Thanks to Jean Floten and the entire campus community for support and encouragement. Thanks to Barbara Brodsky and TRIO and Faisal Jaswal and Peter Kirov and the ASG for the strong financial support that made this all possible. An estimated 900 people attended the events over the 3 day period, many of which covered controversial topics. This shows the high level of maturity and willingness to deal with complex and difficult issues that is inherent in our campus community. Thanks to Diane Douglas for making this seamless with the BCC Reads events.

Charlotte Black Elk is considered one of the most prominent American Indians and one of the great American intellects of any background. A scientist and lawyer, she has held positions in the National Science Foundation and the United Nations. She is considered one of the foremost authorities on Lakota history, religion, and culture. A method for gathering evidence has been named after her, sparked by her drive to provide scientific evidence for Lakota mythology. She has met with world leaders and represented the Sioux nation which has over one million Canadian and American members in many world forums. Members of the audience were given an incredible insight into the scientific work that verifies Lakota rituals. Charlotte covered a wide breadth of topics and provided indepth explanations of Lakota language and culture and the relevance of ceremonies to environmentalism and the social structure of the Lakota.

Due to the efforts of Zandra Apple, a childhood friend of Charlotte's, we were able to get this incredible individual on our campus to speak. Thank you, Zandra, for your passion and determination. Lakota women rock! 

 

We had the pleasure of hearing Hanay Geiogamah speak via teleconferencing from his office in UCLA on the final day of the festival. In order to find someone comparable to Hanay, you would have to combine the talents of Edward Albee, George Balanchine, Robert Redford, and Henry Louis Gates. Hanay is the author of more than a dozen plays including the first full volume published by an American Indian, the editor of Stories of Our Way: An Anthology of 12 American Indian Plays and Voices of the Seventh Generation: A Native American Theater Anthology and coeditor of A Reader for American Indian Theater Studies. His plays Body Indian, Foghorn, 49, Coon Cons Coyote and Land Sale have been performed throughout the US and Europe. He is the founder of a major internationally renown American Indian Dance Theatre and serves as principal choreographer for the company. He was producer of the Turner Broadcasting critically acclaimed Native American series including the film Lakota Woman. He is an incredible intellect and creative force plus mentor to many in the American Indian artistic community. Thanks to Roger Ewald and Tom Demyan for helping us with the ever-changing telecommunications logistics. Thanks to Jim Bennett for doing the introduction.

Thanks for Adam Burke, Larry Boykin and Darla Abraham for handling the millions of requests for equipment, making the films run on time and without a hitch, accommodating last minutes changes, and being there until the late hours of night. You all performed above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks to Jamie Dye and Terri Halsey for their magic in making an impossible schedule possible. Thanks to Casey Spence, who worked and reworked budgets to find us money, made sure all the proper forms were filed, and found us the best travel agent. Thanks to Becky Turnbull for helping us get the AIDT bags back to the dancers on time. Kudos and thanks for the great AIFF logo and poster designed by our one-and-only James Torrence and Becky Turnbull for handling the poster printing. Much appreciation to Kate Bradley who worked long and hard to get us all the films.

Thanks to Bob Adams for his work in getting the AIFF into the Seattle Times and the King County Journal for the second year in a row. Thanks to Steve Ramsey and Kristen Walsh at KCBS for the great promotion and public service announcements.