Artist's News

Dear Friend, Illuminating the cultural brilliance of our people is a core belief at First Nations Composer Initiative (FNCI pronounced “fancy”). It is a driver in how we go about our business supporting, advocating and assisting our First Nations & American Indian music-makers. You see, for us, it is a joy and honor to be able to experience and support the enormous talents of our people! To date FNCI has given $400,000 to our First Nations/American Indian music-making communities. This coming year is going to be a monumental one. This is your invitation to join us. In keeping with our founding members vision of one day becoming our very own non-profit organization. On Monday, July 2^nd FNCI officially moved out of the ACF offices in St. Paul and relocated to Minneapolis. Yes, we did it. Parting with ACF in a good way, we have now embarked upon our journey to becoming our very own arts service organization. We want you to join us. To assist us with this transition we have amassed a stellar task force; Ms. LaVon Lee (Lakota, Grotto Foundation), Ms. Ardie Medina (Lac du Flambeau Anishinaabe, Minnesota Museum of American Art), Ms. Joy Persall (Ojibwe, former Executive Director, Native Americans in Philanthropy), Ms. Mona Smith, (Dakota, Multi-media Artist), Mr. Patrick Scully (Founder, Patrick’s Cabaret), and Mr. David O’Fallon (CEO, Minnesota Humanities). These wise people are assisting us as we navigate the pathway toward becoming a sustainable not for profit organization. To ensure that we will be providing the most appropriate services to our communities.  FNCI is embarking upon a yearlong journey of self-discovery.  During which we will be visiting nine locations throughout the U.S. Our job will be to converse with and listen to our music-making community, securing authentic needs as well as identifying engaged community members. (With training these invested community members will become FNCI’s first ambassadors.) In 2013, FNCI will continue with its signature programming; The Indigenous Music & Movies in the Park series, Common Ground and Music Education. We are committed to quality music education programming only now we have established parameters and they are the poorest with least access. To ensure that our evaluation efforts are culturally competent we will enlist the services of a Native American evaluator. This is your invitation to join us! We are aligning with highly respected institutions that have a national reach such as The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indian in New York City, The Berklee School of Music in Boston, The McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul as well as The MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. So come along. We want you to get a bird’s eye view of our monumental journey as we move towards becoming a national not-for-profit organization. We are looking for spirited individuals to support in our vision. Join Us! Please take a few minutes today and consider making a contribution to First Nations Composer Initiative (FNCI). Our goal is to raise $8,000 with this appeal. To make a fast and secure donation online please copy & paste http://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=7050 to your web browser or if you would rather pay by check please make it out to Fractured Atlas then write First Nations Composer Initiative in the memo section and mail the check to FNCI P.O. Box 2642, Minneapolis, MN First Nations Composer Initiative (FNCI) is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of FNCI must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. What else can you do? You can quadruple our efforts by forwarding this appeal to (4) of your friends, associates and family members who would be supportive of our work. Let them know why you feel our work is important. You can also let your friends know about us by sharing our Facebook page. We are at an important moment in the cycle our life. Every gift counts. Please consider making a donation to FNCI.  We are so very honored to be working with our music-maker communities, please join us. Do not hesitate to call us if you have any questions or suggestions. Please support our American Indian & First Nations music-makers today!   Respectfully, Kohl Miner (Ho-Chunk)  and Jewell Arcoren (Dakota) Executive Director  and Program Director 651-336-8078 and 612-385-7528 First Nations Composer Initiative P.O. Box 2642 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402 – www.fnci.org