Author: CIBA Admin

whAT OUR BOARD MEMBERS HAVE BEEN UP TO

“First Nations Introduces 2021 Cohort for the Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellowship

13 Native Leaders Selected for their Passion and Ingenuity in Perpetuating Indigenous Knowledge and Strengthening Native Communities

LONGMONT, Colo. (June 3, 2021) – First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) and The Henry Luce Foundation (Luce) announced the continuation of the Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellowship with the selection of 13 new Fellows for the 2021 Cohort – each one chosen for their work in their knowledge fields, as well as their contribution to this growing Fellowship, which was created in 2019 to honor and support intellectual Native leaders.”

In reference to the hard work one of CIBA’s board members has been doing for many years, she has been recognized and was among the 13 chosen applicants! Congratulations to Jennifer Malone on her Fellowship!

Jennifer Malone, Wukchumni
Knowledge Field: Wukchumni Cultural Consultant
Jennifer and her mother are among the last remaining speakers of the Wukchumni language, and their professional and personal lives are dedicated to ensuring their language, people, and understandings of the world continue. In line with this, Jennifer will create a series of videos. One will show young Wukchumni people teaching traditional lessons around language, land skills, and traditional stories. Another video will share the story of the Wukchumni people from genocide to termination and the land theft. This Wukchumni story will be one for all tribes in the country to strengthen their commitment to status, tribal lands, and their future.”

CIBA RECEIVES GRANT AWARD FROM CALIFORNIA HUMANITIES

California Humanities has recently announced the 2020 Humanities for All Project Grant awards. CIBA is proud to announce that our organization has been awarded a grant of $15,000 for its project entitled “The K.N.O.T (Knowledge to Nurture our Traditions.”

The Humanities for All Project Grant is a competitive grant program of California Humanities which supports locally-developed projects that respond to the needs, interests, and concerns of Californians, provide accessible learning experiences for the public, and promote understanding among our state’s diverse population.

The Knowledge to Nurture Our Traditions (The K.N.O.T) Program is designed to increase basketweaving knowledge in the California Indian community, with an emphasis on connecting tribal youth to cultural bearers and increase public appreciation, knowledge, and support for California Indian basket weavers. The program format will include six intergenerational basketweaving workshops and two panel presentations with master level, elder basketweavers, and culture bearers from Southern, Central, and Northern California tribal populations.

“These projects will bring the complexity and diversity of California to light in new ways that will engage Californians from every part of our state, and will help us all understand each other better,” said Julie Fry, President & CEO of California Humanities. “We congratulate these grantees whose projects will promote understanding and provide insight into a wide range of topics, issues, and experiences.”

California Humanities promotes the humanities – focused on ideas, conversation, and learning – as relevant, meaningful ways to understand the human condition and connect us to each other in order to help strengthen California. California Humanities has provided grants and programs across the state since 1975. To learn more visit http://www.calhum.org, or follow California Humanities on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Our CIBA Chairperson, Carrie Garcia (Luiseno) narrates what our basketweaving practices mean to our California Indian weavers and several of our members share what being a basketweaving teacher and cultural bearer means to them. Viewers are treated to what a basketweavers gathering looks like; including our culture, connection, and community.

Arts Showcase – California Indian Basketweavers Gathering

Each week, our office receives calls from interested parties who are looking for California Indian basketweavers to weave baskets for them, help them identify a basket, teach and/or demonstrate their basketry, and present on area specific, tribal cultural history.

In the past, CIBA had created and printed a “Resource Directory” of CIBA members who were open to being contacted in relation to these type of inquiries. CIBA will be working on creating an updated 2020 California Indian Basketweavers’ Resource Directory and as such, we are currently seeking members who would like to be added to the directory.

If you or someone you know might be interested in becoming a part of the directory, please click on the following link: californiaindianbasketweavers resourcedirectory

Forms can be scanned and sent via e-mail to ciba@ciba.org or mailed to our office at:

California Indian Basketweavers’ Association
C/O: Jennifer Malone, Resource Guide Committee
428 Main St.
Woodland, CA 95695

The California Indian Basketweavers’ Association would like to invite interested parties to join us in the development  Following the Smoke II, a project that is being proposed by a coalition of individuals, organizations, and agencies to promote and support traditional American Indian basket weaving in northwestern California. Areas included in this proposal are tribal areas in Humboldt, Del Norte, northern Mendocino and eastern Trinity Counties.  The project will focus on renewing and providing support to tribal groups to reintroduce or strengthen traditional basket weaving, the gathering of materials, and the enhancement of ethnobotanical areas. Present working group members are:

• California Indian Basketweavers Association (CIBA)
• Karuk Indigenous Basketweavers
• Yurok basketweavers
• Trinidad Rancheria
• Bureau of Land Management, Arcata Field Office
• Six Rivers National Forest
• Ken Wilson, CRM Consulting
• California State Parks
• Redwood National Park
• California Department of Transportation

Background of Following the Smoke II

This endeavor tiers off from the Following the Smoke Project, which began in 1997 on the Orleans Ranger District on Six Rivers National Forest.  Following the Smoke was undertaken and offered up to 50 volunteers a year the opportunity to camp out for a week with traditional basketweavers to learn how to collect and process basketry materials and basic weaving techniques.  The volunteers also participated in the preparation of hazel and beargrass areas for burning during the fall, a practice that enhances gathering areas.  The intent of the project was for the volunteers to appreciate the values of traditional basketweaving and support agencies in managing for ethnobotanical resources. A similar program was adopted by the Bureau of Land Management, and was titled: Weaving Connections.

Many of the traditional basketweavers that participated in Following the Smoke are participating in this proposed new undertaking that we are calling Following the Smoke II.

Following the Smoke II differs from Following the Smoke in that it does not focus on public participation and education; the focus is to develop a partnership between Tribes, traditional Basketweavers and government land agencies to:

• Transfer traditional basketweaving skills to those who have a strong interest in pursuing this art
• Protect and enhance plant gathering areas
• Improve knowledge of, and access to, plant gathering areas
• Improve public agencies’ knowledge of traditional land practices and important traditional cultural properties in order to better coordinate and implement the U.S. Forest Service and BLM in California Traditional Gathering Policy.

Please join us in our planned meetings to continue developing this proposal at the Sequoia Conference Center located at 901 Myrtle Avenue, Eureka, CA 95501 on August 10, 2018. An additional Following the Smoke, “field trip” will take place on August 11, 2018.

Following the Smoke II – Draft Agenda

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact CIBA Vice Chairwoman, Alice Lincoln-Cook, at  541-294-7646. 

CIBA is proud to have worked in association with  KCET  and the Autry Museum of the American West  on their production of Artbound “The Art of Basket Weaving.”

Airdates for this episode are as follows:

From KCET: Native American basketry has long been viewed as a community craft, yet the artistic quality and value of these baskets are on par with other fine art. Now Native peoples across the country are revitalizing basketry traditions and the country looks to California as a leader in basket weaving revitalization. There has been a revival in traditional basket weaving, thanks to the work of the California Indian Basketweavers Association (CIBA), which was founded in 1992 under the slogan “keeping the tradition alive.” This episode was made in partnership with the Autry Museum of the American West and CIBA.

https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/episodes/the-art-of-basket-weaving