Nibezun Receives $30K to Support Wabanaki Arts
Passadumkeag, ME – The Wabanaki Cultural Preservation Coalition (D/B/A Nibezun) has been approved for a $30,000 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support the continuation of Wabanaki traditional arts practices.
This project will provide funding for eight experienced Wabanaki traditional artists to pass on skills to students within their communities through the Wabanaki Traditional Arts Mentorship Program. Nibezun’s project is among 1,130 projects across the country, totaling more than $31 million, that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2023 funding.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is pleased to support a wide range of projects, including Nibezun, demonstrating the many ways the arts enrich our lives and contribute to healthy and thriving communities,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “These organizations play an important role in advancing the creative vitality of our nation and helping to ensure that all people can benefit from arts, culture, and design.”
“Wabanaki people have been living in and creating beauty since Koluskap shot his arrow into the brown ash tree and we emerged from the opening left behind,” said co-director Frances Soctomah who is an artist and citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkomikuk. “Our traditional arts are extensions of ourselves and our connection to Mother Earth. To create them requires intimate relationships with our homelands and our plant and animal relatives. We are grateful to the NEA for providing funding to support us in our work and to members of the Wabanaki community who ensure our traditional teachings are available to living and future generations.”
A brown ash basket made by Kira Neptune (Passamaquoddy). Kira was part of the program in 2020, learning from Peter Neptune (Passamaquoddy).
About the Program
Wabanaki Traditional Arts Mentorship Program was developed to support the continuation of Wabanaki traditional arts practices, providing teaching opportunities for experienced mentors to pass on their skills to qualified students of their choice. Up to $3,000 is available for teaching fees, supplies and travel costs. Mentors are tribal members who are expert in a particular tradition, craft or technique and are recognized by the Wabanaki community as exemplary practitioners and keepers of cultural knowledge. Mentors and students apply to the program together to work on a one-on-one instructional basis over the course of one year.
For more information, visit www.wabanakimentor.org.