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RAPID CITY, S.D. — As part of a nationwide tour, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chair Maria Rosario Jackson visited South Dakota over the first week of July to meet with local artists in Rapid City and artists in the Oglala Lakota Nation and the Cheyenne River Nation.

South Dakota is the 19th state Jackson has visited on her tour, and this was her first time visiting the Native nations that share a border with South Dakota.

Jackson said she feels promoting Indigenous artists and artforms is crucial to her position.

“Part of being here is understanding the work that we’ve supported so far, and it’s really wonderful to see that blossom,” Jackson said. “It’s also (about) understanding how we need to adapt moving forward. How can we be more helpful, more impactful?”

On July 5, Jackson met with local artists and art leaders, both Native and non-Native, in Rapid City, during a conversation at the Dahl Art Center. Topics of the discussion included how arts has changed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and the future of art. READ MORE — Amelia Schafer, ICT and the Rapid City Journal

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The Not Invisible Act Commission hearing session in Albuquerque ended with a list of familiar recommendations that could take months, if not years, to resolve systemic problems and improve the federal government’s response to human trafficking and violence against Indigenous people.

Better communication between tribal, state and federal police when a Native American person goes missing or is found dead.

Strengthening protection in the Violence Against Women Act.

Expanding resource networks for housing, therapy and support for people who survive these traumas.

Commissioner Ruth Buffalo said about 40 families and groups, including on-the-ground service providers and law enforcement, testified at the Albuquerque stop. Buffalo, Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation, said these recommendations are consistent with what the commission has heard at other listening sessions across the country.

These are likely to be included in a report to the White House during the Tribal Summit in November, she said. READ MORE — Source NM

Designer Chris ‘Spanto’ Printup drew from his Apache and Seneca background and his vision of streetwear in Los Angeles to create and inspire his designs. He died from injuries sustained in a car accident west of Albuquerque June 25.

His company Born X Raised, launched in 2013, amassed a cult-like following in Los Angeles and he became a local celebrity. The brand did collaborations with professional sports teams like the LA Dodgers and Rams, with items selling out in minutes. The designs were featured in The Times, Vogue, and the New York Times.

Spanto had just launched a collaboration on June 9 with Levi’s designing jackets and jeans with painted water birds embellished with studs and gemstones. Some of the ads featured Prey producer Jhane Myers and her daughter Peshawn Bread, both Comanche, and were shot in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Other photoshoots were in LA and on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in White River, Arizona.

The collection sold out within five hours and was an homage to his father, Butch, who had died in a car accident earlier in the year.

“I grew up in Los Angeles in the ’80s and ’90s, when the way you dressed was a very loud statement,” Spanto told Vogue Magazine in June, who grew up in Venice, California. “We wore our clothing like a suit of armor and a badge of courage. I keep and carry the same energy with me when I design my collections.” READ MORE — Sandra Hale Schulman, Special to ICT

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The Screen Actors Guild officially went on strike early Friday, July 14, effectively shutting down Hollywood and threatening to cut off production of Native film and streaming projects for the coming year.

The actors’ strike, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time Friday, comes more than two months after the Writers Guild of America went on strike and marks the first joint strike in more than 60 years.

It likely won’t affect the release of movies through the end of the year but puts into question production work that is set to begin for the following year. It also brings a halt to all promotional appearances, interviews for films, screenings and award shows, and could impact the Emmy Awards in September.

The heart of the contract issues are over new contracts with studios and streaming services as the industry has been upended financially by the rise of streaming.

“A strike is an instrument of last resort,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, executive director of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Native actors have been voicing their support online for weeks. READ MORE — Sandra Hale Schulman, Special to ICT

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Other top stories:

What we’re reading:

  • Wisconsin tribal athletes to compete in ‘Indigenous Olympics’
  • Indigenous-owned OKC studio awards first-ever metalsmithing scholarship
  • Team of New Mexico athletes prepare to compete at Indigenous Games

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