December 2006

Join our New Media Team! The position is responsible for all aspects of technology needs for NAPT including monitoring and maintaining organization's four websites. Responsible for the updates and archives of media available through the Internet, provides frontline support for all NAPT computers and servers, design and disseminate email newsletter communications, maintain and monitor listserves. Initiate technology planning, provide graphic design support as needed. If this sounds like a job you would be interested in, check out our opportunities page for more information or apply at http://employment.unl.edu

Native American Public Telecommunications elected two new board members and new officers at their annual meeting, Nov. 12 in San Francisco, CA.

Lyn Dennis (Lummi Nation and the Tahltan Band of B.C.), Executive Director for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and Producer Director Chris Eyre (Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma) have been elected to three year terms on the NAPT Board of Directors.

Named President of the board is Octaviana Trujillo (Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona), Professor & Chair of the Department of Applied Indigenous Studies in the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Northern Arizona. Vice-President is David Cournoyer (Rosebud Sioux), Program Director, Research & Programs at the Lumina Foundation for Education. Secretary is Brian Bull (Nez Perce), Assistant News Director at Wisconsin Public Radio. Sydney Beane (Flandreau Santee Sioux), Native American Team Leader, Center for Community Change is NAPT’s Treasurer. Faith Smith (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe) is the immediate-past president. While no longer on the Board of Directors, she has agreed to continue to serve on NAPT's development committee.

The November board meeting was in San Francisco in conjunction with the American Indian Film Festival and NAPT’s 30th anniversary celebration. Events also included a tribute to Founding Executive Director Frank Blythe (Eastern Band of Cherokee/Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota) who retired this fall. Shirley K. Sneve (Rosebud Sioux) succeeds Blythe as Executive Director.

“I am honored to work for NAPT, whose mission is central to advancing issues of Tribal people and telling our stories through the media,” Sneve said. “I’m also excited to work with Frank is his new capacity as part time development director.”

Other Board Members include Jim May (United Keetowah Band of Cherokee); Maynard Orme, Oregon Public Broadcasting; Nan Rubin, Community Media Services; Rod Bates, General Manager, Nebraska Educational Telecommunication; and Rita Pyrillis (Cheyenne River Sioux) Freelance Writer/Editor.

The mission of NAPT is to support the creation, promotion and distribution of Native Media and is located in Lincoln, NE.

What's it like to be a young Native American today? In this new In the Mix special, teens from cities and reservations throughout the United States share their lives, problems and solutions. Shot around the country, the program features profiles of accomplished teens, short films made by young Native Americans, and insightful discussion with a group of young leaders. The special is hosted by Native American rap artist and film actor Litefoot (Cherokee), along with Dartmouth film major Christina Douglas (Shinnecock) (Pictured Right) at the Mashantucket Pequot reservation in Connecticut.

In The Mix will feature Native American Teens: Who We Are during the week of Dec. 30. Check local listings.

More information is available on the 'In the Mix' program page

In its 2006 Open Call for Proposals, NAPT received 37 proposals. Our distinguished peer review panel consisted of Native writers, scholars and independent producers, as well as public television programming professionals. The panel recommended seven projects for funding, and the NAPT Board of Directors concurred. Watch for these new projects in 2007 and 2008.

Producer: Cathleen O'Connell

The Native American Marching Band Project profiles contemporary Native bands and explores the surprising history behind this unlikely melding of cultures.

Producers: Sam Hurst, Larry Pourier (Oglala Lakota)

Beau LeBeau (Oglala Lakota) (Pictured Left) is obese. Several members of his family are obese, and his mother died last year from diabetes. This is a real-time movie that documents his journey to get healthy by converting to a traditional Lakota diet centered on buffalo and native foods.

The Osage Murders

Producers: Big Productions, Dan Bigbee (Comanche) and Lily Shangreaux (Oglala Lakota) (Pictured Left)

In the 1920's the Osage were the wealthiest people in the world. The Osage Murders is the story of an Osage family whose oil fortune was coveted by a local rancher and the plan he conceived to obtain it.

March Point

Producer: Tracy Rector (Seminole) (Pictured Far Left) Director: Anne Silverstein (Pictured Left)

The Swinomish Tribe is a community that has relied on the natural resources of Skagit Valley for centuries. In the late 1950's, two oil refineries were built on March Point, eventually effecting the health of the water, land and the very fabric of cultural tradition itself.

Little Caughnawaga: To Brooklyn And Back

Producers: Reaghan Tarbell (Mohawk) (Pictured Left), Paul Rickard (Omuskego Cree)

Reaghan Tarbell lives in Brooklyn not far from the legendary Mohawk ironworking community that lived in Brooklyn in the mid 1900's. In parallel stories, she follows the steps of her late grandmother and interviews Mohawk women who helped build Little Caughnawaga.

Sacred Stick

Producers: Michelle Danforth (Oneida of Wisconsin), Patty Leow (Bad River Ojibwe) (Pictured Left)

The history of lacrosse in North America is a rich and multi-layered one. Much more than a Native American ball and stick game, lacrosse is a cultural window into Native American communities and their historical relationship with each other and the dominant culture.

Journey Home

Producers: Cynthia Pardy (Mohegan/Pequot), Kimberly Lyman (Choctaw), WHRO-TV

Journey Home is a one-hour documentary that will provide a new perspective about the boarding school experience by revealing reforms in government policies made by those who attended American Indian educational institutions.

NAPT and VisionMaker offices will be closed between the dates of December 22, 2006 and January 2, 2007. No customer service agents will be available to assist you during that time. Thank you.