Eyapaha
The Institute's
goal is to speak out to address racism, discrimination, depredation and genocide
of Indigenous Peoples the world over through the development, production and
distribution of audio visual and multi-media entertainment products grounded in
American Indian culture and tradition, with a strong emphasis on historical
documentation, oral tradition and language recovery, education and grass roots
community development, health and wellness.
OYATE WECHAHO -- PEOPLE'S VOICE LIVING ARCHIVE
The following words are an excerpt lifted directly from, the
website of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Museum.
In 1994, after filming Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg established Survivors
of the Shoah Visual History Foundation with an urgent mission: to chronicle,
before it was too late, the firsthand accounts of survivors, liberators,
rescuers, and other eyewitnesses of the Holocaust.
Recording more than 50,000 unedited testimonies, the largest undertaking of its
kind, the Shoah Foundation launched its mission to create a multimedia Archive
to be used as an educational and research tool. The Archive is comprised of
200,000-plus videotapes filled with more than 100,000 hours of testimony…
With the world’s largest collection of digitized video testimonies, the
Foundation is developing new and innovative ways of disseminating this
information to promote tolerance and cultural understanding. The Shoah
Foundation is cataloguing its Archive and creating a technological
infrastructure that will allow researchers, educators, students, and others
instant access to specific information contained within the tens of thousands of
hours of testimony…
There is no reason that Indigenous Peoples of the Americas deserve anything
less.
Eyapaha Institute with the help of Red Crow Creations, through Job-Linkage and
Community and Facility Development mandates, will seek corporate and private
501(c)(3) funding for the establishment of a Living Archive/Museum/Cultural
Center dedicated to the American Indian and the Indigenous Peoples of the
Americas:
OYATE WECHAHO - PEOPLE’S VOICE FOUNDATION
State-of-the-Art multi-media Archive & Language Retrieval Program
Internet Website and cross-platform computerized library and database
Extermination Museum, Cultural Center & Conference facility.
Again, quoting from the Shoah Foundation website:
This Archive is made possible by a culturally, ethnically, and religiously
diverse group of professionals — more than 3,500 interviewers, 1,000
videographers, 4,000 volunteers, 2,000 community leaders and other
representatives, and 240 staff members… Their work will ensure that the voices
of more than 50,000 Holocaust survivors and witnesses will speak to people
around the world for generations to come.
Not only will there be site-specific job opportunities created in the Los
Angeles facility, but throughout “Indian Country” the employment and training opportunities are phenomenal. The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas continue to
struggle for their families, their language, their culture and far too often,
the very right to exist. OYATE WACHAHO, The People’s Voice Living Archive, will
make the difference. Never will this happen again!
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SCIC LA JOB TRAINING PARTNERSHIP
On March 24, the Eyapaha Institute, Red Crow Creations, The Southern California
Indian Center, Inc. (SCIC) and Southern California Indian Centers Los Angeles,
Inc. (SCICLA) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to specifically address
job training and economic development in the Southern California area.
The following is taken from the Eyapaha Institute, Red Crow Creations, SCIC and
SCICLA statement of purpose:
to create job training programs and employment opportunities for American
Indians in the entertainment and multi-media industry through the
development of
productions and programs related to history, oral tradition, language recovery,
cultural preservation and wellness.
SCIC is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit community based organization, incorporated in
1968 to create, develop and implement programs and services for American
Indians, Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiians that will promote social and
economic self-sufficiency. SCICLA is a community and economic development center
subsidiary of SCIC.
SCIC currently oversees more than 15 projects and programs: child services
-foster care - tobacco education - health & wellness - senior citizen -
department of labor training and job placement - family violence - preservation
of cultural and sacred sites. Funding organizations include, but not limited to:
Johnson O’Malley - State of CA Dept. of Education, Dept. of Children Svcs,
Office of Criminal Justice – U.S Dept. of Labor – Parson’s Foundation – Ahmanson
Foundation – Interethnic Children’s Council.
Chuck Banner will act as project director for the development of the “prototype”
curriculum – a quick immersion training program into digital television production based in documentary and reality television. Students will study the
television broadcast signal, primary equipment systems and computer basic
training, pre-production, field production and post production, including
high-end graphics, sound design, on-line editing and versioning. A significant
part of the curriculum will focus on the future delivery system of all
entertainment and multi-media: the Internet.
Through hands-on experience, particularly in the area of digital post-production
and mastering, students will gain the necessary tools for entry level jobs in
various sectors of the entertainment industry, as well as be able to identify
specific areas of interest for additional schooling and training in affiliated
Community College programs and workforce development services. The course will
also spend time analyzing contemporary trends and tracking current industry
news.
The program will also focus on the design, purchase and assembly of prototype
training/production packages:
• 6mm Digital DVCam two-camera package with pro-audio component
• Audio/video inter-format dub facility and logging/vault center
• Non-Linear Editing
• Resolution Independent Graphic Work Stations
The packages will be designed specifically for “uniform” installation, ease of
operation, “Anvil-cased” durability and cost control, working with a reputable
3rd party broadcast systems integrator. Working prototypes will be assembled for
use in the SCIC pilot program. Once “debugged,” the packages will become the
technical systems “start-up” for Indian Centers and tribal groups around the
country implementing the training program. Further, the systems will be designed
to function not only as training centers but as on-going professional service
centers for the tribe as well.
Digital Revolution of Santa Monica, a film and television post production
graphics and internet technologies facility, is the first private sector
facility to join in the preliminary design phase of the prototype curriculum.
According to owner, Jim Furlong, students will be introduced to cutting edge
technologies, such as Smoke, Flame, Henry, AVID Symphony and the new resolution
independent technologies like “Combustion,” soon to be released at NAB this
year. After a hands on introduction at Digital Revolution, graphic artists from
Digital Revolution will participate as lecturers in the SCIC classroom, as well
as work one on one with students on high end graphic work stations supplied by
the SCIC training program.
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SHUNKA WAKAN OYATE
RAISE-A-HORSE PROJECT
In Lakota, SHUNKA WAKAN OYATE means “Horse Culture.” Eyapaha Institute has
created the Raise-a-Horse Project to benefit urban and reservation Indian youth
wellness. The Raise-a-Horse Project will begin on existing rancherias in
California Indian communities. Two wranglers and a horse trailer with two horses
will travel throughout the state spending three days at Indian community schools
working with students in an after-school program.
Long range plans include the purchasing of land and building its own facilities.
These ranches will have full-time experienced wranglers and ranch hands to care
for the horses and maintain the stables. On weekends youths will come and not
only learn how to care and feed a horse, but will be educated in the traditional
horse culture of the American Indian.
In addition to learning everything about the care and well being of raising a
horse, children will learn the related historical and cultural athletic events
unique to American Indians. They will learn to ride using a saddle, as well as
the traditional Indian bareback way. While riding bareback, youths will learn
how to lay down a horse and get back up from a laying position. They will learn
various traditional Indian relays, races and skills using the horse. Once
learned, these skills will be used to hold competitions or "Indian Riding
Olympics" instilling pride and accomplishment among the participants.
Eyapaha Institute's job-linkage strategy will be evident in the Raise-a-Horse
project. Future employment on the Raise-a-Horse ranches will be an option for
some students. In addition, these educational and training opportunities will
also enable them to apply to college and university veterinary programs.
Historically, the horse has been an integral part of American Indian life. In
today's world, learning to care for a horse as well as ride one would be of
great benefit to Indian youth. In addition to presenting many challenges, owning
or caring for a horse teaches children how to work with others, to take
responsibility for someone other than themselves, and learn discipline as well
as love. These attributes are essential for being successful in family life, the
workplace, and the community. These projects are community-driven strategies
that will reduce the socio-economic barriers to improved health for American
Indians.
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DIABETES AND CHRONIC DISEASE RESEARCH PROJECT
Working with the Indian Health Services clinic on the Sycuan Indian Reservation
near San Diego, Eyapaha Institute is in the planning stages for a 2001 launch of
a pilot health study on Diabetes and chronic illnesses. The program will track
the effectiveness of alternative plant remedies for all chronic illness,
primarily targeting diabetes, a disease that effects close to 70% of all Indian
adults in this country.
Due to the isolation of reservations, radical change in diet from traditional
food sources and the “residual extermination” diet from the long standing
influence of government commodity foods, such as sugar, white flour and rice,
American Indian populations experience the highest diabetes incidence in
America.
The pilot program will focus on neutrasutical and glyconutritional food
supplements -- natural plant food supplements. Eyapaha Institute is working with
Mannatech Incorporated, a natural food supplement distributor, to supply the
various food products to be used in the study one year study that will be
conducted by the Fischer Institute, a national independent medical research
organization.
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Copyright © 2000