Native American Marching Bands (working title)
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Images
Website
http://aimm.obiki.org/filmography/marchingband.html
Topics
Arts & Culture: Pop Music, World Music
Human Development: Children, Education, Social Exclusion
Human Rights: Civil Rights, Indigenous Rights, Race Politics
Information & Media: Culture, Freedom of Expression
Project Geography
US: National, Arizona, California, New York
International: North America
Identity Niches
Budget
Raised to date: $88,500.00
Estimate to complete: $247,395.00
Total Estimated Budget: $335,895.00
The budget numbers above are accurate as of 08/29/2009
Status
Production
Media Type
Video
Project End Use
TV
Key Personnel
Cathleen O'Connell
Producer/Director
Cathleen O’Connell is a Boston-based producer with over twenty years experience on both nationally broadcast documentaries and independent films. She has worked as a producer for the PBS documentary series American Experience, as well as on projects for the Smithsonian Institution, History Channel and Discovery. Most recently she worked as the Coordinating Producer for the PBS series "We Shall Remain," an American Experience mini-series that explored American history through a Native lens.
In the summer of 2001, she was employed by the Fort Mojave tribe to produce and edit a fundraising video for the Cultural Center. While conducting oral histories on behalf of the Center, she first learned about Indian marching bands and knew this was a story that had to be shared.
Billy Luther (Navajo/Hopi/Laguna Pueblo)
Field Producer
Billy Luther studied film at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he began writing and directing short films including FACE VALUE, a short documentary on racial profiling. Luther worked as an assistant for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian- Native American Film and Video Festivals in New York City. In 2002, he was selected as an honoree at IFP/LA’s Project: Involve and was mentored by Alex Smith, co-writer/co-director of THE SLAUGHTER RULE. Most recently Luther was selected for the Tribeca Institute’s All Access Connects and Film Independent's Fast Track Program with his first feature documentary MISS NAVAJO, which was also recently honored with a Roy W. Dean documentary award and the 2006 Sundance Ford Fellowship. He is currently in development on Navajo writer/director Nanobah Becker’s feature film FULL. Luther belongs to the Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo Tribes.
Georiga Wettlin-Larsen (Assiniboine/Nakota)
Advisor
Georgia Wettlin-Larsen is the Program Director for the St. Paul, Minnesota based First Nations Composer Initiative (FNCI). FNCI is dedicated to the encouragement and propagation of American Indian, First Nations, Alaska Natives, Indigenous music and musical traditions in all its forms, and in the appreciation, understanding and facilitation of all Indigenous music for future generations of Indigenous Peoples and for the enjoyment of audiences everywhere and in all media. Georgia’s primary goal is to work to shatter stereotypes which plague traditional American Indian music and to educate the public about its true essence and inherent beauty and purpose.
Outreach/Engagement Plan(s)
Upon completion, we will seek a national public television broadcast, with the help of Native American Public Telecommunications. Additional plans for outreach and engagement include:
- Develop a website which will be a resource for screenings and events and provide additional information about the film and its subjects.
- Seek funding to send DVDs of the documentary to tribal libraries and tribal schools, especially those with music programs. (Funding for 100 DVDs is included in current budget.)
- Seek funds to develop teaching guide (to be available on website.)
- Hold public screenings and concerts in the communities who have participated in the project and hold screenings/concerts at national venues, such as the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC.
- Collaborate with Native organizations, such as the First Nations Composer Initiative, to do outreach around the film.
- Work with distributor to make film available to schools and libraries.
Funders
| Name | Amount | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native American Public Telecommunications | $68,000.00 | 07/01/2009 | |
| Private Donor | $500.00 | 04/01/2009 | |
| Native American Public Telecommunications | $19,972.00 | 11/27/2006 |
Location
680 South Main Street
c/o Center for Independent Documentary
Sharon, MA, 02067
Short Synopsis
The phrase “Native American music” may not invoke tubas and baton twirlers, but brass band music has been a part of Native culture for over a century. Combining portraits of contemporary bands and archival material, Native American Marching Bands (w.t) offers an unexpected view into this vibrant music scene.
Description/Treatment
The phrase “Native American music” may not invoke tubas and baton twirlers, but brass band music has been a part of Native culture for over a century. Combining portraits of contemporary bands and archival material, Native American Marching Bands (w.t) offers an unexpected view into this vibrant music scene.As members of the Iroquois Indian Band take their seats on a warm July day to perform at the annual Tuscarora Picnic, they practice scales on trumpets, clarinets and flutes. Band President Neil Patterson Sr. remembers the shocked reaction from “a rich lady from New York City” who saw the band perform once. “She was really surprised, she didn’t know Indians could play this kind of music. Indians don’t all play drums and run around in the woods,” laughs Patterson, turning his attention to the band, which begins their set with a rousing rendition of a classic Sousa march.
Native American Marching Bands tells the story of this community band, from their inception almost a century ago, to today, where members continue to entertain and enlighten both Native and non-Native audiences alike. In addition to this upstate New York ensemble, Native American Marching Bands also profiles the Navajo Nation Band, whose players who must drive hours across vast tribal lands in Arizona to practice together, and the multigenerational Fort Mojave Band where elders sit alongside elementary school kids, all playing along to "Stars and Stripes Forever."
Each band offers a unique window into contemporary Native life; the film will follow key band members, committed amateur musicians who juggle jobs and family with trombone rehearsal. The film will also explore the roots of these bands, some of which formed over 100 years ago as Native people faced racism, oppressive educational strategies and attempts at cultural extermination. Music became a strategy for Native people to both to fight back and to express themselves. Today Native bands continue to use music as a tool for advocacy to educate people about contemporary Native culture.
The Smithsonian’s Rayna Green states it simply, “We’ve been doing this kind of music as long as anyone in North America has been doing it. We do it our way and for our own purposes.” Native American Marching Bands tells the story of Native marching bands throughout history and how they continue to build bridges across cultures and generations - all to an oompah beat.
Click here to ask for more information about this project: