Lloyd H. New
The Institute of American Indian Arts is a new national school for Indian youth founded in the Fall of 1962 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It offers an accredited high school program with arts electives, and a post high vocational arts program as preparation for colleges and technical schools and employment in arts-related vocations.
In the beginning of its sixth school year, it now caters to the educational needs of approximately 350 young Indian People. This student body, made up of members from all over the States, ranging geographically from Alaska to Florida, represents 88 Tribes.
By providing adequate tools, professional leadership, freedom for exploration in various fields of art, and freedom of artistic expression, our Government makes a unique contribution to the social and economic betterment of the Indian population of this country.
At the Institute, emphasis is given to Indian traditions as a basis for creative expressions in sculpture, painting, the written arts, and the performing arts (drama, music and dance). It also offers learning opportunities in metal crafts (jewelry, casting, and hollow ware), ceramics, woven and printed textiles, various traditional crafts, and museum techniques.
The approach used, stressing cultural roots as a basis for individual creativity, is unique and may prove highly significant and timely in our national involvement with problems of Minority Group status. As a result of the Institute's heritage-centered approach, students discover who they are and what it is they have to say to the world, and develop the self-respect and self-confidence necessary to expression.
Indians in this country have, with rare exceptions, clung steadfastly to traditional Indian ways for over 400 years, in spite of various pressures exerted toward the depletion of the values of their cultural differences. Still tenacious in maintaining their own culture, the past few years have seen American Indians plunged into economic, social and cultural chaos. Prior to this, centuries-old practices and beliefs—however different—served Indian Tribal Groups more or less adequately.
Since World War II, even the most conservative and self-sufficient Tribes have not escaped cultural changes of a traumatic nature. These rapid changes in Indian patterns have produced a generation of confused and insecure youth.
Many Indians of today find themselves in a psychological no man's land as a result of the impact of the dominant culture on Indian values. Most young Indian People now share similar (but often inferior) educational experiences with the typical teenager of today. They no longer wear the tribal costume and speak the common [tribal] language. They, too, are victims of television and followers of the latest fad. They have all the problems common to
the youth of the country and, in addition, the special problems of making satisfactory psychological reconciliations between the mores of two cultures.
Theirs is the task of utilizing all that is good in their Indian heritage as a means of strengthening their position in contemporary society. They need assistance in recognizing the values for today within their traditions and in discovering residuals of cultural greatness within themselves.
To be Indian all too often connotes a grievously poor socioeconomic status in terms of today's standards. As the Indian youth contemplates his immediate position, he has difficulty in finding anything about Indian ways of which he can be proud. Because his life is so different fromthat of his parents, he is estranged from them and lacks the guidance and comfort afforded by normal family relationships. Stripped to self-lessness, he stands a victim of the demoralization inherent in family and cultural breakdown.
Desolate, he mistakenly equates the results of cultural breakdown and confusion with the simple fact that he is Indian. Erroneously he concludes that he must justify himself in some overly defensive way.
He, all too often, takes refuge in Indianism. He lives in a segregated and chauvinistic atmosphere, savagely defends his difference and shuts his eyes to the faults, the limitations and the deteriorated forms of the "good old ways." He clings to the fetishes of his grandfathers, and the natural dynamism innate in a healthy culture comes to a stop.
Individuals and whole Tribes withdraw and cease to adjust to the times. In a vicious cycle suspicion, distrust, and reactionary behavior are compounded and result in all manner of human problems. Thereupon epithets arise: Indians are lazy, unaggressive, resentful, uncooperative, withdrawn, ungrateful, aimless. Very often they are all of these, but for good reason.
However understandable the causes, many Indian People find themselves smothering under a blanket woven of despair and hopelessness. For some, this despair takes the form of utter resignation: IF THIS IS MY PLIGHT, THEN SO WILL I LIVE. Many who counsel with Indians are familiar with the self-dubbed, "I'm just an Indian," meaning, "What's the use?" With such afflictions ever at hand, it is small wonder that the Indian often resorts to alcoholism and other escape devices. He must find release, at least momentarily, from the fetters imposed on him by an environment inimical to his Indianness.
The foregoing description applies, of course, only to the Indian in conflict. Sadly, however, he appears throughout Indian history and in almost every group. In some instances, entire tribal regions are afflicted, resulting in serious social traumas. On the other hand, some groups still maintain Indian ways that provide a stable background for youth development and normal, orderly acculturation.
its program around the special psychological position of the individual and his identification with his Indian culture. The basic task of the school is to develop specialized techniques for assisting heretofore neglected Indian young People to enter contemporary society with poise and confidence.
The Institute believes that cultural differences are good. It operates on the premise that, by linking the best in Indian culture to contemporary life, young Indian People can find new levels of pride and achievement growing out of their own heritage.
To the extent that these ends are realized, the program at the Institute may well become the prototype of educational procedures structured on the enduring values within minority cultures. This program may prove to be a practical vehicle for superior approaches to cultural integration within the nation and between nations.
All students at the Institute are exposed to the beauties of Indian art of the past and of the present. They view exhibitions, listen to lectures on the archaeology and ethnology of Indian cultures, and study the accomplishments of contemporary groups. They are encouraged to identify with their total heritage, harking back to the classical periods of South and Central American cultures—heydays of artistic prowess in the New World.
To be aware of himself as a member of a race tremendously rich in architecture, the fine arts, music, pageantry and the humanities, gives the young Indian identification with cultural accomplishments of the highest order. It is gratifying indeed, to witness the first glow of pure pride felt by an Indian youth who has accepted this identification.
The Indian artist who draws on his own tradition to evolve new art forms contributes uniquely to the general culture. He also gains an awareness of the creative artist as an important influence in the fundamentals of human interaction. He senses a personal need for contributing Indian forms and flavors to the beauty of the general environment. He learns to set standards for himself in his role of creative artist and to evolve personal criteria for both his work and his conduct within the art world. He learns to stand on his own feet, avoiding stultifying clichés often applied to Indian art by the purist who may unwittingly resent evolution in Indian art forms, techniques and technology.
It should be made clear that the Institute does not ram anyone's culture down his throat. It does, in an atmosphere of appreciation, acquaint each Indian student with his own traditions and encourage his using these as a springboard for personal creative action. The injunction is never, "Go back" to outmoded tradition. Rather, it is the purpose of the Institute to help students take a firm, realistic stance from which they can step out in creative action that may lead into new traditions. The Institute assumes that the future of Indian art lies in the Indian artist's ability to adapt to the demands of the present, not to remanipulate the past.
A look at students' response to date happily vindicates these premises and ideals. Art critics of stature are excited by the quantity and quality of work coming from all studios of the Institute, even in these beginning years of the school's development. Design and craftsmanship reflect classic standards in sculpture, painting and the various crafts. Poetry
and prose reveal new sources for richness and beauty in the written arts. Early achievements in drama and music promise entirely fresh developments in Indian performing arts.
Impressive as are these results in terms of the level of artistic accomplishments, the real value of the program lies in the personal growth of the student himself, and in his recognition of the fact that such growth has taken place.
The student body is made up of youths ranging in age from 15-22. Most of these arrive feeling insecure about their place in a bicultural world. They are beset with misunderstandings regarding color and race, and are stung by memories of discrimination. Many feel trapped at a low socio-economic level. They are lost in a labyrinth of identity search. They are caught in a maelstrom of cultural and social conflict.
Among these arriving students are the revolutionists, the nonconformists and the unacademically oriented. They have always found themselves disassociated from the common goals set for them in the typical school program. In common with all creative people, they have a need for seeking out new ways of saying and doing. They must explore personal and creative approaches to problem solving. They, by nature, reject and are rejected by the programmed school, tailored to wholesale production of scientists and tradesmen.
Sent, willy-nilly, to such a school, the young Indian is more than likely slated to join the growing ranks of the nation's dropouts. As frequently proven by surveys of the creatively endowed, these so-called misfits make major contributions to humanity and properly indict the rigid school systems which categorically exclude them.
In summary, the Institute of American Indian Arts is embarked upon an exploratory program, with many steps yet to be taken. Early outcomes are indicative of significant discoveries in education. The Indian student is being inspired to new personal strengths in dimensions heretofore unrealized. Oriented to his own cultural background, he is not forced to sacrifice his Indian nature and heritage on the altars of either withdrawal or assimilation. He is enabled to function wholly and happily, making a proud, personal contribution to his time and his world.