Link: https://www.lakotatimes.com/articles/racing-magpie-in-inaugural-cohort/
December 28, 2022
Artspace Projects, Inc. (Artspace) announces the launch of Pathways: A Native Space Initiative (Pathways). This cohort-based pilot program is designed to help build the capacity and leverage the existing assets of Native American arts and cultural organizations seeking to assess, expand, or develop art and cultural space in their communities. Artspace is pleased to announce that Racing Magpie of Rapid City and the Twiss Gallery of Buffalo Gap were selected for the program through a competitive application process.
The Twiss Gallery, led by Dustin and Angela Twiss, is a creative space and future museum in the remote Badlands of the Pine Ridge In- dian Reservation, South Dakota, which highlights Lakota culture, local historical events with contemporary Native American art. They are in the early stages of renovating a former country church and transforming it into a center of creativity and a museum. See more at www.twissgallery.com.
Racing Magpie is a Lakota-centric arts and culture organization located in Rapid City, South Dakota, founded in 2015 (www.racingmagpie.org). They center the Lakota practice of being a good relative in everything that they do and focus their work on elevating and amplifying the work that artists and culture bearers are doing already in the community. From a modern Native gallery to affordable art studios to flexible rental space for community groups, to artist- and community- centered programs, community relatives are their first priority at all times. Racing Magpie purchased two buildings and renovated one in 2021, and are embarking on a community informed process of revisioning and renovating the second building to best serve local artists and community.
Pathways is a 12-month virtual program consisting of these eight Native arts and cultural organizations, beginning in December 2022 and running through November 2023. The program consists of online meetings that are centered around the real estate development process. They include workshops, trainings, panel discussions, and one-onone coaching sessions. Technical assistance will also be available.
The purpose of the Pathways program is to help advance art and cultural spaces in Native American communities, which serve as an essential form of infrastructure to sustain Native American artistic and cultural heritage. Pathways shares Artspace’s 40+ years of expertise in real estate development for the creative sector and integrates its experience in financing, fundraising, and facilities management to assist the program participants in developing and implementing appropriate development strategies for their own organizations. These strategies leverage existing cultural and creative assets to support the development and sustainability of arts and cultural spaces. Artspace delivers another cohort-based capacity building program, Immersion, for arts and cultural organizations planning for new space. Immersion has been launched in seven core communities across the U.S.
Artspace’s goal is to create, foster, and preserve affordable and sustainable spaces for artists and cultural organizations. The history of Artspace is fundamentally about working across sectors and in collaboration with the greater creative communities. Through this collaboration, Artspace helps to provide the support structures necessary so that artists thrive and can contribute fully to the cultural, economic, and social wellbeing of their communities. Artspace will prioritize listening to, learning from, and working with artists, culture bearers, cultural practitioners, community leaders, foundation partners, and others as it launches and administers the Pathways program.
Whether through a mixed-use development or a long-term lease, Artspace helps its clients create sustainable, affordable, and equitable spaces. Currently, Artspace owns and operates 60 cultural facilities nationwide. One of these is the Oglala Lakota Arts Center on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, which was developed in partnership between Artspace, First Peoples Fund (a Native American 501c3 non-profit organization), and Lakota Funds (a Native CDFI organization on Pine Ridge).
The influence that First Peoples Fund and Lakota Funds have had on Artspace has been instrumental in its work with diverse Native American organizations and Native communities looking for assistance with their space goals. Artspace recognizes First Peoples Fund and Lakota Funds as thought leaders in creating social and economic change by putting artists and culture bearers at the center of community development. It is with deep gratitude to First Peoples Fund and Lakota Funds that Artspace has been welcomed into this inspiring work in honoring the Collective Spirit © of the First Peoples of this nation.
Over the last four decades, Artspace has led an accelerating national movement of artist-led community transformation. While embracing the value the arts bring to individual lives, Artspace has championed the once-radical idea that individual artists experiencing financial hardship and chronically underfunded arts organizations can leverage fundamental social change. With headquarters in Minneapolis and offices in New York and Washington D.C., Artspace is America’s leading developer of art facilities and has served as a consultant to hundreds of communities and arts organizations nationwide. Additional information is available at www.artspace.org.