Native America Calling

Artists from hundreds of Native nations are tending to their booths in the streets of Santa Fe, selling works they’ve labored for months to prepare. SWAIA’s Santa Fe Indian Market has come a long way in 100 years. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce is live from Indian Market for a second day with Dr. Suzanne Newman Fricke, director of Gallery Hózhó at Hotel Chaco; Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee), Institute of American Indian Arts president, to get a feel for what’s in store for the next century; Amber Dawn Bear Robe (Siksika Nation), Indigenous Fashion Show producer for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts and art history professor at the Institute for American Indian Arts; Dr. Jessica Metcalfe (Turtle Mountain Chippewa), owner of Beyond Buckskin; and Kristin Gentry (Choctaw), artist, photographer, writer, and curator.

It survived the Termination Era, The Depression, a World War, and, most recently, a pandemic. The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts marks the 100th Santa Fe Indian Market, a place to buy works directly from artists, to experience the creative vision of Native designers, and watch films by Indigenous filmmakers.

Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce is live from the Market to get a rundown of this year’s schedule and reflect on the evolution of this major achievement of Native creativity and commerce with Cindy Benitez, program manager for the Native Cinema Showcase by the National Museum of the American Indian; film director Fritz Bitsoie (Diné);Stephine Poston (Pueblo of Sandia), board chair for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts; and Leah Salgado (Pascua Yaqui), Chief Impact Officer for Illuminative.

A federal court ruling has implications for Southeast Alaska commercial salmon fishing. The ruling says federal fisheries officials neglected to consider dwindling orca populations when approving Chinook salmon harvests. At the same time, tribes in the Pacific Northwest are putting additional pressure on federal officials to come up with a sustainable plan for endangered salmon in the Snake River system. Wednesday on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce gets updates on trouble spots for salmon with Bob Chamberlin (Kwikwasut'inuxw Haxwa'mis), chair of the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance and previous vice president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs; Michael Orcutt (Hupa), fisheries department director for the Hoopa Valley Tribe; and Olivia Ebertz, KYUK news reporter.

During his peak, Elvis Presley’s appeal crossed cultural boundaries. His profound popularity continues to resonate with many Native Americans, including a handful who are Elvis tribute artists and a hilarious Elvis reference in the hit series Dark Winds. On the anniversary of his death in 1977, Shawn Spruce checks in with Elvis fans about what the King of Rock and Roll means to them these many years later and speak with Gerry “Ojibwe Elvis” Barrett (Saugeen First Nation), musician, stand-up comedian, veteran radio personality, and Elvis tribute artist; Donovin Sprague (Cheyenne River Sioux), professor of history at Sheridan College, musician, and Elvis aficionado; Michael Loman aka NDN Elvis (Choctaw); and in a pre-recorded conversation due to his Australian time zone, Elvis tribute artist Len Connolly (Wiraadjuri).

With some success, Native Americans have fought hard to have their voices heard in the narratives about them by predominantly non-Native sources. Those gains are under assault by a new surge of efforts to ban books by Native authors and other works that challenge colonial conventional wisdom. Monday on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce gets a sampling of books that well-meaning parents, administrators, and policy-makers want to keep off of school reading lists and public spaces with Dr. Debbie Reese (Nambe Pueblo), founder of American Indians in Children’s Literature blog; Kevin Maillard (Seminole), author and professor of Law at Syracuse University; Mandi Harris (Cherokee), a children's librarian and PhD student in Information Science at the University of Washington; and Lynette Dial (Lumbee), a library supervisor for Hoke County Library.

The fragile-looking Monarch butterfly possesses a strength and resilience that allows it to survive a migration that covers thousands of miles through the heart of the country. That resilience is now put to the test, as habitat destruction and climate change have made it necessary to officially list the insect’s status as "endangered". Tribes are among those helping to protect Monarchs, for both cultural and environmental reasons. Friday on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce speaks with Jane Breckinridge (Muscogee Creek Nation and Yuchi), director of the Tribal Environmental Action for Monarchs (TEAM); artist and designer Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota); Melanie Kirby, extension educator at the Institute for American Indian Arts (IAIA); and Kevin Pourier (Oglala Lakota), a buffalo horn artist.

For the first time in a century, Native people have a voice in how a massive collection of pottery is treated. That voice is represented in the new exhibition, “Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery” at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. The exhibition gets perspectives from Native artists, storytellers, political leaders, and others on a representative sample from the collection. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce hears from organizers and guest curators of the exhibition as they express their personal and cultural connections to the pieces with Tony Chavarria (Santa Clara Pueblo), curator of ethnology at the Museum of American Indian Arts; contemporary and traditional potter Josephine "Josie" Kie (Laguna Pueblo); Tara Gatewood (Isleta Pueblo), director with the International Women's Media Foundation, curator with the Grounded in Clay project, and longtime host and producer of Native America Calling; and Elysia Poon, Indian Arts Research Center Director at the School for Advanced Research.

A film crew follows an Inuit and Gwich’in hunter as he builds a traditional Inuvialuit log cabin off the grid in the new documentary “Okpik: Little Village in the Arctic”. Those behind the film wanted to highlight an example of creating housing security with traditional methods and values at the forefront. The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light the severity of the housing crisis in Indigenous communities in the Arctic, including Canada and Alaska. Climate change, rural locations, and underfunding of housing programs only exacerbates the problem. Wednesday on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce talks with filmmaker and singer Tiffany Ayalik (Inuit) and Kylik Kisoun Taylor (Inuvialuit), who is featured in the documentary, about the challenges and solutions.

The newest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention paint a distressing increase in the number of overdose deaths among Native Americans. It shows Native fatalities rose 39% from 2019 to 2020. That far outpaces the increase for the population as a whole. Also, an investigative report looks into alcohol-related fatalities in the state of New Mexico and finds that, while disproportionately high, the number for Native populations is not the main driving force in the overall problem. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce talks with Heather Benjamin (Ojibwe), Indian Health Board’s opioid intervention and prevention health educator; Dr. Spero Manson (Pembina Chippewa), Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health director at the University of Colorado Medical Campus; and independent journalist Ted Alcorn.

A group of Native tennis enthusiasts formed their own organization 50 years ago and it’s grown into a collection of competitions, youth tennis camps and regular recreational meet-ups. The North American Indian Tennis Association holds an annual tournament Memorial Day weekend. It’s all aimed toward improving people’s skills and fostering interest among Native players. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce talks with Lee Maytubby (Chickasaw), North American Indian Tennis Association Tournament director; Jessica Redcorn (Osage), United States Tennis Association Player and co-organizer for the North American Indian Tennis Association Tournament; and Tony Mulligan (Chickasaw), tennis player and co-organizer for the North American Indian Tennis Association Tournament.