FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   

November 21, 2007                                                                                

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FIRST PEOPLES FUND

ANNOUNCES 2008 CULTURAL CAPITAL Fellows

(Rapid City, SD) – First Peoples Fund, a Rapid City-based national nonprofit organization supporting the work of indigenous artists nationwide, is proud to announce its 2008 Cultural Capital Fellows:

• David Moses Bridges, (Passamaquoddy) a traditional birch bark baskets and canoes from Perry, ME

• Joseph Fire Crow, (Northern Cheyenne) a traditional flutist from Winsted, CT

• Jennifer Kreisberg, (Tuscarora) an accomplished singer from New Britain, CT

• Marcel Bull Bear, (Oglala Lakota) an traditional performance artist from Kyle, SD

• Jackie Parsons, (Blackfeet) traditional artist from Browning, MT

• Gene Tagaban, (Cherokee, Tlingit) a performance artist from Ferndale, WA

These artists embody Collective Spirit, the heart of the First Peoples Fund, which is that which manifests self-awareness and a sense of responsibility, to sustain the cultural fabric of a community.  It is that which moves each one of us to stand up and make a difference, to pass on the ancestral knowledge or simply extend a hand of generosity.  First Peoples Fund honors and celebrates native artists who exemplify indigenous values of generosity, wisdom, respect, integrity, strength, fortitude and humility. 

The purpose of First Peoples Fund’s Cultural Capital program is to provide up to six artists per year the opportunity to further their important cultural work in their respective communities. The program is designed to support previous year Community Spirit Award recipients, and engage them in reinforcing their unique cultural contribution. Through the program artists develop local networks for leveraging other resources and receive technical assistance training and capacity building. Cultural Capital artists work within their tribes as a cultural resource to their community, providing tribal, spiritual and cultural continuity. First Peoples Fund is proud that this program often allows communities to revive lost knowledge, strengthening cultural traditions and provides a method to pass artistic and cultural information from one generation to the next.

First Peoples Fund’s 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 strive to provide support and voice to the creative Indigenous artists who share their inspiration, wisdom, knowledge and gifts with their communities, and we do this through three programs: annual Community Spirit Awards, Artists-in-Business Leadership, and Cultural Capital Fellowship programs. 

First Peoples Fund’s grant making initiatives include: the annual Community Spirit Awards, Artists-in-Business Leadership, and Cultural Capital Fellowship programs.  The Fund is supported in part by the Ford Foundation’s Media, Arts and Culture, New Works and the Indigenous Knowledge and Expressive Culture Initiatives, Bush Foundation, The John T. Vucurevich Foundation, SD Arts Council, Allied Arts Fund, SD Humanities Council, First Nations Oweesta Corporation, LINC, National Endowment for the Arts, and the St. Paul Foundation.

For further information about First Peoples Fund or to apply for support through one of our programs, please visit www.firstpeoplesfund.org  or contact us at First Peoples Fund, P.O. Box 2977, Rapid City, SD 57709-2977, info@firstpeoplesfund.org