Foundation For the Future of the Seventh Generation

 Mission Statement:

  Creativity in the human mind is the heart of the soul and lives
everywhere and belongs to everyone.

   Foundation for the Future of the Seventh Generation:   A youth
mentoring and leadership program through the use of the performing and
media arts.

   Statistics show that per capita in the United States Native American youth have:

 1)      the highest drug and alcohol use rate
 2)      the highest teen pregnancy rate
 3)      the highest teen suicide rate
 4)      the highest  high school drop out rate
 5)      the highest college drop out rate


    I believe the causes are multigenerational and multilayered.

     Because I am Alaskan Native and was born and raised there and because
the culture shock and contemporary cultural deconstruction which has
overtaken our Native American youth, I see a great need of epidemic
proportions to create a bridge, not a buffer to the  effects of
coexisting in two worlds.

   How:  To ease the culture shock through combining traditional cultural
pride and modern multimedia mediums.

    Where to begin:  At this time we are creating a performance of Alaskan
Native traditional stories set to music and are intending to perform
and include traditional Alaskan Native dancers to go on tour to all
the remote Alaskan Native villages and schools.  We will then engage
the youth in creating stories, songs, theater and music with the use
of computers, recording equipment, HiDef  camera equipment and 10-15
digital cameras for the youth to create visual life diaries.

  Our 1 goal is to create both personal and cultural self-esteem.
Through this process, the end result will be a reality documentary of
the struggles of Alaskan Native youth and the beauty of cultural
survival in the face of social factors, acculturation stress,
environmental factors and political warfare.

   All Alaskan Native youth should be considered to be "at risk" youth by
the simple fact that they are living subsistence lifestyles passed
down from the beginning of time, many whose first language is of their
traditional heritage and yet they are exposed to the partial or
complete values of the prevailing social system.  Where do they
belong?  How can we make them strong in their cultural identity while
still retaining the ability to function in contemporary society?

    Then there are those urban youth who face discrimination, more access
to the influences of Western society, including drug and alcohol use
and because of the multigenerational deconstruction of traditional
ways are more likely to face domestic violence, sexual  abuse and
alienation.

   Our youth are fractured and in epidemic proportions.
 
   There are outward reasons this documentation should also be
considered.  This is not only a human interest story, but an
environmental story and laden with political hauntings.

     In 1958, in Point Hope, Alaska, 1000 tons of uridium, thibidium and
cobalt were intentionally buried in the ground and water sources
simply because during the cold war the U.S. government wanted to find
out what eating radioactive food would do to people.

    In my lifetime, glaciers which have existed for tens of thousands of
years have simply vanished.  The arctic ocean is rising and whole
villages have had to move upland from ancestral homes.   And during
the winter, when whole villages and/or individuals make passage to
another village to maintain multigenerational relationships, because
of global warming and no snow for the snowmobiles and dogsleds, they
are unable to do so.  So these relationships are dying.

   President Bush has created incentives for the people to leave the
villages because of oil and mineral exploration.

     And the State of Alaska has threatened to defederalize the tribes
which would cause tremendous turmoil in the state of affairs of tribal
existence.

    In the meantime, 6 out of 10 Alaskan Native youth are not living to
the age of 18.
 This is an epidemic.

     We have already accomplished shooting a documentary, a public service
announcement, an original song recording and a music video through
Raven, a youth mentoring program.

   We believe we could continue this work through a series of conferences
for the performing arts and the media arts for Native American youth
with a long term goal of creating a school, with a 1-year college preparatory program for the performing and media arts using great Native American talent
such as actors Adam Beach, Wes Studi, Sheila Tousey, and Elaine Miles,
directors such as Chris Eyre and Valerie Red-Horse, and musicians such
as Jim Boyd and Keith Secola.
 
     All of these artists are pioneers having achieved so much in their careers. That experience should come back to the next generation.
 
    Each youth will be involved, whether it is in front of the camera, or
as a recording engineer, an actor, singer, writer ,or director of
their own autobiographical documentary.  It is our hope to send every
youth out into his or her own world with their own camera to challenge
their perceptions of life, to facilitate personal reflection and
introspection.


   In shooting these documentaries our goal is to capture indigenous
culture, inspire this generation to rise to personal and cultural
affirmation and to raise awareness in the mainstream American
consciousness, for we are the invisible people, but one might only
hope that through some catalyst such as this project  we may not face
extinction.

     Over the years we have found that live performance and film can really open the minds of young people. Even if they don't listen to the kind of music we play or watch the kind of movies we make.

   To be affected by an experience that is new can be very powerful.
 
   Inspiration can change the world, and that's worth everything.