NACF HOSTS ITS FIRST NATIONAL CONVENING OF NATIVE ARTS AND CULTURES FIELD NOVEMBER 4-5

One hundred representatives of Native artist service organizations, cultural centers, museums, Native artists, musicians, writers, and educators from 25 states gathered on Friday, November 4, and Saturday, November 5, in Portland, Oregon, for “Strengthening the Bones,” the NACF’s first convening of the Native arts and cultures field. The two-day convening included performances by Native artists, panel discussions, breakout sessions, and unique networking opportunities for attendees. Artist Linley Logan (Seneca), who was the convening’s emcee, noted: “The participants at this historic gathering represent the four directions and four corners of our diverse Native arts and cultures field.”

The convening had four primary objectives: to map and share individual strengths and priorities; to identify collective connections and energy; to identify strategies and action steps for supporting Native arts coalitions; and identify strategies and action steps for Native arts advocacy efforts.

The convening’s theme, “Strengthening the Bones,” has a very special meaning, as it refers to Native Hawaiians’ ongoing care of iwi, or bones of the ancestors, said NACF President/CEO T. Lulani Arquette. She added that Iwi is the foundation upon which a reciprocal relationship is established between the living and those who have left the earth.

“This convening is about nurturing and also strengthening the relationships that will, hopefully, last forever,” noted Arquette. “We are here to explore what strengths in the field exist at this moment in time, and to share with one another how we can ‘strengthen the bones,’ or foundation, of the Native arts and cultures field for present and for future generations.”

W. Richard West, Jr. (Southern Cheyenne), a new NACF board member (and founding director and director emeritus of the National Museum of the American Indian), delivered the first day’s keynote address. “I was born to know the vast and permeating nexus between the Native arts and the maintenance of cultural continuance in contemporary Native communities,” said West. “The statement that Native artists, past and present, are the ‘culture bearers of our Native communities’ is not some mechanical and rote rhetorical cultural maxim – I believe that it also happens to be complete truth. But if it is truth, then every person in this room has genuine responsibilities to our Native communities.”

The fist day included evening performances by Vicky Holt Takamine (Native Hawaiian), Kumu Hula and executive director of the Pa’i Foundation, Honululu (the Foundation was a 2010 NACF grantee); Robi Kahakalau (Native Hawaiian), musician and recording artist; and Jamaica Osorio (Native Hawaiian), slam poet. The evening concluded with a screening of “On the Ice,” directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (Iñupiat). It is the first feature length fiction film made in Alaska by an Iñupiat writer/director (MacLean) with an entirely Inuit cast. It has met with critical acclaim both nationally and internationally since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

Arquette began the second day with a history of the NACF. “This effort began more than 20 years ago, when a number of talented, knowledgeable and committed Native artists, culture bearers and arts administrators met and began talking about what a Native arts and cultures initiative would entail,” said Arquette. “From 2003 – 2009, under the direction of Betsy Richards, the Ford Foundation’s ‘Strengthening the Field of Native Arts and Culture Initiative’ was a dedicated effort to support Native artists and the organizations that support them.” In 2006, Ford began the IllumiNation project as a $1.9 million effort to support Native visual and performing artists, encourage entrepreneurship, and build networks early on in the field’s history.

Seven organizations were part of the original IllumiNation initiative: American Composers Forum; The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art; Evergreen Longhouse; First People’s Fund; the National Museum of the American Indian; New England Foundation for the Arts; and the Seventh Generation Fund.  “These organizations and others helped pave the way for the NACF,” said Arquette. “They have been doing important work for a very long time and we are grateful and honored to have them here with us at our convening.”

The questions and topics that were examined during the second day of the convening included: What has shifted in you during your experience at this convening? Are there specific “knowledge resources” or “model ways of working” in your community that the participants would benefit from hearing about? What burning questions do you want your colleagues here to consider? What will you share with your community at home or with the broader Native field? Regional/national coalition building and engaging Native communities were other topics discussed.

One highlight of the second day included a keynote address by Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree), NACF founding advisory board member, acclaimed musician and founder of Nihewan Foundation, who inspired and motivated participants as she talked about her long and illustrious career in music and the arts. “Our Foundation is supporting artists, extending and expanding art, and supporting our communities,” said Sainte-Marie. “I believe that the NACF will continue to ‘ripen’ and connect our cultures to communities large and small.”

Oregon and Washington organizations and Native nations that participated at the convening included: Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC); Meyer Memorial Trust; Northwest Indian College; Wisdom of the Elders; Crow’s Shadow Art Institute; The Museum at Warm Springs; Oregon Folklife Network; Oregon School of Arts and Crafts; Longhouse Education and Cultural Center; Portland State University; Ke Kukui Foundation; Squaxin Island Museum; Cedar Works Gallery; Swinomish Tribe; Lummi Cultural Arts Association; Lummi Nation; and Confederated Tribes of Siletz.

“This convening is a dream come true,” said NACF Board of Directors Founding Member and Secretary Elizabeth Woody (Warm Springs, Wasco, Navajo). “We are here because we have that ancestral spirit [with us] and we are passing that along.”

The convening’s sponsors included The Nathan Cummings Foundation, LarsonAllen, Union Bank, and The Ford Foundation.