[HERITAGE-LIST] FYI: Native American media project

Fri Jul 22 20:03:49 UTC 2011

Contacts: Fritz Miller, Director of Marketing, SDPB, Fritz.Miller at state.sd.us<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> <mailto:Fritz.Miller at state.sd.us>
Marie Offutt, Director of Communications, Prairie Public, moffutt at prairiepublic.org<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx>,
701-241-6900 x535
Sunshine Carlow, Education Manager, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, sunshine.carlow at gmail.com<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> <mailto:sunshine.carlow at gmail.com> , 701-854-8583
Wil Meya, Executive Director, Lakota Language Consortium, meya at lakhota.org<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> <mailto:meya at lakhota.org> ,
888-525-6828

HISTORIC NATIVE AMERICAN MEDIA PROJECT SETS BROADCAST DATE

Popular PBS Cartoon Bears Speak Lakota

FORT YATES, ND --  The first animated cartoon series ever presented entirely in a Native American language is set for launch on regional public television stations this September.

Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe, or “The Compassionate Bear Family,” is the Lakota language name for the Berenstain Bears, a familiar and popular presence on PBS family programming and in storybooks for decades.  Twenty episodes of the animated series were translated into Lakota and Dakota, and recorded at Makoché Studios in Bismarck, North Dakota during 2010- 2011. The series will begin showing on Sunday, September 11 at 9 AM, on South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Digital 3 channel, and Prairie Public’s Digital 4 channel.  The show will then broadcast weekly on Sundays at 9 AM through January 2012.  Premiere events will take place on September 8-10, in conjunction with the United Tribes Technical College International Powwow in Bismarck, North Dakota, and through special parent/teacher family events at schools in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe school system.  Check out the Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe Facebook page for the latest updates.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is the Co-Producer of the series. “We have a responsibility to teach our children the language of our ancestors, and make it part of being Lakota again,” said Standing Rock Tribal Chairman Charles W. Murphy.  “These characters treat each other with respect and kindness, which are traditional Lakota values, and to have them speaking Lakota to each other at home sets a good example.”

Twelve Native Lakota speakers performed the characters, recruited from five different Lakota reservations in North and South Dakota to showcase a representative variety of spoken Lakota.  One voice performer, George Fool Bear, is a Dakota speaker, and he tweaked his lines into that dialect.  Also Co-producer of the series is the non-profit Lakota Language Consortium, a publisher of Lakota-language textbooks and the New Lakota Dictionary.  The Consortium oversaw the translation process, and refined the dialogue during recording sessions with the help of the Lakota speakers.

The historic nature of this project has inspired other significant contributions: Berenstain Enterprises waived its considerable licensing fees, and KIWA International from New Zealand provided free audio dubbing software.

A DVD of the Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe series will be released alongside the television broadcast.  The package will include a User’s Guide booklet, which was created with support from the First Nations Development Institute, based in Longmont, CO.  The User’s Guide will have a more in-depth online supplement, for classroom use and advanced individual Lakota language study.

Contacts:

South Dakota Public Broadcasting
Bob Bosse, Director of Television, Bob.Bosse at state.sd.us<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> <mailto:Bob.Bosse at state.sd.us>
Fritz Miller, Director of Marketing, Fritz.Miller at state.sd.us<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> <mailto:Fritz.Miller at state.sd.us>

Prairie Public
Robert Dambach, Director of Television, bdambach at prairiepublic.org<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> <mailto:bdambach at prairiepublic.org>
Steve Wennblom, Program Manager, swennblom at praiairepublic.org<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> ,
701-241-6900 x591
Marie Offutt, Director of Communications, moffutt at prairiepublic.org<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx>,
701-241-6900 x535

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Charles W. Murphy, Chairman, 701-854-8500
Sunshine Carlow, Education Manager, sunshine.carlow at gmail.com<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> <mailto:sunshine.carlow at gmail.com> , 701-854-8583

Lakota Language Consortium
Wil Meya, Executive Director, meya at lakhota.org<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> <mailto:meya at lakhota.org> , 888-525-6828
Ben Black Bear, “Papa Bear” voice performer and Lakota language instructor, St. Francis Mission School, St. Francis, SD, benblkbr at goldenwest.net<https://exch.mail.umd.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> <mailto:benblkbr at goldenwest.net>