INVITATION TO THE FOURTH ANNUAL TRIBAL STORYTELLERS RETREAT
MARCH 18-21 IN WASHINGTON
The NISA Advisory Council is inviting you to join us at our Northwest Indian Storytellers Association (NISA) Retreat the weekend of March 19-21, 2010 at Brighton Creek Baha'i Retreat Center 23 miles east of Olympia, Washington. This Retreat Center is between Roy and McKenna, Washington (98558) located 50 miles south of Seattle and 120 miles north of Portland.
NISA was formed in 2005 to encourage, preserve and strengthen traditional storytelling among tribes and urban Indian communities in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. You don't have to be a storyteller to join NISA. Emerging storytellers and culture bearers and other interested community members are welcome to enroll in NISA.
Weekend events include 5 meals from Friday evening through Sunday lunch; overnight lodging Friday and Saturday evenings; discussion on the future of NISA; open mics for tribal tellers, emerging tellers, and other interested tribal community members; free time to get acquainted and share comments and favorite stories with the group. We will discuss NISA's 2010 and 2011 festival and apprenticeship project plans, including the Fifth Annual NISA Storytelling Festival in Portland in the fall of 2010. We will poll members to see if there is sufficient support to hold a second festival in the Seattle/Tacoma area in the fall of 2010.
In the spirit of race reconciliation, NISA shares tribal cultural arts with the entire regional community at our annual festivals. Se also hold a Saturday afternoon Indian taco lunch, storytelling event and silent auction at our annual Retreat and invite the public on Saturday 1 to 5 PM to join us and enjoy the enormous wealth of our talented organization. Tickets are available to the public (see poster). There is, of course, no charge to those attending the retreat. It is included in your registration fee. A silent auction of native arts and craft items will be held and announced at the conclusion of this afternoon. These funds will provide 50% scholarships to the weekend retreat for those whose tribe cannot fund their trip. Therefore, we are asking that everyone who comes to bring a Native American arts or craft item for this auction.
The retreat registration fee is $80. $40 scholarships are available. This includes two evenings in the cabins (room for 65 overnight guests) and 5 meals. Let us know if you need a 50% scholarship. Call NISA Retreat Coordinator: Caitlin Blood (503) 475-4271 or e -mail her at uatzinbirds@gmail.com if you have questions.
This year, we will contact tribes in Washington, Oregon and Idaho asking them to appoint tribal storytellers and other interested tribal members to be members of NISA. We will ask the tribe to sponsor their members if possible to attend future NISA events. If you want us to call your tribe, please let us know. We always look forward to this special time to get acquainted and share the harmony and good spirit that has existed at all of NISA's events since we formed in 2005. An agenda of the weekend activities and driving directions will be sent soon.
Northwest Indian Storytellers Association
We welcome Washington, Oregon and Idaho tribal members, along with the region’s urban Indian storytellers from other nations around Turtle Island, to join the Northwest Indian Storytellers Association (NISA).
Sign up online to become a NISA member here.
NISA MISSION STATEMENT: NISA was formed in 2005 to encourage, preserve and strengthen traditional storytelling among tribes and urban Indian communities in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. In the spirit of race reconciliation, NISA shares tribal cultural arts with the entire regional community at our annual storytelling festivals.
You don’t have to be a master storyteller to join NISA. Emerging tribal storytellers and those who would like to start learning their tribe’s stories are also welcome to join NISA. You will have opportunities to get acquainted with master storytellers and fellow storytellers and learn from them during storytelling workshops we hold annually as part of our storytelling festival weekends.
We are contacting Washington State tribes in the next few months to see who is interested in serving as an annual sponsor and host so we can hold annual NISA Tribal Storytelling Festivals in the state of Washington.
We are also asking Northwest tribes to appoint a traditional storyteller who will serve as NISA Advisory Council member and be your tribe’s representative to NISA. We also ask that if funds are available, tribes sponsor them to join us during festival and retreat weekends and provide their fee and travel expense.
For more information, e-mail us at nisa@wisdomoftheelders.org
Seeking volunteers from Portland’s Native community
A partnership of Native American organizations and supporting organizations is developing the Discovering Our Story Project with multi-media curriculum and a television program that will be launched on Portland Community Media in 2010. We are looking for volunteers who will serve on one of these teams:
1. Recording Review Working Group: will listen to and comment on video and audio segments being considered for the curriculum and television program (starts later in September).
2. Take trainings to learn videography and be part of the Discovering Our Story Television team. (We pay the fee for this class, but we request a 3 year commitment to help us produce 26 one hour Native American television programs for Portland’s community) (starts in November 2009)
3. Take trainings to learn digital storytelling and be part of the Discovering Our Story Television team. (We pay the fee for this class, but we request a 3 year commitment to help us produce 26 one hour Native American television programs for Portland’s community) (Starts in November 2009).
More on the Discovering Our Story Project: Our partnership is developing multimedia curricula for Native American recovery, prevention and career pathway development, and is including the input of Portland-area Native American therapists and clients in the process using focus groups and pilot projects. Materials will overcome co-occurring mental health, addictions, domestic violence prevention, and Type 2 Diabetes issues. Multi-media materials will be developed using the audio and video archives (250+ recordings) of Wisdom of the Elders, Inc., plus specific new recordings.
More on Discovering Our Story Television: We also plan to employ public media as a catalyst to support recovery and prevention efforts within our community. We will launch a Portland cable access television program, Discovering our Story Television, that honors exemplary native elders and storytellers and their exemplary cultural values. Northwest Indian Storytellers Association will also participate by conducting tribal storytelling workshops for health and wellness each year of this project so Native American partners’ clients can learn storytelling traditions, identify more strongly with their tribal heritage, and begin to tell their own traditional stories. Master storytellers and therapists will especially emphasize the importance of passing down traditional cultural values, validating positive cultural identity, and strengthening self-esteem.
Partners: This project is a partnership with NARA, Cowlitz Tribal Health Clinic, Indigenous Ways of Knowing Program and Lewis and Clark College, National Indian Child Welfare Association, Northwest Indian Storytellers Association, Westview High School ESOL Program, Portland Community Media, Roger Burt, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant, and Wisdom of the Elders, Inc.
All positions are on a volunteer basis. If you have questions or request an application, please contact us at (503) 517-9759 or e-mail liaison@wisdomoftheelders.org.
