A total of $300,000 is available for distribution in amounts of up to $20,000 for individuals and programs. Applications and eligibility rules are available at http://www.nativeartsandcultures.org/programs.

“The Native Arts & Cultures Foundation celebrates the role of artists as culture bearers and critical thinkers,” said Reuben Roqueñi, NACF program director. “The creative process makes a profound contribution to intellectual inquiry and to the strengthening of communities.”

The first initiative, called “Artistic Innovation: Through the Soul of an Artist,” will support the creation of new work by contemporary Native artists. These awards are designed to propel indigenous creators into unique and imaginative ways of interacting with the world, informed by tradition and culture. Projects might include work in visual arts, film, installation, dance, music, literature, drama, spoken-word or interdisciplinary projects.

The second initiative – “Mobilizing the Community Through the Arts” – will support community-based programs that involve the continuity and expression of cultural knowledge and artistic practices. With an arts-based approach, projects might address issues such as land stewardship, social justice, education or other topics.

With its third initiative – “Strengthening the Arts & Cultures Infrastructure” – NACF will award grants to pre-selected Native arts organization for program administration, infrastructure improvements, outreach, professional development and other endeavors.

Earlier this spring, the foundation announced several new additions to its boards. Actor Adam Beach (Salteaux Tribe), known for his work in films such as “Flags of Our Fathers” and television shows such as “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” joined the NACF board of advisors, alongside singer Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree). Keller George (Oneida Nation), well-known in Indian Country for his work with the National Congress of the American Indians and the National Museum of the American Indian, joined the NACF board of directors.

NACF is supported in part by gifts from the Ford Foundation, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.

About the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation

The Native Arts & Cultures Foundation is the first permanently endowed national philanthropic organization dedicated exclusively to the revitalization, appreciation and perpetuation of Native arts and cultures. NACF works to increase the capacity of Native cultural practices by investing in communities and artists with an eye toward cultural continuity, innovation, environmental stewardship and social justice. For more information, call 360.314.2421 or visit www.nativeartsandcultures.org.

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The team started using the Redskins name in 1933; and the trademark was first issued in 1967. The native american group filed its lawsuit in 1992.

The Supreme Court’s decision lets stand a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the activists waited too long to challenge the trademark.

This post is brought to you courtesy of the author and TribalBiz.com.

This innovative program is an intensive one-year program that matches current Native nonprofit leaders and their organizations with young Native professionals who have the potential of becoming the next generation of Native nonprofit leaders. The program is designed to create future Native leaders for Native community and reservation-based nonprofits, build the resources of existing leaders in the Native nonprofit sector, and support Native nonprofits that are working to build leadership capacity in rural and reservation-based communities.

This year, 24 promising young native professionals were selected to participate from Washington, Oregon and Colorado. Individuals selected as LEAD Fellows had to be either employed by a nonprofit organization or planning a career in the nonprofit sector; committed to a career working in Native communities; and affiliated with a tribe. This month, the program is graduating 28 LEAD Fellows, the year prior, 12 graduated.

Each cohort hosts the graduation ceremony within in its own community. The new Fellows also attend and receive a program orientation as well. They are asked to commit to attending all trainings and to attend the annual LEAD institute. The next LEAD Institute will be held in January, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa in Santa Ana Pueblo, NM.

The two-day Institute will offer all 24 Fellows three tracks of training to select from, including Non-Profit Leadership and Capacity Building, Native American Philanthropy, and Asset Building. Through LEAD, First Nations and its partner Native nonprofit “host” organizations, provide targeted training, workshops and mentoring to a committed group of Fellows in areas of expertise that are critical to being a successful nonprofit leader, including financial management, factors affecting Native or reservation-based nonprofit organizations, fundraising, program evaluation and service leadership.

This year’s host organizations are located in Washington, Oregon and Colorado. The Colorado cohort of fellows will be hosted by First Nations Development Institute. The 2009-2010 LEAD Fellows for Colorado are:  Alaina Archuleta, Hannabah Blue, Mat Barkhausen, Catherine Bryan, Tanksi Clairmont, Ruben Hernandez, Jennifer Williams-Bordeaux, and Dina M. Yazzie. The Potlatch Fund www.potlatchfund.org in Seattle, WA and the Native American Youth and Family Center www.nayapdx.org in Portland, OR are the other two sites hosting LEAD Fellows.

This leadership training program developed and organized by First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) is funded by a generous consortium of private foundations and individual supporters. The program’s major funders include the Ford Foundation, $400,000 and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, $300,000.

To learn more about the LEAD program and this year’s fellows, please visit the First Nations website at: http://www.firstnations.org/LEAD

CONTACT: Tina Farrenkopf
Phone: 303-774-7836
Email: tfarrenkopf@firstnations.org

The Supreme Court of the United States has refused to hear a lawsuit on behalf of Native American activists who assert the Washington Redskins‘ football team name is so offensive that it does not deserve trademark protection. The decision lets stand a lower court ruling that under the legal doctrine of “laches”, the plaintiffs waited too long to bring the challenge. The Court issued its ruling without substantive comment.

American trademark law prohibits registration of a name that “may disparage . . . persons, living or dead, . . . or bring them into contempt, or disrepute.” The team has been known as the Redskins since 1933. The lawsuit was filed in 1992, when seven activists challenged a Redskins trademark issued in 1967. The plaintiffs won an early victory in the 1970s when the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board said the name could be interpreted as offensive to Native Americans.

The team appealed that ruling, and judges at the federal District and Circuit levels held the activists’ trademark cancellation claim was barred by the doctrine of laches, which serves as a defense against stale legal claims. The activists argued that disparaging trademarks can be challenged at any time, citing a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. The decision was written by then-judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., who now sits on the Supreme Court.

In the wake of this legal setback, Tony Gonzales, Director of the American Indian Movement West in San Francisco, suggests that Presidential action is needed. Citing the many psychological studies and legal briefs that highlight cultural damage arising from derogatory human mascots, he asks “How much more has to come forward before the President takes action?” AIM West is planning a protest on 13 December 2009 at Oakland Coliseum to coincide with the Washington Redskins game against the Oakland Raiders.