First People’s Fund is welcoming 25 artists to their list of fellows for 2020. Indiginous artists from around the country were selected for their focus in business and culture bearing.
The artists are working under two fellowships-Artist in Business Leadership and Cultural Capital. They work in different mediums including fashion design, music and painting. Dawnee LeBeau is a natural light photographer from the Cheyenne River Tribe. She focuses on portrait and landscape photography.
“I have been enjoying this creative outlet for about two decades now. It’s definitely been a valuable journey. I’ve gotten the chance to collaborate with some amazing indiginous artists, orginizationas, tribal organizations all across Turtle Island.”
Turtle Island is the entire country. The fellowships last a year, then reopen for new Indiginous artists. The is LeBeaus second fellowship with the group. First People’s Fund created them to support artists and culture bearers. LeBeau plans to use her Cultural Capital fellowship to host a photography gathering on the Cheyenne River Reservation.
“Inviting the you and the oyate which means the community as well as collaborators, cultural bearers and photojournalism colleges to learn about the different styles of photography as well as learning about different focuses and how we can utilize this artform to learn about how we can utilize this art form and connect it to indiginous storytelling, our indiginous data collection within indiginous history and then our modern day livelihood.”
Lebeau is also planning a gallery for attendees to showcase their work after the meeting. All 25 fellows are invited to meet together in the Spring.