record 75 applications from Native artists across the country, 15 artists were selected to receive the Artist in Business Leadership (ALB) fellowship to assist them in furthering their art career aspirations. Through projects of their own design as well as assistance and training provided by First Peoples Fund, the artists will develop skills to help them grow a thriving business for themselves and their families.

When an individual artist is uplifted and supported, they impact their families, communities and the benefits can ripple out regionally and nationally. This inspires artists to fully honor their cultural creativity and frees them to embrace their Native identity and voice.

“The Artist in Business Leadership fellows are doing work within to stabilize themselves as artists,” Mary said.

The artists moving through the ABL in 2018 are:

Nanibaa Beck (Dine)
Metal worker and jeweler. Carrboro, North Carolina

Roxanne L. Best (Confederated Tribe of the Colville Indian Reservation)
Culinary arts, photography, and writing. Okanogan, Washington

Heidi K. Brandow (Dine / Native Hawaiian)
Drawing and mixed media artist, painter, and photographer. Santa Fe, New Mexico

Alexandra Buffalohead (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate)
Musician and singer. Eagan, Minnesota

Jaida Grey Eagle (Oglala Lakota)  
Photographer, beadworker, filmmaker. Prior Lake, Minnesota

Pauline Klementson (Stebbins Community Association)
Basketry artist. Nome, Alaska

Traci McClellan-Sorell (Cherokee Nation)
Writer. Olathe, Kansas

Jeff Peterson (Native Hawaiian)

Musician and songwriter. Kailua, Hawai’i

Fox Spears (Karuk)
Drawing and mixed media artist, painter, and printmaker. Seattle, Washington

Jack Wallace Gladstone (Blackfeet)
Musician, composer, and storyteller. East Glacier, Montana

Dana Warrington (Menominee / Prairie Band Potawatomi)
Quillwork artist. Cherokee, North Carolina      

Peter Williams (Yup’ik / Sitka)
Interdisciplinary artist. Sitka, Alaska

Rico Worl (Tlingit / Athabascan)
Interdisciplinary artist. Juneau, Alaska

Laura Youngbird (Minnesota Chippewa Grand Portage Band)
Printmaker. Breckenridge, Minnesota  

Raye Zaragoza (Pima / O’odham)  

Singer/songwriter. North Hollywood, California

Cultural Capital Fellowship

Cultural Capital (CC) fellows focus their valuable time and resources on projects which benefit their communities by sustaining or revitalizing cultural practices. These artists and culture bearers ensure generations to come have access to traditions that might otherwise be lost.

The CC fellowship reinforces their goals to pass on ancestral knowledge in their community with financial and technical support throughout the year. These artists are generous with their time and abilities, sharing their knowledge with all who desire to learn.

“I’m looking forward to the classes that are planned,” Mary said. “Young people are working with elders to document the work. It’s that transference of ancestral knowledge. There are some young artists conducting classes. While they may not be the experts, they make sure everyone is in the same place, including the experts: culture bearers alongside the young people.”

We are pleased to welcome these Cultural Capital fellows into the program this year:

Bernice Akamine (Native Hawaiian)

Weaver, basketry and textile artist. Volcano, Hawai’i

Cecelia Fire Thunder (Oglala Lakota)

Storyteller and doll maker. Martin, South Dakota

Lisa Iron Cloud (Oglala Lakota)

Beadwork, quillwork, and sewing artist. Rapid City, South Dakota

Arlo Iron Cloud Sr. (Oglala Lakota)

Filmmaker and storyteller. Rapid City, South Dakota

Wesley May (Red Lake Band of Chippewa)

Painter. Red Lake, Minnesota    

Kandi McGilton (Metlakatla Indian Community)

Weaver, basketry and beadwork artist. Metlakatla, Alaska

J. Waylon Miller (Northern Cheyenne)

‍Storyteller and tribal music preservationist. Rapid City, South Dakota

Joseph Brophy Toledo (Jemez Pueblo)

‍Carver, painter, and storyteller. Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico    

Micheal Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota)

Filmmaker, mixed media, and music. Rapid City, South Dakota

Matilda Wilson (Atsugewi Band of the Pit River Tribe)

Basketry artist. Burney, California

Family Connections

Receiving either the ABL or the CC fellowship goes beyond support for a year or a single project. Artist fellows are brought into the First Peoples Fund family and introduced to a vast network of artists, new market opportunities, and a chance to build relationships while they continue to grow in their confidence and ability as Native artists.

This proved the case for singer / songwriter Cary Morin (Crow/Assiniboine), who received an Artist in Business Leadership grant last year.

“Cary’s First Peoples Fund award was critical to his level of success in 2017,” Celeste Di Iorio said of her husband. “Without it, we would not have been able to achieve the publicity and grow his fanbase to the level it is today. Cary is now on the worldwide map in a way that he has never been before. He is teetering on the brink of the next level of success, for which we are very hopeful for in 2018.”

We will continue to follow Cary’s success and others as we bring the 2018 ABL and CC fellows into the family.

Learn more about this year's Fellows in our monthly eSPIRIT newsletter, which highlights two fellows every month. You can subscribe to eSPIRIT by scrolling to the bottom of any page on our website and entering your email address. Don't miss this opportunity to hear more about these exceptional artists and culture bearers, their work and their communities.

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Photo credits:
Header Image, "Hi" by Heidi Brandow, Mixed Medium (wood, plaster, acrylic, graphite, paper, resin)
Image of Cary Morin provided by artist.