We are not always aware of the impact our services have made on the lives and careers of Native people we have worked with these past three decades. Prior to the formation of Elderberry Wisdom Farm, I was founder and director of another Native American nonprofit which, among other accomplishments, we recorded the oral histories of over 450 Native elders, scientists and cultural artists.
We were happy to discover the recent announcement featuring Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk), 2022 recipient of a MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellowship which was awarded in October. Sky served as a field videographer for us in 2012 while we were producing our first Native Wisdom Climate Documentary Film in Anchorage. He helped us film a few Athabascan and Inupiaq elders, scientists and storytellers during the annual Alaska Federation of Natives convention. Sky plans to use the MacArthur fellowship award to continue his documentary filmmaking work. See http://www.skyhopinka.com/.