Recent Blog Posts

Native Sounds: Raven Chacon

AIROS Native Network — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:44:11 +0000

Raven Chacon is a member of the Dine’ Nation and an experimental musician, composer and educator. Raven has been building his own instruments for creating new sounds since he was a child growing up in Chinle. Today he teaches Native youth through various programs including the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project (NACAP).

We recently talked with Raven about his influences, composing and the next generation of Native musicians.

Interview with Raven | Raven's Website | Subscribe to the Native Sounds Podcast

NAPT - NAMAC pt. 2

Vincent Schilling — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 21:41:32 +0000

The NAPT / NAMAC conference began the following day and I was honored to hear from some amazing folks at NAPT.

I will post some of the pictures I took with a quick note about what the speaker offered / said.

After an introduction to the group of Native filmmakers / Filmakers of Native content, NAPT Executive Director Shirley K. Sneve explained the many offerings of the NAPT and spoke of the opportunities to develop and expand the scope of our programming impacts.

Georgianna Lee

Our go-to person of the NAPT organization and direct link to Shirley, "George" talked to us about Production support through the Public Media Content Fund, professioanl Developement and the "SOP" of the NAPT and Producers.

After George spoke to the producers, a plethora of other great speakers from NAPT gave their insights and teachings regarding subject matter such as New Technologies, Social Media and Marketing, Interactive media and learning and teching priciples of media.

The presenters included Eric Martin, Jessica Kinser, Blue Tarpalechee and more.

Holiday Food

Growing Native — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:01:35 +0000

Happy new year! Back in the office and off the Christmas couch! What are your favorite holiday foods? Oyster stew on Christmas Eve is a tradition that my mother brought to our table. What a delicacy! At our house, the stew took on a different look this year. Daughter Bonita and I are somewhat lactose intolerant these days, so instead of cream, we used broth. Making tamales is a tradition that my husband Tom and I started (by reading a cookbook by Diana Kennedy).

The holidays give us a reason to gather together and celebrate the season by preparing good food. Whether it’s something exotic like lobster or comforting like mashed potatoes, where we live and where we come from still defines what’s for dinner.

My brother Paul Sneve, his wife Tally Salisbury and their son Kenny spent the summer in British Columbia—returning to the school where he graduated—the Vancouver School of Theology. I ventured across the border to visit—just before our Growing Native shoot in Washington and Oregon. Tally accidentally found an amazing restaurant—right next to Kenny’s favorite store—Toys R Us.

Salmon and Bannock Bistro features First Nations cuisine. They won the Aboriginal Tourism BC award in 2012 for food and beverage.

Besides being a delicious place to eat, here’s why I like this place. The food is from the region, and indigenous. The menu changes with the seasons. I had salmon (of course), but we also tried some other things, like muscox, bison—and bannock.

Bannock for you lower 48 Indians, is made from the ingredients used for fried bread, but it’s baked so it’s healthier for you!

Other wild game, as well as seasonal fruit and vegetables were on the menu. They even serve a wild boar hot dog.

- Shirely Sneve, Executive Director, Vision Maker Media

New Year, New Beginnings

bcbull — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:52:00 +0000

A New Year often brings new beginnings, and 2013 is no exception for our organization.

After much review and discussion over the past year, we're now officially Vision Maker Media. We hope you're as excited for the name change as much as we are!

It's our third moniker, after being previously known as NAPT (1995) and NAPBC (1976). Many on our staff and board felt we needed a brand that was catchy yet representative of Native American values. It was also joked that with the name, "Native American Public Telecommunications," people were convinced we were selling phones or Internet services!

This transition also includes a new logo: an eagle in silhouette, captured in flight. The eagle is revered in many Native circles as a messenger, protector, and leader. Its feathers are considered sacred, and its reverence extends to modern American symbolism as well as traditional Native American spirituality.

The new logo's colors are also representative of our culture. Perhaps the deep, reddish-orange reminds you of the beautiful pipestone found in select quarries across the upper Midwest; the sprawling canyons and gulches of the Rockies and Southwest; the rugged pines of our forests or mesas; or just the rich complextion of our Native people! The turquoise reminds me of the skies over my native Idaho, and some of the waters near the Gulf...not to mention some of the great jewelry one finds in Santa Fe!

This will replace the NAPT logo which represented the four directions within a circle, yet was sometimes mistaken for crosshairs, or just confused some viewers.

Clarity, relevance, and leadership...some of the core values we at Vision Maker Media strive to bring you in our content, every day. We hope you'll embrace this new identity, and spread the word so that others in the Native and non-Native community will quickly become familiarized with it. In the meantime, I wish you well for any changes that lie ahead for you in 2013.

-- Brian Bull (Nez Perce), Chair of Vision Maker Media (formerly NAPT)

Ernest Webb, Ciné Alter'Natif

tracyrector — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 21:39:53 +0000

A short video from Longhouse Media where they ask Ernest Webb (Cree) his thoughts on talking about Reel Injun and Down the Mighty River at the Ciné Alter'Natif (Film Festival) in France.

Adventures in Filmmaking: The 2012 NAPT Producer's Workshop, Minneapolis, MN

ChristianGlawe — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:32:02 +0000

The Native World has a way of calling. And it’s usually unexpected…

1996. St. Petersburg, Florida. My mother’s passing gave me the very unlikely job title of “Owner, Native American Art Gallery.”

This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was newly married, had a promising TV career underway in Chicago, and the Native World (and the art business) was the furthest thing from my mind. But, something (someone?) told me that this was my path…

One day in 1998, a soft-spoken 21-year-old man walked into our gallery, his father by his side, and a portfolio of his artwork under his arm. He said, “Hi, my name is Jon Cournoyer…”

Fast-forward 14 years and 4,500 miles to Minneapolis (via Los Angeles), where another adventure took place…

I had the distinct honor of being invited to participate in the NAPT Producer Workshop and NAMAC Conference in Minneapolis, September 6-8 of this year. Over the past 2 years, I have been assisting my good friend Jon Cournoyer with production and post-production of his film project “Across The Creek”, which has been made possible, in part, by NAPT.

While I have worked on native-themed productions in the past, I wasn’t very familiar with NAPT. I was particularly impressed with the scope of the organization, the number of projects that they support, and the depth of that support to Native filmmakers.

Why is this support important? I strongly believe that the entire world needs to hear the stories these filmmakers are telling. As a human race, we are in desperate need of a reconnection to the earth, to our fellow human beings, and to our place in the universe. It is my belief that native culture, thought and religion offer the keys to help the human race reconnect in a harmonious and lasting way.

There was a lot of useful and detailed information presented over the course of the first day of the Workshop (Thursday). Highlights included: Learning about the scope of NAPT’s support of Native Content (over 25,000 telecasts on PBS in one year from 9/2011-9/2012!); The importance of creating additional marketing materials for your project (there’s a lot of necessary work to do even after the film is done!); The existence and mission of ITVS (even after a 20-year career in TV, with PBS credits, I knew very little about ITVS); The importance of social media in marketing your film; The opportunity to learn from the experiences of successful filmmakers Billy Luther and Adrian Baker, etc., etc. (this list could go on for a long time!)

I hope there is a way to somehow streamline the communication of this information in the future, to create more time to "round table" works-in-progress. I think that a half-day spent critiquing filmmakers’ trailers, rough cuts, websites, pitches, etc. would have some major benefits: A) Everyone in the group can get very familiar with everyone's project, what they do, etc... B) People would get constructive feedback on their work from like-minded artists, and C) I think it would help producers to hone their "pitch skills" (which is critical for fundraising).

I think what was most enriching for me, however, was the opportunity to meet such a diverse group of filmmakers. One particular conversation stands out for me: During dinner on Friday night, Evon Peter and I were discussing “Kivalina People”, a film we had both screened earlier in the day that chronicles the struggles of an indigenous people living in the Arctic.

I thought the film had effectively portrayed the impacts of poverty on the people of Kivalina, Alaska. But Evon said something that really stuck with me: (and I’m paraphrasing) “It’s the responsibility of filmmakers to not simply show what is, but to work with the community in order to create and show a constructive path out of that despair for the people.”

Evon’s comment really had a profound effect on me. Since then, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the roles and responsibilities of filmmakers, especially those who are working on Native-themed projects. Is it the role of the filmmaker to simply document people and events in an impartial way? Or does our responsibility extend beyond simply capturing the “what is”? Do filmmakers have a responsibility towards the communities that they document?

Thinking on these issues has, I think, been an opportunity for me to grow as a filmmaker, and as a creative person. And it would not have happened without this unique opportunity to meet and talk with such a wide variety of native filmmakers. Thank you very much, NAPT – not only for supporting our project, but also for creating so many significant growth opportunities for native artists.

The human race desperately needs it.

-Christian Glawe

Solomon, Ciné Alter'Natif

tracyrector — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:21:57 +0000

A short film about Solomon Calvert-Adrea's travels to France where he presented the films he has worked on as well as other films from Longhouse Media. While there he also spoke about his experiences with SuperFly and Longhouse Media's other youth programs.

Native Sounds: Cherokee National Youth Choir

AIROS Native Network — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:00:57 +0000

In 2000, Principal Chief Chadwick Smith saw a need to preserve the Cherokee language and to find a way to get youth involved. He got the idea to start a youth choir. A year later, the choir was in need of a new director and an administrative assistant. Fluent Cherokee speaker and tribal member Kathy Sierra was asked to step-in until a director was found. Mary Kay Henderson, a member of the Cherokee Nation, applied for the position and was chosen as director. Principal Chief Chadwick Smith was excited to have a new direction for the choir and hoped Mary Kay would take them to the next level.

The choir has grown to 50 members ranging from 6^th to 12^th grades. All members are required to be citizens of the Cherokee Nation but are not required to be fluent Cherokee speakers. In 2002, the Cherokee National Children’s Choir released their first album with Rita Coolidge, a member of the Cherokee Nation and Grammy^(R) Award-winning singer. The choir won the ‘Best Gospel/ Christian Recording’ from the 5^th Annual Native American Music Awards for their first album titled, Voices of the Creator’s Children. Since then, the choir has been nominated for numerous awards from a variety of Native American music award organizations, and has won many of those nominations.

In 2004, the Cherokee National Youth Choir traveled to Washington, D.C., to perform at the opening ceremony for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. While in D.C., the choir was asked to perform for the President of the United States at the White House.

Interview with Mary Kay & Kathy | Cherokee National Youth Choir | Facebook Page | Subscribe to the Native Sounds Podcast

Training the Next 7 Generations of Storytellers

eric — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:50:48 +0000

We are honored that SXSW picked our panel "Training the Next 7 Generations of Storytellers."

Keep coming back here for updates on the event and other news about training young Native filmmakers.

Here's a list of some of the programs we are aware of and will be talking about during the panel. If you have any other organizations to add or things you'd like to see discussed during the panel.

Italian Greenhouses

Growing Native — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:11:57 +0000

I spent last winter in northern Italy on a fellowship. Something that struck me was how differently people viewed food. For example in a village where I was staying, shopping for food was an every day event. People would walk through a open air market, see what was fresh, and buy enough for a day or two. The vegetables, the pastas, meats, fish or dairy, were all sold by the farmer, fisher or rancher. The food chain was quick and visible.

But in addition to a different shopping routine, I was struck by how common it was to see a green house. Nearly every house had something growing. Sometimes the green houses were quite large with vegetables growing all year. Others were small, growing fresh peppers or lettuce.

The reward is that every meal had that fresh taste. The very idea of processed food was, well, foreign. But my mind also traveled back to Indian Country. What if every house had a “green house window.” Just one exposed window that could grow a food product? What if there were community greenhouses? What would it take to add just a little more fresh food into a tribal community’s diet.

Here are some examples of greenhouses that I saw in Italy.

- Mark Trahant, Growing Native advisory committee member