Volume 4 Number 3
May 1965

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 third school year, it now caters to the educational needs of approximately 350 young Indian people, representing 88 tribes from 25 states, ranging geographically from Alaska to Florida.

By providing adequate tools, professional leadership, freedom for exploration in various fields of art, and freedom for artistic expression, the 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 the fine arts, including sculpture and painting, the written arts, and the performing arts, such as drama, music and dance. It also offers learning opportunities in the metal crafts, jewelry, and hollow ware, ceramics, woven and printed textiles, and various traditional crafts.

The approach used, stressing cultural roots as a basis for individual creativity, is a unique development on the world scene and in our national dedication to the enhancement of minority contributions. As a result of this approach, students find new directions and gain self-confidence.

With rare exceptions, Indians in this country have clung steadfastly to Indian ways for over 400 years, in spite of social pressures which negate the value of cultural difference. In spite of this tenacity to maintain their own cultural ways, the past few years have seen American Indians plunged into an economic, social and cultural chaos. Prior to this, centuries-old cultural ways—however different—served Indian tribal groups 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 this impact of the ways of the dominant culture on Indian values. Most young Indian people now share similar educational experiences with the typical teen-ager of today. They no longer wear the tribal costume, and they speak the common language. They, also, 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 problem of making satisfactory psychological reconciliations with the mores of two cultures.

Theirs is the task of utilizing all that is good in Indian heritage to strengthen their position in contemporary society. This calls for assistance in recognizing the factors within their traditions which are to their favor and in seeing themselves as the proud residual of cultural greatness, however obscure it may be in their natural awareness.

To be Indian all too often connotes a grievously poor socioeconomic status viewed in terms of today’s standards. As the Indian youth contemplates his immediate position in time and condition, he has difficulty finding anything about Indian ways of which to be proud. Because his life is so different than that of his parents, he is estranged from them and lacks the guidance and comfort afforded in normal family relationships. Stripped to selflessness, he stands a victim of the demoralization inherent in conditions of family and cultural breakdown.

Desolated, he mistakenly equates the results of cultural breakdown and confusion with the simple fact that he is Indian and erroneously concludes that he must justify himself in some overly defensive way

Often he takes refuge in Indianism and lives in a segregated and chauvinistic atmosphere, savagely defending his difference and shutting his eyes to the faults, the limitations, and the deteriorated forms of the "good old ways." He clings fetishly to the old, and the natural dynamism innate in a healthy culture comes to a stop. An anomalous situation results in which progress of the most beneficial type comes to an end; both individuals and whole tribes cease to adjust to the realism of the times. A vicious cycle begins whereby suspicion, distrust, and reactionary behavior compounds itself, resulting in all manner of human problems. Thereupon, epithets arise: Indians are lazy, unaggressive, resentful, uncooperative, withdrawn, ungrateful, aimless and very often they are all of these, but for good reason.

However understandable the causes for such cultural disorder, there exist many Indian people who find themselves smothering under a blanket woven of despair and hopelessness. For some, this despair results in utter resignation: If this is my plight, then so will I live it. Many who counsel with Indians are familiar with the self-dubbed phrase, "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 myriads of other escape devices to find release, at least momentarily from the ill effects imposed upon him by an environment inimical to his Indianness. But these escape mechanisms stand as problems in themselves—new problems for the Indian to solve; and the price he pays for his short lived respite from reality is deeper despair.

It should be emphasized that the foregoing description applies only to the Indian in conflict; but, sadly, he appears throughout Indian history and in almost every group. In some instances, entire tribal regions are afflicted, resulting in serious social traumas. It is fortunate that these gloomy aspects are not predominant in the lives of all Indians and that there are groups who still maintain Indian ways within which a stable background for youth development is provided. In these cases, acculturation proceeds with basic sureness.

While the Institute does not label itself a psychotherapy center, it does core its program around the special psychological position of the individual and his identification with Indian culture. The basic task of the school is to develop specialized techniques for assisting a heretofore neglected group to enter contemporary society with poise and confidence. The ultimate importance of this approach lies in finding methods for structuring sound educational procedures upon the values of minority cultures.

The Institute believes that cultural differences are good. By linking the best in Indian culture to contemporary life, young Indian people find new levels of pride in their own heritage.

To the extent that these ends are accomplished, the program at the Institute may well become the prototype of a practical vehicle for superior approaches to cultural integration, within the nation—or between nations.

All students at the Institute are exposed to the beauties of Indian art, historically and of the present. They view exhibitions of the choicest collections of fine Indian art pieces, listen to lectures on the archaeology and the ethnology of Indian cultures, and engage in studies of the accomplishments of contemporary groups. They are encouraged to identify with their total heritage, harking back to the classical periods of the 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.

Given the opportunity to draw on his own tradition, the Indian artist evolves art forms which are new to the cultural scene, thereby contributing uniquely to the society in general. Through such accomplishments, he gains an awareness of the place the creative artist has as an important influence in the fundamentals of human interaction. He senses the need for contributing to the beauty of environment and realizes a responsibility to bring forth flavors innate in Indian ways. He learns to live up to the best of himself in his role of the creative artist, evolving personal criteria for his conduct in the realm of the art world. He learns to stand on his own feet, avoiding stultifying cliches applied to Indian art by the purist who sometimes unwittingly resents evolution in Indian art forms, techniques and technology.

It should be made clear that the Institute does not ram anyone’s culture down his own throat; but it does acquaint its young Indian students with an appreciation of his own traditions, to be used as a springboard for personal creative action. The Institute does not believe it possible for anyone to live realistically in outmoded tradition, but does believe it to be the business of the artist, especially, to create new and worthy actions leading to new traditions. The Institute assumes that the future of Indian art lies in the Indian’s ability to evolve, adjust, and adapt to the demands of the present, and not upon the ability to remanipulate the past.

These ideals are happily justified in a look at the progress to date. Art critics of stature are excited by the quantity and quality of all areas of work coming out of the school, even at this early period of development. The quality of design and craftsmanship reflective of the classic standards of the finest traditional approaches is easily discernible in the sculpture, painting, and the various crafts being produced. Poetry and prose reflect a new source for richness and beauty in the written arts. Early developments in drama and music are gratifying.

Impressive as are these results in terms of the level of artistic accomplishments, the real value of the program lies in the general personal growth on the part 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 16 to 22. Most of them are insecure about their place in a bicultural world and are beset with misunderstandings regarding color, race, and suffer the stigma of a comparatively low socioeconomic position in which many find themselves circumstantially.

These are the young, who find themselves lost in a labyrinth of identity search, disoriented in a maelstrom of cultural and social conflict; these are, also, the revolutionists, the nonconformists, and the unacademically minded who find no satisfaction in the common goals set for them in the typical school program. They are typical of the creative person to be found in that percentage of all cultural groups which seeks new ways of saying and doing things, those who are bent on searching out a very personal and creative approach to problem solving. Holding standards common to the artistically inclined, this is the youth who rejects and is rejected by the common school program which is tailored for the production of the scholar, the scientist, and the tradesman.

Without the opportunity to attend a school catering to his peculiar drives, he is more than likely slated to join ranks with the growing number of dropouts, who represent one of today’s national problems. As proven historically in surveys of the creatively endowed, these so-called misfits, when measured by their future contributions to humanity, may stand in indictment of a system which excluded them—categorically.

The following statistics serve in an evaluation of progress in the educational advancement of students in attendance at the Institute of American Indian Arts during its first two years of operation. These statistics do not reveal many of the heartbreaking disappointments suffered by the administration and staff in day to day problems with the student who dropped out for legitimate reasons such as basic disinterest in the arts, deep seated pathology and parental withdrawal.

The first year, 140 students were enrolled in the arts. Fourteen graduated from the 12^th grade. Of these 14, 12 found reasons for continued education in the arts and returned to the Institute. One went directly to college and one married.

Second year graduates from high school (275 total enrollment) amounted to 30 in number. Nineteen returned for advanced work and six went directly to college.

The end of the second year saw our first group of post-graduates to completion of their two-year program here.

Approximately 53 per cent of this group went on to college as follows: (Follow up reports indicate that all are doing well, except one who dropped out due to after effects of a severe pedestrian-auto accident):

In addition, first year postgraduates sent two boys to the University of Arizona, one to School for American Craftsmen—Rochester Institute of Technology.

The general report to date on their progress is satisfactory to superior.

Marriage claims six of the other fourteen. A survey reveals only three are not actively engaged in work related to their training in the arts.

In summary, the Institute of American Indian Arts is embarked upon a program, with many steps yet to be taken, the early outcomes of which are indicative of significant discoveries in education. The Indian student is being inspired to new personal strengths in dimensions heretofore unrealized. He can be oriented to his own cultural background, enabling him to function constructively in tune with the demands of today’s culture, without sacrificing his cultural self on the altar of assimilation, as so often is the cause.