FNCI Grantee Projects

2011-02-17T16:28:00.000-08:00

CHINA '88 Excerpt from Phill Niblock on Vimeo.

2009-04-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

Hi to all FNCI folks and all Indigenous creators of new music and preserving the old. We did indeed have a wonderful, productive mini convening of available Advisory Members to work on moving forward with our 3 year strategic plan. And as Dawn Avery stated there was a wonderful camaraderie and loads of laughter. It truly was a great meeting. Now, the original purpose of this blog was to engage Common Ground grantees in a dialogue around their respective projects and to share with others in the field the ups, the downs, tips of their respective trade, etc., especially for younger and emerging Native musical artists. FNCI is seeing a major impact in the field of Indigenous music and we want to share your successes and stories as far and wide as possible. So please join us in doing so. Warm regards, Georgia Wettlin Larsen
FNCI Director
April 28, 2009 8:31 AM

2009-04-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

To all FNCI-ers, Try This Coffee!

A project is in the works where FNCI might partner with Cafe Para La Vida Digna to the benefit of our indigenous people north and south of the border! Stay tuned and keep watching for updates! ... and try some coffee!

(click the banner below)

Might FNCI participate in this?

2009-04-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

New Group Is Formed to Sponsor Native Arts
By ROBIN POGREBIN
Published: April 21, 2009

Even as arts groups around the country are cutting back because of declining endowments and donations, a new foundation to support the work of American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native artists is being established with an initial $10 million from the Ford Foundation.

Called the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, the organization, formally opened on Tuesday, says it will be the first permanently endowed national foundation of its kind.

“We needed our own endowment for native arts and culture in this country in the coming century,” said Elizabeth Theobald Richards, the program officer at Ford who has overseen the project and is a Cherokee. “The indigenous peoples of this country have an incredible wealth of cultural heritage and cultural expression that very few people know about. And it's also incredibly underfunded.”

The foundation has been in the works since 2007, when it obtained incorporation papers and established charity status. Only now has the organization hired a president and staff and begun the grant-making process.

The new foundation will provide direct grants to artists and arts organizations, support native arts leadership and team up with other native-led efforts to increase financial support for indigenous arts and cultures.

“Arts and culture and traditional languages and religions have been the glue that held Native Americans together — often in the face of great adversity,” said Walter Echo-Hawk, chairman and creator of the foundation, in a telephone interview.

“For many years the government policy was to assimilate native people into mainstream society and essentially stamp out attributes of native culture,” he added. “It's a testament to the tenacity of our people that we have any native cultures or religions left in the United States. We are seeing a remarkable cultural renaissance in the tribal communities. But the support of the arts has been almost nil. It's been very difficult for Indian tribes to also support their own arts and cultures.”

The organization is to be based in Portland, Ore., and recently selected Tara Lulani Arquette, a Native Hawaiian, as its president and chief executive. With 20 years of experience leading organizations and advocating on behalf of native groups, Ms. Arquette has served for the last four years as chief executive and executive director of the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, a private, nonprofit organization that works with the tourism industry.

“In a sense, it's part of our quest for self-determination and restoring our sovereignty,” Ms. Arquette said in an telephone interview.

She acknowledged the challenge of starting a new foundation in the current economic downturn. “The mission of the foundation can't be accomplished in one year or even five years,” Ms. Arquette said. “But there is a sense of urgency. Our elders — our wisdom keepers — are passing away in large numbers.”

The foundation, which will start with an annual operating budget of $500,000 and a staff of four, hopes to provide about $4 million in grants and program services over the next five years.

In establishing the new organization, the Ford Foundation reached out across the Native American world.

A leadership circle was made up of four advisers from different tribes — Mr. Echo-Hawk (Pawnee), Joy Harjo (Creek Muskogee), Jayne Fawcett (Mohegan) and Elizabeth Woody (Navajo/Warm Springs/Wasco/Yakama). All five members of the foundation's board of directors are Native Americans.

The Ford Foundation made an initial $5 million contribution to endow the new foundation permanently, with an additional $5 million promised if new partners brought $3 million more to the table. The Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians, based near Sacramento, then made a grant of $1.5 million, while announcing a challenge to other tribal nations to match its gift. Once the challenge is met, Rumsey has promised an additional $1.5 million, which would bring the tribes' contribution to $4.5 million.

The Ford Foundation has supported similar efforts to bolster native arts and culture in the past. “The community has the need,” Ms. Richards said. “But I really feel the country has the need.”

W. Richard West Jr., the founding director emeritus of the Smithsonian's American Indian Museum and a Ford trustee, said: “There need to be agencies and institutions that support native contemporary art and artists. For the most part, those agencies and institutions don't exist.”

“We never separate art and life,” added Mr. West, a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. “Art is part of our everyday life.”

The foundation hopes to begin making grants at the end of this year or early next year, Mr. Echo-Hawk said.

The foundation's goal is to establish a permanent endowment of about $20 million over the next five years or so, he said, and to increase that figure over time.

“Culture, even though it is central to our identity, is the last to be nurtured,” Mr. Echo-Hawk said. “There is a need to inject resources into the perpetuation of these profound and beautiful art forms.”

FNCI Goes to Maryland!

2009-04-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

She:kon Everyone - I'm sitting here in Maryland with Raven who is helping me get on this blog. Sorry, I've been a bit behind the beat on this. Today we had a fantastic FNCI board meeting with
our fearless leaders Georgia, Jewell, and Pame Kingfisher (who did a fantastic job moderating), R. Carlos, Raven, Brent, and me, with lots of new members: Steven Alvarez, Arvel Bird, Lisa Long, Jennifer Stevens and Ron Warren. It was a very productive meeting with good joking, too.

Last night's concert was awesome with great variety that reflected so many composers, ideas, and the variety that we all reflect as living, native artists.

Thanks to Raven for helping me get on this blog. Hope more people start talking.

FNCI Grantees Willing to Answer Music Biz Questions

2008-04-06T06:36:00.000-07:00

Greetings to All interested in what's happening in the Native music world!

This blog is here to provide folks exposure to the current works of Native musical artists. It is meant to be interactive. Please feel free to ask pertinent questions relevant to the field of Indigenous music! The artists are more than happy to be of assistance.

Best To All!

Georgia Wettlin Larsen
Director
First Nations Composer Initiative

Who Are "Presenters"?

2008-02-23T18:22:00.000-08:00

"Presenters" are those individuals or groups that present or promote performing arts events, such as program directors, executive directors, festival directors, or club owners. The breakdown of different types of presenters can seem convoluted, so I will narrow them down and use, say, a solo or small music ensemble as the artist searching for performances.

SMALL presenters include: coffeehouses, restaurants, house concerts (booking usually by other artists sometimes), libraries. The presenter profile is:

Small
--coffeehouse or restaurant owner
--staff
--not consistently accessible
--constantly changing
--not booking decision-maker
--not performing arts professional
--genre not well defined
--no budget

MIDLEVEL presenters include: clubs, bars, coffeehouse circuit, school productions. The presenter profile is:

Midlevel
--club booking agent
--club owner
--small non-profit org/volunteers
--not easily accessible
--not performing arts professional
--genre fairly well defined
--has no presenting budget/charges at door

FESTIVAL presenters include: outdoor and indoor festivals & cultural events. The presenter profile is:

Festival
--organization/booking committee
--festival program director
--some for-profit, some non-profit org/volunteers
--accessibility varies
--usually performing arts professionals (i.e., they know what they are doing)
--genre very well defined
--has presenting budget
--annual event

BIG presenters include: performing arts centers, theatres, huge festivals, corporate events. The presenter profile is:

Big
--program director or executive director
--PAC board
--difficult if not impossible to contact during the year (only accessible at conferences)
--performing arts professionals
--genres fairly well defined
--larger presenting budget

More descriptive elements of presenters to come. Some of the questions that will be covered are
1. What's a presenter's mission & responsibility?
2. What exactly DO they do and how do they do it?
3. How do I interact with various presenters? Are their temperments all the same?
4. Are they all honest and forthright? Should I be honest and forthright with them?
5. What are the important things I need to know about presenters specifically (trends, budgets, when they are booking, their funding, etc.)?

Cheers.

Bear Claw

Making a Business Plan for a Career in the Performing Arts

2008-02-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

Why is a business plan is important to have? Again, your approach to the performing arts has to function like a start up business. In order to have the best chance for success, an artist has to have a clear vision of the business purpose, a strategy to attain short & long-term goals, an idea of where the artist wants to be over time. A sound business plan is a road map (which can be modified over time) that helps an artist have a clear direction of where they want their prospective career in the performing arts to go and what she/he clearly wants to achieve. (See graph.) You will be spending a great deal of time and resources on your venture—a business plan reduces the amount of guess work and increases a better sense of timing and logistics.

Key Features:

Relationships—The business of the performing arts is all about relationship building. Presenters (mainly in the larger market) will only engage artists they know and trust. Strategies of how to build your relationships is a key element in your business plan. There are several websites that list venues in the smaller markets, festivals, and you can often get up-to-date presenter lists from your state arts council free of charge (California is one of the only exceptions.). Attending booking conferences is the BEST way to develop and foster relationships with presenters. There are several types of booking conferences, from state consortia to regional to national. And don’t limit yourself to just performing arts. There are festival vendor conferences, NACCA (National Association of College Campus Activities), and several corporate events conferences.

E-marketing—More and more artists and presenters are using the internet to communicate. It is a healthy medium, and is the cheapest and fastest way to reach the largest demographic of presenters and the public. An artist MUST have web presence. (There will be another in-depth post about e-marketing facts and tips.) Make your website easy to navigate with as little clutter and flash as possible. If you have streaming video, that’s a plus.

Database—While part of your e-marketing, your database should be functional and constantly updated so that you have accurate information about presenters. There will be a post in the future devoted entirely to "E-marketing--what you need to know in the new era of communication."

Product—Do you have DVDs or CDs? If not, you will need these to market yourself. Don't budget on this part of your plan. The more polished and professional looking product you create, the better your chances of landing bookings.

Capital—The hard reality is that you have to spend money to make money. For many start up businesses, it often takes years before you will see profit. You need to budget & plan appropriately so that you don’t put all your resources into THAT part of your business plan that is less strategic than other aspects of your plan. More posts will follow on the topic of "avoiding pitfalls in spending."

Markets—Know your market of presenters. You will develop lasting relationships with presenters if you know something about their venue before you actually meet them. This will also help you determine which markets are appropriate for your plan. Presenters will more likely return your call or email if you know something about their venues. If there is a particular festival or club that you are interested in pursuing, make sure your genre matches the venue’s preferred genres (i.e., if you are part of a native American dance ensemble, don’t try to pursue a booking at a rock music club or bluegrass festival.)

Next post will focus on Markets & the different players within them. I've left out info on other aspects of your business plan, but I will cover them in future posts.

Cheers.

Bear Claw

Getting Booked on Your Own in the Performing Arts

2008-02-13T20:48:00.000-08:00

Are you an artist, artist in an ensemble, or someone interested in representing artists professionally? Are you at a point where you would like to perform professionally? Are you just getting started, and are wondering how to make a living as a performing artist?

First, to successfully make a living in the performing arts, you have to treat it as a business. Secondly, it’s important to know the various markets that exist (street, coffeehouses and small restaurants, clubs, festivals & community events, performing arts centers, theatres, corporate). Third, don’t undertake the journey in the fog—the more you prepare yourself and become knowledgeable about how the business of the performing arts really works, the more likely you will be able to navigate through it and avoid pitfalls.

Whether playing for tips at a coffeehouse, or performing in a 1,000-seat performing arts center, the performing arts is a profit-driven business where the “bottom line” is the de facto catalyst for deciding who gets booked. You must think of your artistry as a commodity that is going to be sold by you or your enterprise. (We are assuming that you feel confident about your performance enough to present it on stage.) There is a deluge of artists in America that want to be discovered. It is a virtual sea of supply; yet the demand is limited. Therefore, you have to stand out to a presenter. (A “presenter” is someone who presents performances much like a “promoter.”) The best thing you can do to start is make your promotion kit as complete, professional, and unequivocal as your budget allows. Your kit should include: a bio, references, color 8x10 headshot or band shot, press (if any), previous venues performed at, a simple tech rider, business card, cover letter, CD or DVD, return self-addressed stamped postcard (which should ask if they would like to opt in to your mailing list or email newsletter), any professional brochures or professionally made literature. The more professional and polished you appear by your promotion kit, the more likely you will get the presenter’s attention. One never “walks” into the entertainment industry; rather one has to “blast” into it.

Note: With the soaring price of postage, it is advisable to not only have a website, but an online press kit which includes everything in the promotion kits you will mail.

Decide which market(s) to pursue. Find out where other artists similar to you perform. Be realistic in your expectations about which types of venues you are ready to perform in. DO NOT under any circumstances mail off an unsolicited promotion kit. Call or email the booking contact for the prospective venue first. Keep in mind that for the smaller markets (coffeehouses, clubs), presenters receive hundreds of unsolicited kits per week. You also need to call one week after sending your kit. DON’T WAIT FOR A CALLBACK. It’s also important to know that larger presenters (especially festivals, community events, PACs and theatres) often throw away unsolicited promotion kits without ever opening them. (Some even have huge dumpsters outside of their building for these types of kits.) Try to only send solicited promotion kits by making contact with the presenter first so that they know you are sending them one. Otherwise, you will be wasting value time and resources.

In terms of the venues, concentrate on your local region first. Getting bookings that located too far from your base may not be cost-effective. Keep a 4-6 hour driving radius to start. If your base is in the Midwest or western states, the radius will be much larger.

Pertinent Questions: How much should I charge for my performance? The presenter never returns my calls, so where do I go from here? How can I tell if a particular venue presenters the type of music/dance I perform? Should I begin by performing for tips?

Next Blog Topic: The Markets—what they are and how they work

Cheers.
Bear Claw

First Blog Experience

2008-01-31T14:25:00.000-08:00

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.

Essential Tips and Planning for a Career in the Performing Arts

2008-01-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

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"?

Cheers.
Bear Claw

Professional Development Grant

2008-01-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

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.

Cheers!

Bearclaw

Native Noise

2008-01-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

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 R epublic, 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 R evolution.

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.

Greetings To All Past & Current FNCI Grantees

2008-01-03T10:41:00.000-08:00

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.

Warmest regards & Wishes for a Wonderful 2008!

As few notes as possible....

2007-10-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

...is a rule.

Every year, 25 or so Navajo and Hopi high school students each have about 10 days in which they are required to conceive and handwrite a musical composition for string quartet. When I say 10 days, I may be off, because the end result is most likely music that they have had waiting inside of them for years, but have not always had the reason nor means nor even excuse to let it out and treat us to it.

I am amazed every year, but I should not be, by the amount of drive put in by most students to finish a 2-3 minute piece in such a short amount of time. Most of these students are guitarists and I almost fear something wrong with the water in Kayenta, AZ: nearly EVERY teenager there not only has a strong interest in music, but many are very capable and talented guitarists.
Why are there so many musicians here and why so good? It is probably not important in the end to investigate, since we already know the answer. It is a rule....

Monument Valley HS student Collin Billie jams with resident string quartet ETHEL.

My fear however, is that the students will turn in a hyper-speedmetal-baroque piece of music, not at all resembling the songs that their great-uncles sing; the score only visually looking like a Navajo rug without the sounding like one. And sometimes that is the end result. But I have only recently realized that the students want to test themselves, to see if they can create a music in the style of great Anglo long-hair-dudes (Bach to Dimebag Darrell). I will allow these compositions to be turned in because I suppose that they are "baby steps", like how the first works of a contemporary Native visual artist usually looks like T-shirt art (see: mascot bashing).

My hope is that the program will expand to include more schools/students/communities, longer lessons, and more Native composition teachers. Then can we begin to talk about the true goal they we are wanting to accomplish. The goal is to learn to walk. It is learning how to communicate, whether that includes white-man's notation, improvisation, learning your tribe's songs, creating your own notation or all-of-the-above. If you ask me, the goal is to have every Navajo band criss/crossing the country, all on tour at the same time...

...playing the quietest loud music in the world.

-rc

Ahe'hee' to: Clare Hoffman and Robert Bonfiglio, The world's most rockinest string band ETHEL, Chinle music teacher Eric Swanson, Tuba City music teacher Blair Quamahongnewa, Hopi High music teacher Brian Logan, Mike Begay, Grand Canyon Music Festival, Rosanda Suetopka.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NACAP

http://ethelcentral.com/

http://www.ringtonesociety.com/ ** Each student was required to write a 10 second piece in addition to their quartet. This is a group of Dutch artists who have recorded the students' music and turned them into cell phone ringtones. Check them out/download them.

,.,.,,.,.

Posoh

2007-09-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

So here I am with maybe little to say but hoping good intentions will prevail. My wife and I just had our fifth beautiful baby. We are so happy and yet time is never on our side for getting anything completed.
The reason I got into music was for the passion that it allowed me to exercise and the negatives that it helped me to exorcise. I'm still living and surviving in that crazy dream that some say isn't a real job. But as my family grows, it takes more support from outside sources such as the FNCI grant. Grants can be a means of survival for those who wish to keep moving forward despite living in a world of commercialism disguised as art.
My advice for those who are looking to apply for funding sources is to show your heart, passion, and keep your integrity while applying. In this way you will find support. Art keeps our culture alive, that is why in war, many times it is the art centers that get bombed.
My newborn daughter, Rain is crying again so I have to quit writing for now. Waewaenen for your time!
Wade Fernandez
Wiciwen Apis-Mahwaew
www.wadefernandez.com

First time blogging for me too!

2007-08-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Artist, Musicians, Composers!! I imagine you all wear many hats to exist in this world as we know it.
At any rate, this is my first time blogging too. Thought I'd give it a whirl. I must tell you that in my current position with FNCI as an Administrative Associate, I do get to see and hear of the many, many wonderful and exciting things going on in Indian Country. From all of the waaaay coool music/projects/proposals that come across my desk to economic development/health/sustainable ag/philanthropy thats happening now as we write!!! Again, I will say that I am quite honored to be part of this and I Love, Love, Love hearing about all the exciting projects going on out there.
Now, if there are any questions please feel free to call or email us at FNCI. We can definitely walk you through this process. AND it seems to be quite easy!
One of the reasons were blogging is to help some of the new to the world of applying for grants. Many of us have no idea how to put a budget together and as in the Welcome, we want to hear from you, your challenges and joys.
Jewell

WELCOME

2007-07-29T15:13:00.000-07:00

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.