Native Hip Hop Workshop
Many times youth use their creativity to express themselves, at the same time they are rarely ever published or given credit for their work through the media. Sometimes we do not encourage young people to use their voices to create social change or to look at the problems in their community and use art as a way to solve these issues. Native Hip-Hop Workshop works with youth to use their creativity and get their voices out there.
On August 23-26, 2010 the Boys and Girls Club of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe hosted another Native Hip Hop Workshop. There were over 50 students who participated in the three workshops offered. The workshops covered DJing, photography, and graffiti art mural. The workshops started with a traditional blessing from Larry Tucker, a BGC elder/grandpa.
The Photography class was offered by Tay from Durango. They covered much of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation by using their camera lens by showing what they see everyday, and what is important. Many pictures consisted of Nature, people, and the community center. A few pictures from the Spring Break Native Hip Hop Workshop were published in the Durango Telegraph.
The DJing workshop was offered by Darrell Clah and Oscar Cosio. The workshop used ION DJ turntables, and a Kaossilator. They mixed many different music genres with their own scratches.
The Graffiti Art Mural was offered by Mari, Cee Cee Carpio from New York City and Miguel Perez of San Francisco Bay Area, CA. This was a requested workshop from many youth at BGC. The mural images came from the youth in the workshop and the mural wanted to focus on healthy lifestyles especially concerning tobacco abuse. The Mural clearly states “Keep Tobacco Sacred”, which comes from the SMART Moves Policy Council working on getting a tribal policy concerning SunUte Community Center being tobacco-abuse free. On the Mural, the youth wanted every image to be connected to each other, which is represented with the tipi, rainbow, waterfall, and shawl. There are two BGC elders represented on the murals, Ronald Yellowbird, and Betty Box.
There was many community supporters who without Native Hip-Hop Workshop would not be possible especially Kasey and Ronald from the Dancing Spirit Co-op Art Gallery. To find out future opportunities on media arts at BGC of SUIT, contact Mari or Darrell at (970) 563-4753.
This article was reprinted in the Southern Ute Drum.