Indian Arts Institute Needs Help
If there is a place on earth as beautiful as the mountains, hills and valleys around this city, I am hard pressed to remember it. Even the city itself is as no other.
There is a quiet little college called the Institute of American Indian Arts, located on the campus of the College of Santa Fe. It is trying to raise money to build its own campus on recently donated lands.
Dr. Perry Horse, the school’s president, is an old friend. In his office we reminisced about old, mutual friends like Bill Roberts, Butch Artichoker, Gerald Clifford and Birgil Kills Straight, educators who led the battle to build strong, independent Indian-controlled colleges on reservations from Canada to Arizona.
Dr. Horse was right in the thick of that early battle.
The institute lost a huge chunk of its federal funding through the recent budget cuts. It seems that art and creative writing, and the institutions and organizations that support them, are not so important in America anymore.
The Republican “Contract With America” seems to espouse that if you can’t eat it, spend it, invest it or put it in the bank, it is no longer necessary. Things aesthetic no longer have value. The beauty of art is not something you can take to market.
As I have traveled across this great land, I have stopped in so many places where the austerity of the interior of a building is brightened by a work of art.
Many statues and paintings bear the names of graduates of IAIA, a school founded in 1962 on the campus of the old Santa Fe Indian School to give Indian students from all of the reservations in America an opportunity to hone their skills as artists and crafts people and then to go out across the land and bring beauty to it.
Thirty-nine job positions went by the wayside this semester at IAIA. “It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life,” said Dr. Horse.
“But I have always believed that this school had to survive, and I and my staff had to do whatever it took to ensure that we would continue to provide the opportunities for the Indian people to take the skills inherent in them and give them a chance to excel, and this school has proven it can do that job.”
The nearly thankless job of seeing this dream continue has fallen on the shoulders of Horse and his fund-raiser, Della C. Warrior. They are planning a huge benefit art sale at the school’s museum in the Santa Fe Square on Dec. 8.
Some of the art, crafts and sculptures by present and past students will be up for sale.
When I spoke to the students, who represent 72 different Indian tribes, I was impressed with their sincerity and dedication. They knew they had come to the school during the toughest of times, but their sense of humor and shining optimism was still there.
They had placed their trust in Horse, Warrior and the fine and dedicated staff.
If there are any tribal leaders with successful gaming casinos reading this column, call Della Warrior. She’ll be happy to come and visit and tell you all about the college.
In the nearly 18 years I have been writing this column, seldom have I used it to try to raise funds for anyone or any institution. But I see the need for this extraordinary college.
If we cannot find a place to educate those gifted children who have been denied so much in their lifetimes, if we cannot continue to believe that art is an important part of life, where is this nation headed?
There are some real fighters on the staff of IAIA fighters because they believe so strongly in what they are doing. There isn’t the hint of doubt in their minds.
I cannot help but sympathize with Horse. He had to make some hard decisions in laying off people. This is never a popular thing to do, especially when it involves Indian people because so many are related and so many tribes will fight for their own.
I ask you to call Della C. Warrior at (800) 804-6423 and ask how you can help this college survive. You can also send donations to: IAIA Foundation, P.O. Box 22370, Santa Fe, NM, 87502-9965.
If you want to visit one of the most beautiful spots on earth on Dec. 8, call Warrior and get yourself an invitation to her fund-raising benefit art sale. The art to be offered and the art that will be on display in the museum are more than worth the trip.
Art is the living history of a culture and of a people. This is what the Institute of American Indian Arts is to the 555 federally recognized tribes of America.
See you in Santa Fe on Dec. 8. I intend to do what I can to keep this college open. Join me.
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