KSUT, in collaboration with independent producer Adam Burke, have launched Native Braids, a Native American storytelling project.
The initial 11-part series can be heard on KSUT: Mon/Weds at 9 AM; and Tues/Thurs at 1:10 PM. The stories, and additional project information can be found at www.nativebraids.org.
Native Braids is a series of produced vignettes, capturing intimate conversations between Native American youth and elders. The pilot series focuses on Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribal members, but will expand to include other tribes from Indian Country.
The concept for Native Braids began in spring 2018, as a pilot project for the Tribal Media Center, to be located in KSUT’s new building (Spring 2020). The Media Center will offer broadcast and technical training to native communities with a similar vision of sustaining their culture through broadcasting and digital media.
The project will also enable KSUT to build capacity as it takes momentous steps forward as a media organization. The new broadcast facility will function as a digital media space for oral history, language preservation, archiving, and cultural reflection. It will provide KSUT an opportunity to take a national leadership role among tribal stations, building on its history as one of the first in North America.
KSUT's Tribal Media Center will offer young producers across Native America training in the broadcasting arts; where tribes can partner on oral history and cultural preservation efforts. It's also an opportunity for KSUT to increase its media production and strengthen content-sharing partnerships with other tribal media organizations.
Initial funding for Native Braids was provided by Richard Ballantine, a local philanthropist. Additional funding has been provided by grants from Rocky Mountain Health Foundation and Next Fifty Initiative.
More information on Native Braids is at www.nativebraids.org. Or, contact Tami Graham, KSUT Executive Director, at 970.563.5780 or tami@ksut.org.
