Arts Access Grant
Arts Access Grant
Indigenous Environmental Network was awarded $6,000 to host a week-long birch-bark canoe build at Rail River Folk School, with experiential learning opportunities and an open paddle experience with local artists to tell our unique Mississippi story.
Sandra Roman: retired art teacher, author; Laura Grisamore: photographer; Jill Johnson: author; Mary Therese: visual artist, fiber artist; Susan Olin: musician; Laura Dropps: visual artist; Becky Colebank: author; Corryn Trask: musician.
Sandra Roman: retired art teacher, author; Laura Grisamore: photographer; Mary Therese: visual artist, fiber artist; Susan Olin: musician; Becky Colebank: author; Corryn Trask: musician.
Region 2 Arts Council, Laura Seter (218) 751-5447
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
With this program, local anishinaabeg, and non-native folk alike will experience the artistry involved in building a traditional birch bark canoe. Indigenous art is known for making the everyday object beautiful; birch bark canoes or wiigwaasi-jiimaanan, were items necessary for commerce, and travel from migrations to daily trips, for fishing and hunting and more. This build engages communal action, environmental knowledge, and cultural appreciation for the importance of our peoples and water. We will have a designated evaluator present at each of community engagement activities. This individual will conduct a walkabout survey asking willing participants to answer a few direct, predetermined questions. Example: What new appreciation do you have for the art of birch bark building? What cultural connections did you experience during your visit today? What three words best describe your experience here today? Our hope is to evoke reverence for the art and culture.
Some of the most important outcomes of the project were: Sharing the art with a wide range of people from various organizations, ages, cultural backgrounds, and perspectives; Teaching a young Anishinaabe apprentice a foundational art of his cultural history; Building a canoe at an ancient indigenous site on the shores of Lake Irving which surely once hosted untold numbers of them. We asked people the questions originally listed in the grant application.
Other,local or private