I am honored to have received the FNCI Common Ground grant. I am humbled by the notion that they believe in my work and support my efforts. My hope is to exceed the expectations of not only myself but those of the FNCI! I have already been able to complete 2 original songs for this project. Both have strong traditional roots but have evolved to very contemporary pieces. We are very excited about them. I can hardly wait to put all of this together...thanks FNCI for making this piece of the dream possible.
This is Part 1 of larger synopsis for indigenous self-represented artists interested in the performing arts, and will focus primarily upon acoustic music (although many of the same points apply to dance and theatre).
Perhaps the most important aspect of the business of acoustic music for the self-represented artist is their examination of the business itself, and to determine how much of the artist's perception of the business is fact or fiction. In most cases, the artist's perception of the industry is overly simplistic and naïve. Let's address some of the fundamental issues that an emerging self-represented artist must examine if she/he is contemplating a career in acoustic music in the United States. Because the industry changes and fluctuates constantly, there is no formula or curriculum that can guarantee success. In many cases, success is attained through trial, error, and most importantly…luck.
Perceptions and Expectations of the Business of the Performing Arts Questions for the forum which everyone should chime in on: 1. How do you imagine the business in really works in general? 2. Can you (or do you wish to) make a living at it? 3. What are the popular myths you've heard? 4. What is a "market"?
My heartfelt thanks to FNCI and the underwriters of the grant. This grant project was for professional development in the performing arts, and was primarily used for attending professional booking conferences in the Fall of 2007 and this past January 2008.
WAA 2007 (Western Arts Alliance), Los Angeles, CA--on the floor of the exhibit halls
Arts Midwest 2007, Columbus, OH--Exhibit hall; me and colleague at cocktail hour
Pics from Arts Presenters (Jan. 08) and OAPN (Oct. 07) will be posted as soon as they are available. The conference season has just ended for me, and since I was a grant recipient of the FNCI program, I was invited to contribute to the FNCIBlog. This is a wonderful forum for addressing artist, agent, and presenter issues in the performing arts field. Over the years I have mentored many artists and agents on the various markets and reality of the performing arts industry in the U.S. I hope to contribute many postings which address issues and answer questions regarding the business of the performing arts. I will submit an outline of blog topics so that it is linear and easy to follow. It's also helpful to keep the prose as short and concise as possible for ease of reading. I hope these contributions help those of you with burning questions about how the business of the performing arts really works.
Postcommodity, a contemporary Indigenous artist collective comprised of, Kade L. Twist (Cherokee), Steven J. Yazzie (Navajo/Laguna) and Nathan Young (Pawnee/Delaware/Kiowa), would like to thank the First Nations Composer Initiative, Georgia Wettlin-Larsen and the FNCI staff, the FNCI Advisors, the American Composer Forum and the Ford Foundation for supporting our work in experimental Indigenous forms of music and international, cross-cultural collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists.
Postcommodity (Kade L. Twist, Steven J. Yazzie, Nathan Young)
During a recent residency at the Center for the Future in Slavonice, Czech Republic, Postcommodity had the unique opportunity to collaborate and record with Ivan “Magor” Jirous, one of the most important Czech poets and intellectuals of his generation; a visionary of William Burroughs stature with the dirty realist lens of Charles Bukowski. Magor is, perhaps, best known as the artistic director of the avant-garde, psychedelic rock band the Plastic People of the Universe. Magor transformed the band into living symbols of the Czechoslovakian underground movement (e.g., anti-communist, anti-colonialist, cultural self-determination movement) and in the process united an entire generation against the communist regime, which paved the way for the Velvet Revolution.
Ivan "Magor" Jirous
The Postcommodity recording with Magor is an important document of American Indian and Czech cultural resistance, and transborder, transdisciplinary exploration of common ground.
There are profound similarities between Indian Country in the U.S. and the southern Czech border regions near Austria where Slavonice is located -- land, culture and political wills have been in conflict for hundreds of years. There is a shared postcolonial narrative of social, cultural, political and economic disenfranchisement, which enabled Postcommodity and Magor to establish a profound sense of connection. It is also important to note that Magor, the Plastic People and the Czech underground movement were considerably influenced by American Indian tribal culture, worldview, mythology, philosophies, histories, writings, visual art and music. Magor and the underground movement drew inspiration from the tribal narratives of self-determination, tribal sovereignty and resistance to colonial forces. For Magor, American Indian resistance was a benchmark for Czech resistance. Magor’s desire to collaborate with us, as well as the recording, is testament to this fact. In many ways this collaboration was an opportunity to draw a circle in the earth for Indigenous Americans and Czech people, to engage shared experiences and inspirations and develop new forms of expression in the process.
With the generous support of the FNCI Common Ground grant Postcommodity will produce, digitally remix and master these important recordings and press them on compact disks. The collective will also produce and design the CD packaging, which will include a book insert with Magor’s translated poems (the first time that his poetry will be translated into English and made available internationally), original linocut prints by Steven Yazzie and full liner notes for a limited edition release on Foxy Digitalis here in North America and Torst in Europe. Postcommodity would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Center for the Future, Torst and RADIOS.CZ for their support and logistical assistance with this project.
About Postcommodity
Postcommodity is a contemporary American Indian artist collective comprised of, Kade L. Twist (Cherokee), Steven J. Yazzie (Navajo/Laguna) and Nathan Young (Pawnee/Delaware/Kiowa). Postcommodity’s mission is to promote the creation, development, distribution and exhibition of American Indian art, music, film media, literature and performing arts. The collective composes and records its music (e.g., noise, drone and sound art) for sound installations and multimedia installations that are exhibited in art spaces and museums. The collective also performs noise and sound art live as a band. Postcommodity uses a variety of instrument configurations (tribal, western, found objects and homemade) to create multiple layers of sound, feedback, harmonic chord cycles and group improvisations. The collective’s music is a contemporary tribal form of analog and digitally mediated ritual and spiritual explorations. Postcommodity’s work, whether exhibited in museums or performed on stages, are sonic trickster ceremonies that attempt to rationalize the postmodern American Indian experience, and as such, comprise an important part of the American Indian music tradition.
Through this blog site, we invite all current, and/ or past FNCI Common Ground & Community Engagement Grantees to share their experiences, trials and tribulations, and triumphs throughout the length of their grant project activities. We invite you to share your experiences in order to inform, educate and enlighten other established and/or emerging Indigenous artists as they travel on their career paths. Your shared experiences will serve as a model in assisting them, should they decide to apply at some future time We invite you serve as on-line mentors and representatives of your respective genre’s and, particularly to our Native Youth. Through on-line information and discussion, the American Indian musical arts will, we hope, be celebrated and advanced. We invite all who share these interests to use and to contribute to this interactive blog site.
Arts Midwest 2007, Columbus, OH--Exhibit hall; me and colleague at cocktail hour
