Mitakuye Foundation

We handed out over 350 awards and visited with over 3,000 students on our September Creator’s Club School Tour!

The Mitakuye Creator’s Club gives students an opportunity to create every month and earn points for their work. Every month they submit they earn points towards great prizes. More importantly – they become involved in the process of creating!

Congratulations to all of our young artists!

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We are thrilled to announce that three new respected elders have joined our Advisory Council! Richard Moves Camp, Verola Spider, and Joseph Marshall, III.

Richard Moves Camp is a fifth-generation Lakota healer, elder, tribal historian, and spiritual leader. He is the great, great grandson of Wóptuȟ’a (“Chips”), the wičháša wakȟáŋ (“holy man”) who provided Tȟašúŋke Witkó (“Crazy Horse”) with war medicines of protection. A tribal authority on Lakota history, culture, and religion based on five generations of ancestral family memory and a living oral tradition dating back to the pre-reservation period, Mr. Moves Camp and his family have been pivotal in the preservation and revitalization of Lakota religion and spirituality throughout the twentieth century. A well-known and highly respected elder, Mr. Moves Camp holds a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling with an emphasis in Behavioral Health from Sinte Gleska University.

Richard is the Executive Director of Wicahpi Koyaka Tiospaye, a non-profit organization that focuses on preserving the traditional knowledge and cultural traditions of the Lakota people to provide a pathway to wellness. Their purpose is to preserve, maintain, and pass on traditional teachings for future generations.

Richard was a key contributor to the Wakanyeja Pawicayapi (“Children First”) organization and co-authored a book on Lakota Healing with fellow spiritual leader Richard Two Dogs. Richard served as a counselor at the Crazy Horse school in Wanblee, and was one of the founding members of the Lakota Waldorf school. He teaches at Sinte Gleska University and lectures widely on Lakota history, culture, and traditions.

Verola Spider was born and raised in Porcupine, South Dakota. Growing up in a traditional family, Verola never spoke a word of English until the age of six. She was raised in the traditional ways in a log cabin with no electricity or running water, and traveled by horse and wagon. She is a sixth generation oral storyteller and the first female in her family lineage to hold that honor.

Verola is a master quill worker and has carried on and passed down the ancient art form of quillwork to current generations for decades. As a multi-faceted traditional artist, she has produced award-winning creations in quillwork, beading, moccasins, cradleboards, and star quilts.

As a Lakota language arts and culture teacher at Oglala Lakota College for over two decades, she has passed on traditional language and knowledge to countless students. She is the matriarch of a large family which includes 10 kids, 27 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren.

Joseph Marshall III is an acclaimed Lakota author, teacher, artist, and historian. Joseph was born on the Rosebud Indian reservation in SD. Raised in a traditional household, his first language was Lakota and he was trained in the ancient tradition of oral storytelling. He is one of the founding members of Sinte Gleska University and has spent years teaching university and high school students. He has developed curricula in Lakota Language and Native American Studies and developed a leadership seminar based on the leadership lessons of Crazy Horse.

Joseph is most well known as an award-winning writer. He has published fourteen nonfiction works, three novels, a collection of short stories and essays, two children’s books, several screenplays, and was a contributing author in five other publications. His work has been translated into numerous foreign languages and he has traveled across the U.S. and abroad as a speaker and lecturer.

Joseph has worked in the film and television industry both as an actor and narrator. He has also worked behind the scenes as a consultant and technical advisor, and is a Fellow in the Sundance Institute. Joseph is also a practitioner of primitive Lakota archery, having learned from his maternal grandfather the art of hand-crafting bows and arrows, and is a specialist in wilderness survival.

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Along with our current advisors Rick Gray Grass, Saunie Wilson, and Yvonne “Tiny” DeCory – we are grateful for the wisdom and experience provided by our new advisors. Their individual and collective strengths, talents, and insights are priceless and their life-long commitment to the revitalization of Lakota culture and identity help provide positive and uplifting inspiration for the Lakota youth and the Mitakuye Foundation.

Thrilled to be sponsoring the 3^rd annual Eugene Reddest Memorial Youth Award at the 72^nd annual Potato Creek Wacipi September 13,14,15 2019!

This award, in memory of our dear kola Eugene Reddest, will honor an upcoming boy and girl dancer with a certificate, Mitakuye backpack, art bag, and $100 cash prize! Mitakuye will also be co-sponsoring a dinner to celebrate the youth and honor the memory of our dear friend. Open to all dancers through age 18.

The theme for December 2019 is:
CRAZY HORSE : “Tasunke Witko”

What are you inspired to create when you think of CRAZY HORSE? There are so many ways to interpret this. Crazy Horse never allowed for his photograph to be taken. He represents different things to different people. When you think of him – when you hear his name – what do you think of? Is it a sound? A quality? An image of what you think he may have looked like? DO you think of a color? A sound?

As with all of the themes we give – this is just a starting point. You can interpret this any way you want. You can use painting, drawing, photography, collage, poetry, stories, videos, music, dance – anything original that the theme inspires you to create! It is all up to your imagination – we encourage all forms of creativity.

The spoken-word music video featuring the students of Hoye Wayelo Summer Arts program will be out in December. Stay tuned!

Congratulations to everyone who submitted to our Special Contest to design the new poster for our LIFELINE!

The LIFELINE, run by Tiny Decorey and her team of trained suicide prevention volunteers, is 24 hour hotline for anyone who needs to talk. We are now expanding the program to include a 24 hour text line and needed a new poster!

The GRAND PRIZE WINNER, Joey Hill, will work with a professional Graphic Artist to have his winning design turned into the new poster for our expanded LIFELINE.

We awarded artists in three age categories. Every student who enters earns points every time they submit, to save up for great prizes in our Creator’s Club! Congratulations to all of our winners!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER

HONORABLE MENTION AWARD WINNERS

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MERIT AWARD WINNERS

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Our special guest teacher this summer was award winning Lakota author, elder, teacher, traditional artist, and actor Joseph Marshall, III.

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Joseph shared his wealth of Lakota tradition and knowledge with the students and led the morning circle to inspire students in their work.

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Joseph taught a special master writing workshop for the kids and discussed the power of Lakota identity. He expanded on those ideas with the whole academy at a special afternoon lecture.

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Film students got to shoot and produce a special interview with Joseph!

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Video coming soon!

Students in the film program learned all aspects of filmmaking. They started off with basic production skills of how to operate a camera and sound equipment. In class assignments focused on camera work, composition, and how to tell a story in just a few shots.

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Students then learned more advanced skills like lighting and grip, and started the process of writing scripts for their short films and learning how to break down a script to produce it.

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Students then went into production for their films – shooting and directing many extras!

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Students also received hands on training in editing and post production on our new iMac editing stations!

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Stay tuned for links to our 2019 student films which screened at the 2019 Pine Ridge Indigenous Film Festival!

The greatest treasures we had at the program were the incredible elders and master teachers who came to be with and teach the kids! Unci Verola Spider is a master quill worker and language arts teacher who taught at Oglala Lakota College for decades. She is one of the few Lakota teachers who has carried on the tradition and inspires the new generations to take up this ancient form of quillwork.

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This very intricate art form requires great skill and patience.

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Students learned different quilling techniques – including wrapping and sewing – and produced beautiful bracelets and medicine wheels.

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J.T. Shinning Oneside did work with students in beading, sewing, and plant medicines. Her special project this year were baskets made of sweetgrass – grown and generously donated to us by our friend Vanne Mocilac.

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The wealth of knowledge these elders hold and share is beyond priceless. Thank you Verola and J.T., And thank you to our other elders and teachers: Joseph Marshall III (Writing and “Lakota Identity”), Waylon Black Crow (leather work, drum sticks, pouches, traditional songs), Duane Reddest (traditional singing and drumming), Rick Red Blanket, and Uncis Stephanie Apple & Mona Richards! Wopila!

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To kick off the program – students raised a traditional tipi. Resident Unci and Elder – Verola Spider – took students through the whole process. They selected a spot, made prayers, and raised the first poles.

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Students set up the poles and wound the rope. Verola prepared the covering and gave a teaching on the significance of the poles and the way they come together.

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Students finished wrapping the cover, and of course, film students helped to document the event.

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Elders helped kids finish the process and Verola finished up with a blessing inside for each student. The tipi stood at the center of camp as a place of reflection, creativity, and Lakota identity.

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