Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

January 25, 2003 - Issue 79

Opportunities

We receive these announcements from various sources including Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP)

To view additional listing from previous issues, click here

Alaska Native Heritage Center and Bridge Builders Celebrate Diversity in Anchorage

"We are part of a rich and diverse community in Anchorage," stated Lonnie Jackson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "We are pleased to join with Bridge Builders to create a day of celebrating different cultures that make up this city. It is important that all cultures come together to learn from and support each other."

The celebration being held at ANHC will include performances from local Anchorage groups of varying cultures such as Latino, Mexican, Irish, Alaska Native, Filipino and Hawaiian. Na Hula 'Olapa and Ke Aloha Dance Group is dedicated to preserving and sharing the cultures of the islands of Hawaii and Polynesia. Perpetuating their culture helps them stay connected to the "island lifestyle" and share with others. The Kingikmiut Dancers and Singers of Anchorage are Inupiat Eskimos originally from the village of Wales. The group was started in 1991. There are now more than 20 group members who participate at different times, including 10 young people between the ages of 5 and 15. Aguila Azteca is an Anchorage based group that shares traditional Mexican dances from the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The Irish Dance Academy of Alaska has been performing for 5 years. Students under the direction of Noreen Westcott and have been performing together for 3 to 4 years each. The Filipino Dance Group is lead by bi-lingual teachers from the Anchorage School District. All of the performers are members of one extended family and have been dancing all their lives.

The celebration will include Native dancing, storytelling, with arts and crafts sessions available throughout the day for all ages. Arts and crafts will include instructions on how to make Athabascan Necklaces, Yup'ik/Cup'ik Medicine Pouches, Southeast Stone Necklaces and Aleut/Alutiiq eveuate, a traditional toy used for entertaining younger kids.

There will be demonstrations of Native games and healing games with the opportunity for everyone to participate. Weather permitting there will be snowshoeing. Videos will be shown on topics including the Alaska Rain Forest, Whales of Alaska's Inside Passage and Alaska: Alaska Portrait.

Visitors can experience the five recreated village sites that illustrate the traditional structures in a typical village before or shortly after contact with other cultures. Knowledgeable tour guides will share history, culture and traditions of each Native culture.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center is an independent, nonprofit that is open year-round as a gathering place to celebrate, perpetuate and share Alaska Native cultures; it is a place for all people. It is located at 8800 Heritage Center Drive in northeast Anchorage, just off Muldoon Road North near Bartlett High School. For more information about other events and programs, visit www.alaskanative.net

For more information contact: Kay E. Ashton (907) 330-8055
kashton@alaskanative.net

Junior Policy and Research Officer

Individuals who feel they are qualified are invited to submit a covering letter (quoting the above reference number) along with a current resume and three (3) work related references to:

Mr. Lyle O'Donnell, Human Resources Manager, Assembly of First Nations
1 Nicholas Street, Suite 1002, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 7B7
FAX: (613) 241-5808 email: lodonnell@afn.ca

No applications will be accepted beyond the closing deadline. Interviews will be held in Ottawa.

If all qualifications are equal, preference will be given to persons of First Nations ancestry.

Only those applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.

Grants Manager - Early College High School Initiative for Native Youth; Seattle, WA

The Project:
In the spring of 2002, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in partnership with the Kellogg Foundation, Carnegie Corporation and Ford Foundation, announced funding for 70 Early College High Schools across the nation. Early College High Schools offer students the opportunity to earn AA degree while completing high school. Early Colleges seek to increase high school graduation and college attendance rates of underserved populations. Antioch University Seattle was selected by the Gates Foundation to serve as one of seven national intermediaries. Antioch University Seattle will select and support eight or more Early College schools serving predominately Native American students in Washington State over the next five years.

The Position:
This position is responsible for the coordination and management of grants for the Early College High School Initiative for Native Youth at Antioch University Seattle. The position provides administrative support by performing such tasks as establishing grants management systems, writing and compiling narrative and fiscal reports for funders, securing fiscal reports from Early College sites, maintaining records and monitoring grant status. Responsible for oversight of distributions and expenditures of the grants according to their goals and objectives, in coordination with other Antioch University personnel. May be given specific responsibility for services of an administrative nature including the writing of additional grants to support the Early College High School Initiative for Native Youth. Works closely with Project Director, Early College High Schools, Community Engagement Specialist and with external sources including the general public, a variety of Tribal leaders! and members, school officials, foundation personnel, members of the media and organizations affiliated with the Early College High School Initiative.

Responsibilities:

1. Establish grant management systems.
2. Oversee grant-related distributions and expenditures in accordance with grant goals and objectives.
3. Write narrative and fiscal reports: maintain documentation records, insure reporting is accurate and timely and perform other related duties as required.
4. Provide budgeting support: oversee grant budgets, maintain communication with project staff regarding budget issues and manage necessary paperwork.
5. Seek additional grant funding to support the Early College High School Initiative for Native Youth.

Qualifications:

• BA degree required; masters preferred.
• Three years grants management experience for Native American initiatives required.
• Demonstrated experience at grant procurement.
• Demonstrated ability to maintain a high degree of confidentiality.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a diverse, participatory environment.

To Apply:
To be considered, please submit a current resume, a cover letter outlining relevant experience, and a list of three professional resumes to:

Linda Campbell, Project Director
Early College High Schools for Native Youth
Antioch University Seattle
2326 Sixth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121-1813
(206) 268-4022 or (206) 441-5352x5022

CALL TO ARTISTS and RESEARCHERS

The New Forms Festival will create an environment that encourages new forms of media art to be created, experienced, and understood. The theme for 2003 is "inter[se/ac]tion", a response to the technological and artistic convergence that have been occurring in the fields of arts, science and new media in recent years.

The conference will provide avenues for critical perspectives, discoveries, learning and engagement in current and evolving discourses, ideas, and transformations in new media arts and technology. Each of the sub-themes explored during the conference series will be led by invited artists and researchers from the Canadian and International media arts community.

Call for projects, proposals, presentations and performances
Artists and media artwork selected for The New Forms Festival should manifest multiple themes, mediums, and modes of expression, exploring a distinct genre.

Works selected will fall into the following categories:

• Alternatives in narrative, digital cinema and video;
• Post-digital and electronic sound art and music;
• Net art;
• Performance art, installation and technologies;
• Immersive and online environments;
• Electronic gaming art;
• 3D animation;
• Artificial reality art and installation;
• Sensor technologies and telematics.

Some genres should explore collaborative and improvisational components or "live" artworks, created for the festival.

The festival also encourages artworks that are process-oriented, continually evolving and in transformation, which are facilitated through technological and ideological means.

Festival Sub-themes:

(a) New ! directions in digital cinema and video
(b) Sound art, audio and music innovations
(c) Technology-based performance art and
(d) Other new inventions in arts and technology convergence.

We ask artists/researchers to demonstrate the following:
A strong portfolio of media arts pieces that demonstrate their ability and involvement in the new media arts community.

• Computer knowledge;
• Basic knowledge of digital video processing;
• Strong artistic quality;

• Interest in the themes of the festival.
  

We offer:
Some computer and tech facilities, technical and organizational assistance, presentation space, international dissemination of the work via the Internet, participation in presentations and panels, in some case a performance.

PROPOSALS:
Artists, scholars, developers and practitioners working in New Media Art are invited to submit proposals for projects, performances, presentations, papers and panels by February 15, 2003.

All contributions will be reviewed by the festival curatorial committee and those chosen will be contacted by March 15, 2003.

PROJECTS, PERFORMANCES, AND PRESENTATIONS:
Proposal description must be no longer than 500 words and should include:

• A description of conceptual content and technical issues;
• A brief description of your activities or an artist biography, with documentation and a portfolio of your previous projects;
• A detailed CV or CVs (note that the CVs are not counted as part of the 500 word limit);
• A brief description of your project and its implementation;
• A brief description of the people or partners involved in your project/paper;
• A time schedule: description of the work that has to be done and whether it can be done on site or will be done ! ahead of time;
• Equipment list, including production materials and supplies needed;
• A description of technical and organizational assistance needed;
• A list of production materials and supplies needed; accompanying collaborators (technician, programmer, performer); documentation (video or audio recording).
• All proposals must be written in English.

PAPERS:
Papers are presentations that reflect any of the festival themes. Proposals for papers must be no longer than 500 words and should give the curatorial committee an indication of your major argument or arguments, and your theoretical approach to one of the festival themes.

PANELS:
Panels are themed discussions that concentrate on any of the conference themes. Panels are to consist of a position statement (that may or may not be collectively authored) that panel members respond and contribute to, related to festival themes. Panel proposals ought to include a draft position statement (maximum of 500 words). Panels are expected to make a constructive and original contribution to debate and ideas related to New Media art and research.

Paper and panel submissions must be completed and submitted by February 15, 2003 consideration. All accepted work will be published in a full festival catalogue and proceedings.

Invited applicants will then be asked to write a full paper, panel proposal, or presentation description for review by the festival curatorial committee. Only complete project proposals, papers, panel submissions and presentation descriptions will be considered for acceptance.

SUPPORT MATERIAL:
Please include an example of past works, such as:

• A maximum of one videotape (VHS format), or
• One audio tape, or
• 10 slides or photographs, or
• One CD-ROM or DVD-ROM (for PC), or
• A URL (specify which aspect to examine).

You may also send in one item of support material related to the project for the festival. Don't send more than two items.

Include the title of the work, the author, the applicant's role, the medium, the format, the length, the completion date, and a brief explanation of the content with your support material. Proposals that do not include support material are automatically rejected. (See the sections below.)

Model for presenting your support material:
Please send a short description (100 words maximum) of the two items of support material.

PROJECT
Title: My work
Applicant's role: Performer, composer, programmer, etc.
Production medium: film
Format: VHS, CDROM, etc.
Running time: 15 minutes
Completion date: 2001
Track number! or segment: 3
Explanation: a short description of the excerpt in relation to the proposal (50 words maximum).

Please note that:

• Applications must be typewritten. Handwritten or incomplete applications are not accepted;
• Only submissions written in English are considered;
• Only one submission per individual is accepted each year.

THE SELECTION PROCESS:
STAGE 1
After receiving the proposals, individual New Forms Festival curators will evaluate them and determine which will move on to the second stage. The selection is based on the criteria listed below and the eligibility criteria mentioned earlier. Within one to two months after the application! deadline, all applicants will be notified whether their proposal was selected to be presented at the festival. Selected applicants may be asked to send in additional information if necessary.

STAGE 2
In the second stage, a committee of all New Forms Festival curators and some local experts will then evaluate the selected projects. This committee will be made up of specialists in the artistic and technological disciplines and themes of the festival and in the projects under consideration. New Forms Festival curators may occasionally call on independent evaluators to assess specific aspects of certain projects.

Committee evaluations and the curators' decisions are based on these criteria:

• The project's potential or significance;
• The project's relevance to the mission and values of the New Forms Media Society;
• The benefit to the artists, the community, the audience/participants of the festival, and the specific artistic milieu the project takes place within;
• The project's contribution to advancing art and knowledge in areas of interest to the New Forms Festival curators and the New Forms Media Society.

Any decisions by the New Forms Festival curators and the selection committee are at their absolute discretion and are final.

Candidates at stage two can expect an answer two to three months after submitting their initial application.

SUPPORT MATERIAL:
Audiovisual, photographic and written documents will not be returned to applicants after the evaluation process unless without a self-addressed stamped envelope included in the initial proposal. New Forms Festival policy is to protect the copyright of artists and other copyright owners and to prevent any unauthorized copies from being made. Any other use of these documents is subject to a specific agreement with the copyright owner. ! New Forms Festival is also committed to protecting the personal and confidential information you provide, such as mailing and e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

SENDING DOCUMENTS
New Forms Festival will not send back any material without a self-addressed stamped envelope. You are responsible for including this envelope with your original application. For return shipment, note the following:

• New Forms Festival accepts a completed waybill from a courier service (such as Fedex or UPS);
• If you live outside Canada, consider using a courier service or international reply coupons (available at the local post office);
• Do not affix local postage to the self-addressed envelope if you live outside Canada;
• Do not send personal cheques to cover the return postage.

New Forms Festival will not pay any customs duty on couriered submissions (Fedex, UPS, etc.) and will automatically reject any such packages. Therefore, be sure to check the box indicating who will be charged for customs duty. If this box has not been checked, the Foundation will be charged and your package refused.

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS:
Be sure to include your proposal information with your electronic submission.

E-MAIL OR FTP:

NOTE THAT IF YOU E-MAIL YOUR PROPOSAL, YOU DON'T NEED TO MAIL A HARD COPY. HOWEVER, YOU MAY E-MAIL THE TEXT AND THEN MAIL OR COURIER YOUR SUPPORT MATERIAL.

OTHER ELECTRONIC FORMATS
The New Forms Festival accepts support material in most, if not all, electronic formats, including Macintosh files. However, for the text portion of your proposal, we accept only paper submissions (sent by regular mail or courier) or e-mail submissions. We can also receive a support version of your proposal on CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, diskette, Zip disk, or other such formats.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
All proposals for projects, performance, papers, presentations and panels must be submitted to:

New Forms Media Society, New Form! s Festival 2003
Camille Baker, Interactive Conference Director/Lead Curator
#1202- 207 West Hastings Street Vancouver, BC V6B 1H7
http://www.newformsfestival.com
604-648-2753

Canku Ota is a copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 of Vicki Lockard and Paul Barry.

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