<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20060617/News/106170026"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="2"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;">http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20060617/News/106170026</SPAN></FONT></A></DIV><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="2"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"> </SPAN></FONT></P><TABLE width="1045.0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width: 1045.0px"><TBODY><TR><TD valign="middle" style="width: 1015.0px; margin: 7.5px 7.5px 7.5px 7.5px; padding: 0.0px 5.0px 0.0px 5.0px"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Robison looks to maintain the Western Shoshone language</FONT></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> June 17, 2006<BR></FONT><TABLE width="1045.0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width: 1045.0px"><TBODY><TR><TD valign="middle" style="width: 1015.0px; margin: 7.5px 7.5px 7.5px 7.5px; padding: 0.0px 5.0px 0.0px 5.0px"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><IMG src="cid:95168D3C-C922-4515-AA0D-834A5B4DF4DB@local"><TABLE width="1045.0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width: 1045.0px"><TBODY><TR><TD valign="middle" style="width: 1015.0px; margin: 7.5px 7.5px 7.5px 7.5px; padding: 0.0px 5.0px 0.0px 5.0px"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> <BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> The Nevada Arts Council approved 12 Folklife Apprenticeship grants in May, including two in Fallon. <BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> The council approved more than $28,000 to be divided between the 12 recipients throughout Nevada. The two Fallon grants equal $4,907 for apprenticeship programs in the art of Western saddlemaking and Western Shoshone language and culture. <BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> Each grant is based on the amount needed for the master artist to teach the apprentice an art form handed down within families, occupations, tribes, ethnic, regional and other community groups to preserve Nevada's rich cultural heritage.<BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> Betty Robison of Fallon is one of the master artists that will be teaching granddaughter and apprentice Crystal Allen, 23, of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, the Western Shoshone language and culture. Robison's grant was for $2,407 and will be used for materials and continuing education throughout the year.<BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> Allen will learn the cultural aspects and the majority of the language skills in a two-week, 80-hour study course. <BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> "We will focus on the culture and language eight hours a day for the entire two weeks. By the end of the two-week course, no more English will be spoken," said Robison. The training will continue with Allen through a correspondence program consisting of study guides, tapes and booklets Robison will make throughout the year. <BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> Robison said she tried to teach Allen the language as a child, but she had no interest in learning. <BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> "She became interested once she graduated from community college," said Robison. <BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> Robison said when Allen began studying culture in college and learned many of the nation's traditions were slowly disappearing, she realized she had a responsibility to learn and to help preserve a culture that could die out in the near future.<BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> Allen is pursuing a degree in political science with a full scholarship to Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. Mount Holyoke is an all-female Ivy League college located near Boston. <BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> "I had taken it for granted (the language)," Allen said. "When I went to school on the East Coast, I noticed a lack of Native American representation."<BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> The Nevada Arts Council began the grant program in 1988 to preserve cultural heritage that was on the verge of disappearing from Nevada communities. <BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> Folklife Apprenticeship Grants of no more than $2,500 are given to individual master artists statewide that apply with either one or more apprentices to preserve a relevant cultural heritage.<BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> Classes for the apprentice can last from a couple of weeks to an entire year, depending on the time needed to master the skill. <BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> The grants are yearly and the application process begins in December. Grant decisions are generally voted on in May.<BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> Visit the Web site for information on the Folklife Apprenticeship programs at </FONT><A href="http://www.nevadaculture.org/"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#0021E7">www.NevadaCulture.org</FONT></FONT></A><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><BR></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> Viktoria Pearson can be contacted at </FONT><A href="mailto:vpearson@lahontanvalleynews.com"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#0021E7">vpearson@lahontanvalleynews.com</FONT></FONT></A></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV></BODY></HTML>