>>>> January 2017 >>>>
Wisdom’s Emerging Native Filmmaker Internship program was expanded with a film equipment grant from Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission. In 2017, our multimedia team provided three-month internships for 12 Native American interns who learned about an element of environmental science and produced short documentaries that integrated traditional ecological knowledge. These gifted interns continue to be special guests on Wisdom’s monthly Discovering Our Story Television Program with the short films they produced also screened on the program. Our multimedia team includes Tim Burgess (Paiute, Shoshone), Kunu Dittmer-Bearchum (Northern Cheyenne, Hochunk) and Joseph Colina (Cherokee). Special thanks goes out to the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation for their support of our internship program and to our site partner, Open Signal, whose television studio we use for our monthly television program.
>>>> February 2017 >>>>
The Eleventh Annual Northwest Indian Storytelling Gathering was held for 175 people and included our First Annual Traditional First Foods Symposium featuring four Native American scholars, food gatherers and elders. Funding for this event was provided by National Endowment for the Arts for the past 11 years. Events were held in partnership with Portland Community College – Cascade Campus and Chemawa Indian School.
>>>> March 2017 >>>>
Wisdom Workforce Development held its third environmental assessment and habitat restoration workforce training for low-income Native American adults. They completed service learning in the Lents Urban Renewal Area and other part of Johnson Creek Watershed and the greater Portland metropolitan area during the three-month training. Work included planting of traditional First Foods species in the 50 -foot buffer below Zenger Farm. Special thanks to funding from Metro, Prosper Portland, East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, Bureau of Environmental Services, Portland Parks and Recreation, Johnson Creek Watershed Council, Zenger Farm and local schools that provided volunteers interested in holistic environmental education. Funding support continues to be needed to match the Prosper Portland grant so this important Native American workforce initiative can continue into the future.
>>>> April 2017 >>>>
The Native Wisdom Documentary Film Festival was held in Portland on Saturday, April 15 for 175 guests. Two new documentary films were shown featuring Oregon tribes, their emerging environmental issues and rich cultural arts. Wisdom’s film production team led by Executive Producer Rose High Bear and Producer/Director Larry Johnson (Lawrence Johnson Productions) worked for three years years to fund, record and produce these two films. They are part of the series of four short documentary films which have been produced since 2012. Partners include the Northwest Film Center and funders Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Oregon Cultural Trust, Spirit Mountain Community Fund and Regional Arts and Culture Council.
Wisdom is continuing to seek funding support for the upcoming production of two full length documentary films and is continuing to screen the short docs that have been produced.
(Left: Larry Johnson and Rose Highbear on production, Right: Rose HighBear interviewing Tom Younker (Coquille) for Native Wisdom Films)
>>>> May 2017 >>>>
Wisdom’s team traveled to Corvallis and Eugene in May to hold Film Screening and Community Consultation events in partnership with the Oregon State University Native American Longhouse and University of Oregon’s Tribal Climate Program. Funders for this outreach included the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and the Oregon Cultural Trust. The Wisdom Workforce Development interns traveled to Corvallis to attend OSU School of Forestry’s Traditional Ecological Knowledge Conference. Many thanks to Gail Woodside and Valerie Goodness who helped to arrange these events.
We will continue to hold Film Screenings and Community Consultations for our friends and colleagues into 2018 upon request from sponsors.
(Top Left: Presenters at Traditional Ecological Knowledge Conference at OSU, Top Right: Wisdom at the OSU Longhouse, Bottom Left: Wisdom on stage in Eugene)
>>>> June 2017 >>>>
Our Native American crew at Wisdom Workforce Development LLC gained new work opportunities thanks to partnerships with Friends of Trees, WHPacific and West Multnomah Soil and Waters Conservation District. They had a range of opportunities from planting and mulching trees in Lents and other neighborhoods, to planting Native plant species in a natural area in Lake Oswego and at NARA Northwest, and helping WMSWCD add diversity issues to their trainings for partners and community members.
(Left: Wisdom Workforce finishing Beaver cages at NARA, Right: Wisdom Workforce installing Beaver cages around trees at NARA)
>>>> July 2017 >>>>
Wisdom’s Native youth leadership initiative, Discovering Yidong Xinag* provided fun environmental education classes at the Native American Youth and Family Center for 67 youth who enjoyed fun service learning in local natural areas. In the spring, we had also provided training for more than 100 7th grade students at Highland Park Middle School. This culturally tailored multimedia curriculum is now expanding into the DYX Educational Toolkit for tribes with the addition of film clips from the Native Wisdom Documentary Film Series being added to the lesson plans. We are piloting it in 2018 in partnership with Oregon tribes and anticipate it will help fulfill the mandate that Oregon tribal history and heritage will be taught in public schools of Oregon starting in 2019. (*means “Discovering the Old Wisdom” in Deg Xinag dialect of Athabascan)
We have grown thanks to generous support from Miller Foundation, Running Strong for American Indian Youth, Charlotte Martin Foundation and Nike N-7. We are now seeking partnerships and funding to continue expansion into 2018.
>>>> August 2017 >>>>
Eight Emerging Native Filmmakers finalized production of their own short documentary films they learned to produce during the summer months. They learned video field production in June, began to record in July and completed post production editing by the end of August. This group also served as our Native Peer Mentors during the summer at the NAYA summer science and culture camp sessions, learning advanced environmental science, leadership and mentoring as well as film production. We appreciate the support of our funders: Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts. We enjoyed our partnership with Open Signal which trained two emerging Native filmmakers inn TV studio production to support behind the scenes at Discovering Our Story Television Program which is broadcast live monthly at their studios.
(Left: Multimedia intern Adrienne Moat operating HDTV Broadcast camera at Open Signal for Discovering Our Story TV show, Right: Multimedia intern Marcos Alatorre operating HDTV camera at Open Signal for Discovering Our Story TV show)
>>>> September 2017 >>>>
Wisdom plans to hold tribal storytelling events in the Portland area and is seeking sponsors and other funding sources so they can continue into the future.
>>>> October 2017 >>>>
Gerry RainingBird joined the Wisdom family in October when he came aboard as Wisdom’s new Executive Director while co-founder Rose High Bear transitioned to a role as Senior Consultant and Executive Producer. Wisdom’s Executive Transition project has been funded by Meyer Memorial Trust, The Collins Foundation and NoVo Foundation.
>>>> November 2017 >>>>
Rose High Bear facilitating discussion during the community consultation portion of our OMSI Film Screening.
Film Screening and Community Consultation at Oregon City Public Library
Six Film Screenings and Community Consultations were held during Native American Heritage Month. This included Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the State Capitol in Salem, Oregon City Public Library and Intel. These were funded by Oregon Cultural Trust, Oregon Arts Commission, Coquille Indian Foundation and the Regional Arts and Culture Council. Partners included OMSI, Oregon Department of Human Services, Oregon Department of Indian Education, Oregon Youth Authority, Oregon City Public Library and the Native American network at Intel. Thank you to all that came out to make them a success!
>>>> December 2017 >>>>
Wisdom expanded the Discovering Yidong Xinag Educational Toolkit and will provide it early in 2018 starting with a pilot being planned with an Oregon tribe. This culturally-tailored multimedia curriculum features film clips from the Native Wisdom Documentary Film Series with indigenous science, traditional ecological knowledge and cultural arts. These cultural elements are being integrated into environmental science lesson plans and includes fun service learning activities in local natural areas. We are aligning materials to Next Generation Science Standards and providing professional development trainings for educators. This expansion has been funded by the generosity of Spirit Mountain Community Fund, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Running Strong for American Indian Youth, Charlotte Martin Foundation and Nike N-7.We are now seeking funding for further expansion of this educational initiative designed to strengthen educational engagement and academic achievement of Native American and other low-income students and improve social and emotional learning.
(Two shots from our production of the film Native Wisdom People of the Oregon Coast, capturing The Coquille Tribe Lamprey Float on the South Coquille River and the gathering of tea leaves.)