((PKG))  NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS SCHOOL  
((Banner:  Native Arts)) 
((Reporter:  Julie Taboh)) 
((Camera:  Adam Greenbaum))  
((Adapted by:  Zdenko Novacki)) 
((Map:  Santa Fe, New Mexico))  
 
((NATS)) 
((Robert Martin, President, Institute of American Indian 
Arts))      
We started as a Bureau of Indian Affairs school in 1962.  We were 
celebrating culture and not trying to just focus on assimilation and 
punishing students for speaking their language or practicing their 
customs.  So that was a big difference for us.  
((NATS)) 
((Delores Scarlett Cortez, Arts Student, Institute of American 
Indian Arts))  
My work is paying homage to the people who raised me, my 
mother and my father and then my cousin who helped shape me 
as a person.  Growing up, I felt like I was really missing that kind 
of side of me because my parents never talked about it.  What I'm 
hoping to do is go back to my community to document the people 
back home that I really care for.  
((NATS)) 
((Anthony Deiter, Professor of Virtual Simulation, Institute of 
American Indian Arts))  
I always wanted to bring something back to my culture because 
I've been in the mainstream so long.  
((NATS)) 
((Daniel Yazzie Natonabah, Student, IAIA Studio Arts))    
Growing up on the reservation, I was entirely isolated.  I was 
surrounded by other natives of the similar tribes and my whole 
perspective of the world was just Navajo.  But when I’ve came 
here, I've learned other perspectives of Yaqui, Tohono O?odham, 
Pueblos.   
((NATS)) 
((Robert Martin, President, Institute of American Indian Arts)) 
That's a lot of diversity.  And of course, we also have non-native 
students as well.  We're open to everybody, but our mission will 
always reflect that indigenous or native perspective.  I think that's 
important aspect of what we have here is a sense of community, 
almost a sense of family.  
((NATS)) 
((Daniel Forest, Student, IAIA Studio Arts)) 
It's called shelter and it feels symbolic to me.  I'm learning how to 
walk differently, really pay attention because western culture 
tends to be a little conquistador, a little aggressive and you just 
take that with you wherever you go in the world.  It, sort of, suits 
you for the most part.  That doesn't work here.  So, I'm learning to 
just recalibrate everything.  
((NATS)) 
((Robert Martin, President, Institute of American Indian Arts)) 
If you ask the average college student why they’re going to 
college, what they're going to do with their degree, they'll say, “I 
want a job”.  You ask our students and they'll say, “I want to be of 
service to my family and my community.”  And so that makes our 
students different.  
((NATS)) 
((Anthony Deiter, Professor of Virtual Simulation, Institute of 
American Indian Arts)) 
I think they estimate since the inception of Hollywood, 4000 
movies have involved Native Americans.  My challenge to the 
industry would be this:  We've heard what you have to say about 
us.  Now you're going to hear what we have to say about us. 
((NATS))