Founded in 1995, First Peoples Fund's mission is to honor and support the creative community-centered First Peoples artists; and nurture the collective spirit® that allows them to sustain their peoples.
Our vision is to communicate to the world the roots and philosophy of Indigenous artistic expression and its relationship to the collective spirit of First Peoples. We will strive to provide support and voice to the creative Indigenous artists who share their inspiration, wisdom, knowledge and gifts with their communities.
First Peoples Fund supports the advancement of American Indian arts by focusing on three funding areas:
The Jennifer Easton
Community Spirit Awards-
A national recognition and fellowship award for American Indian artists.
Artists in Business Leadership Program -
This program provides artists with technical assistance, access to capital and to new marketing opportunities.
Cultural Capital Grant Fellowship -
This program is designed to further the important cultural work of artists who have previously been honored through the Community Spirit Awards.
To learn more about First Peoples Fund and it's programs, please contact us at:
PO Box 2977
Rapid City, SD 57709
(605)348-0324
www.firstpeoplesfund.org
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Santa Fe Indian Market, August 23-24, 2008
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Artist In Business Leadership & Cultural Capital Training, April 3-5, 2008
Molly Parker Honoring in Bar Harbor, ME - Photos by Darel Bridges
Anna Brown Ehlers Honors Her Father Through a Potlach in Alaska - September 2007
Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery, teach me how to trust my heart, my mind, my intuition, my inner knowing, the senses of my body, the blessings of my spirit. Teach me to trust these things so that I may enter my Sacred Space and love beyond my fear, and thus Walk in Balance with the passing of each glorious Sun.
According to the Native People, the Sacred Space is the space between exhalation and inhalation. To Walk in Balance is to have Heaven (spirituality) and Earth (physicality) in Harmony.
"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us." ~ Black Elk - Oglala Sioux ~
O Great Spirit, Whose voice I hear in the winds, And whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me!
Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made, and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands ... and straight eyes,
So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you ... without shame.
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