Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)

Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)

This article relates to Crazy Brave

Chartered in 1962 under the John F. Kennedy administration, the Institute of American Indian Arts is still educating young Native American artists in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The school boasts numerous notable Native professors, faculty, staff, visiting artists, scholars and alumni, including Joy Harjo, Dan Namingha, Fritz Scholder, David Bradley, Doug Hyde, Allan Houser, Charles Loloma, Otellie Loloma, Earl Biss, T.C. Cannon, Sheldon Peters Wolfchild, Darren Vigil Gray, and Sherwin Bitsui.

According to the IAIA website, it is "the only four-year degree fine arts institution in the nation devoted to contemporary Native American and Alaska Native arts." The college grants associate's and bachelor's degrees as well as two one-year certificate programs. It is one of 36 tribal colleges in the United States. Tribal colleges are located in or near reservations and are accredited in the same way as other schools of higher education.

The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), located in a historic Pueblo Revival-style historic post office, is also part of the Institute. According to the MoCNA website, it is "dedicated to increasing public understanding and appreciation of/for contemporary Native art, history and culture through presentation, collection/acquisition, preservation, and interpretation."

For more information about IAIA's Center for Lifelong Education (where educational, technical, and cultural services are offered to both Native American and non-tribal communities), and to learn more about IAIA's missons and goals, click on the video below:

Photo of IAIA by puroticorico

Filed under Places, Cultures & Identities

This "beyond the book article" relates to Crazy Brave. It originally ran in August 2012 and has been updated for the July 2013 paperback edition. Go to magazine.