Mitakuye Foundation

March Art Contest Winners Announced:

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We had to pick two Grand prize winners because both submissions really grabbed us. This contest is more demanding than others because not only did artists need to respond to an idea but for this contest the final work had to be able to be turned into a poster. Both winners will work with a professional graphic designer to make their design into a poster that will be professionally pronted and displayed all over the reservation and on our website and social media platforms.

jordan-courtier-grand-prize

Jordan Courtiers work had many elements  that spoke to use. Jordan not only has great skill butbalso original ideas. The use of space is very creative especially the way the space off of the page is used. The blending of text into the image and the ideas in the tea=xt also really spoke to the vision of the LifeLine. We look forward to seeing what Jordan will create with the graphic designer for the final poster.

 

breian-high-wolf-grand-prize

Breian High Wolf’s work struck all of the judges immediately. There is such beauty and poetry in this work. It is simple and poetic and relays an innocence that is at the very heart of the message of The Mitakupi Foundation. We can’t wait to see Breian’s work turned into a poster!

 

 

1st Place Winner Age 10 & Under

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Tallish Standing Soldier  Age 10
We loved the use of water colors and the metaphor of a what happens to a leaf in autumn. We found it to be very poetic and very honest.  Tallish’s work has a very distinctive and impressionistic style.

 

 

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Jacinda Tobbacco Age 10
Jacindas use of color and poetry made a strong impression. It is a very positive message and a unique spin on a traditional image.

 

1st Place Winner Age 11-14

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Danita’s work really moved us. It gave a sense of hope coming from despair. We were all impressed with the original vision behind this work. It is very simple and very moving.

 

 

1st Place Winner Age 15-18

macy-two-bulls-1st-pl-15-18Macy’s drawing is very skillful and very striking. She submitted an idea with her drawing that really spoke to the idea of the LifeLine. In her own words: “”My poster represents bravery and freedom to be yourself and to never think about suicide. Don ‘t listen to what people have to say, because you mean more than words can explain.”

 

Honorable Mention Helen Vocu and Sequoia Good Crow We created an honorable mention category because we wanted to honor these two young artists and the ideas behind their work.

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Helen Vocu Age 9

 

 

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Sequoia Good Crow 10

Inaugural Art Contest Winners Announced!

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Breian High Wolf Grand Prize Jordan Courtier Grand PrizeWe are thrilled to announce the winners of the Mitakuye Inaugural Monthly Art Contest!
We had so many wonderful submissions that we had to create extra awards! We congratulate all of the youth who won and especially all of the youth who submitted work!

Honorable Mention Winners:

Helen Vocu (Age 9) & Sequoia Good Crow (Age 10 )

First Place Winners:

Age 10 and Under: Taliah Standing Soldier (Age 10 ) & Jacinda Tobbacco (Age 10)
Age 14 and Under: Danita Elbow Shield (Age 11)
Age 18 and Under: Macy Two Bulls (Age 15)

Grand Prize Winners:

Breian High Wolf (Age 11) & Jordan Cortier (Age 17)

Please check out all the winning artwork on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Mitakupi/
Congratulations to all!

Mitakuye Creators’ Club Launches!

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mitakupi-logo-jpegExcited to announce the launch of our new Creators’ Club! Everyone who submits to the Monthly Art Contest will automatically be enrolled.

Participants earn points every month they submit to save up for prizes and awards. The program was created to reward effort as well as merit to inspire young artists to continue to create on a regular basis regardless of whether or not they win.

April Art Contest "COURAGE"

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Mitakupi Art Contest APRIL 2016 vs3 JPEGThank you for all of the beautiful submissions for our inaugural contest! March winners will be announced on April 15th.

The new theme for April is “COURAGE” Interpret this any way you want! Submission deadline is April 30th.

Mitakuye Monthly Art Contest Launches!

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Mitakupi Youth Art Contest Inaugural vs6Launching our new art contest on Pine Ridge!

Announcing the launch of a new monthly art competition for all youth on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Every month there will be a new theme. Open to all youth through age 18.

For the inaugural contest we are asking youth to create a poster design for the new Suicide Hotline which has been named THE LIFE LINE.

Kids are encouraged to use any medium they want  it is all up to your imagination. We encourage all forms of creativity!

First Place Winners in each age category will receive a cash prize and art supplies. The Grand Prize Winner will win a $100 cash prize, art supplies will have the opportunity to work with a professional graphic designer to get their design print ready. Posters will be professionally printed and displayed throughout the reservation.  All winners will have their  artwork displayed on our new website

New Years Eve Events

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ThunderLake Lockdown NYE 2014The Mitakupi Foundation is sponsoring two great events tonight in Pine Ridge and Batesland. New Years Eve safe programs for the youth! They are expecting up to 500 to attend. Please consider making an end of year donation to support our ongoing work to help combat teen suicide and empower the young people. Lots of great programs will be rolling out in 2016. Help us get off to a great start. Wopila!

Year End Report and Looking Ahead for 2016

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As many of you know this has been a particularly rough year for the Lakota youth as the suicide epidemic on Pine Ridge has reached staggering proportions. 23 young people have taken their lives in the last 12 months. Suicide attempts have reached up to 150 per month and ideations are twice that. Those are just the ones we know about. The Mitakupi Foundation was created to address this epidemic and to create and support programs that empower Native Youth.

We funded and initiated a lot of successful programs but as the evidence shows – there is so much more to do! Here is what we are working on for the end of 2015 and beyond:

New Years Eve Community safe events – to set up all-night safehouses for the youth on New Year’s Eve to keep them safe, fed, and cared for.

Upgrading the phones for the suicide hotline that we started at the beginning of the year.

Launching a new and more aggressive campaign to get the hotline number out to the youth  – this includes a reservation wide contest for the youth to design the new poster for the hotline which has been given the new name of “THE LIFELINE.”The winner will receive a cash award and will get the opportunity to work with a professional graphic designer to get their artwork print ready for the campaign.

Helping the Sweetgrass Project to keep operations running. The Sweetgrass Project is the suicide prevention and response team on the reservation and they lost their funding for this year. They have back up funding for a short period so we will be working diligently throughout the next several months to help them find new grant opportunities.

Bringing in Resident counselors for the community: At present time if a youth – or anyone else – is in crisis there is no direct way for them to get immediate counseling. We are partnering with Elizabeth Warson, Ph.D. and American Indian Art Therapy to create a resident rotation for Psycholgy Ph.D.s to offer counseling for tribal members on the reservation whenever needed.

We will be launching the Mitakupi Monthly Art Contest in February!  Lakota youth will have a monthly opportunity to submit art work for recognition on our website and awards. We are in the planning stages for the 2016 Hoye Wayelo Summer Arts Intensives which will debut this July. We are supporting the local BEARS program (Be Excited About Reading) which runs reading and suicide educational programming for reservation youth and provides emergency services to kids in need. We are also starting to raise funds for the 2016 500 mile Sacred Hoop Run – which serves over 150 Lakota youth and is at the center of our feature film Running On A Wing And A Prayer.

On the production side we are finishing post production on a new music video we shot over the summer as part of our Arts Mentorship Program and are in post production on Running On A Wing And A Prayer – which will be used as an educational and fundraising tool for the foundation.