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APPROACH & IMPACT
Authenticity through Stories
For students of all backgrounds, stories narrated by Knowledge-keepers in their original languages provide exposure to authentic Indigenous culture. This can be contrasted with "book learning" or more theoretical understanding, which can introduce unhelpful distortions.
In the video below, the important role stories can play in transmitting an understanding of Indigenous culture is explained in more detail by Dr Sweeney Windchief, Associate Professor of Education at Montana State University.
To harness the power of storytelling in a practical, hands-on setting, First Voices deploys a multi-dimensional approach, as described below.
COLLABORATION AND LEADERSHIP
Native / non-Native collaboration
Intergenerational / intertribal collaboration
Learning and leadership through the arts
Course credits (college and high school)
Nutrition and wellness
Every tribe tells its own stories in a way unique to their culture. When First Voices partners with a tribe, Elders select the stories, and a version is filmed in the original language. The next step is to work with language specialists to add captions (so the text of the story can be followed in the original language) and subtitles (where an English translation is provided).
The next phase of the project brings together reservation-based students and community members (high school and community college students). This cohort of around 30 participants spends one week working on-site with teaching artists from their own tribe, as well as other tribes, plus non-Native teaching artists.
Working face-to-face, on-site on the reservation, each teaching artist spends the week (five days) developing each participant’s ability and confidence in one of five artistic disciplines. The five disciplines are:
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Choreography and movement
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Music and sound design
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Film-making and videography
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Indigenous language and cultural history
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Visual art and animation
In this way, the participants work together to interpret the story through all five disciplines. The process is filmed, and then a final performance is edited to create the finished story. The end product is a video combining the original storytelling and narration with the participants’ contemporary interpretation. (See examples here.)
RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS
Right here on this website!
A critical part of the First Voices project is providing resources for educators (high school and college) to use as a means of exploring Indigenous culture with their students.
Completed story videos and related content are integrated into cross-curricular lesson plans for educators at high school and college level. Our resources are endorsed by Indian Education for All, an initiative from the Office of Public Instruction in Montana, to ensure that tools and lesson plans follow guidelines mandated by the Montana Constitution.
Please visit the Educator Resources section of this site where you'll find details of these initiatives including a growing library of lesson plans and other resources.
IMPACT OF FIRST VOICES
Five areas of learning
Throughout the program, participants explore and develop a range of skills, working with professional artists to create contemporary interpretations of tribal stories. The skills that participants work on fall into five broad areas:
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Choreography and movement
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Music and sound design
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Film-making and videography
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Indigenous language and cultural history
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Visual art and animation
Through the intensive workshops, the participants work on and practise key "soft" skills such as communication, teamwork and leadership. This helps to prepare participants for participation in the 21st century knowledge economy.
Improving outcomes for highschoolers
Specifically for high school participants, First Voices can improve participants' participation and engagement.
TESTIMONIALS
See below for some videos of a range of First Voices participants (including teaching artists) talking about their experiences.
Community Member: Jordis Ferguson
Jordis is one of our mature student participants. In the video below she talks about why she feels the First Voices project is important. This relates to her experience at the workshops held in Fort Peck (May 2023).
Teaching artist: Scott Smoker
Scott is the videographer for First Voices on the Fort Peck Reservation (all the the video relating to the project you see on this site was shot by him).
Scott is also a teaching artist, leading participants through videography workshops and teaching them fundamental principles of lighting / camera work etc.
In the video above he answers the question: "What are three things you take away from your experience with First Voices?"
First Voices is a project from Thresh
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