It had been a long time since I had traveled to Idaho; I think the last time I had been there was with my grandmother. My family and I would take annual vacations, and one year we drove through Idaho to Canada. My work with the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship (GCCE) and the partnership with Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative (SNCC) have been motivating. As a youngster, growing up in Navajo Country in Eastern Agency (New Mexico), my grandma always told me that my life will soon be for my people, I think that life has begun.

Recently, I was invited to chair a session and speak at the 4^th Annual Western Consortium Tri-State Meeting in Sun Valley Idaho, April 2-4, 2012. The National Science Foundation EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) has joined programs forming a consortium of EPSCoR states with similar research agendas related to climate change and water resources. The consortium model significantly increase opportunities for scientific collaborative and enhances each state’s ability to secure competitive funding and tackle complex climate change research agendas.

My presentation on “Building a Sustainable Native Community” was a bit “outside” of the box for the attendees, as our work with SNCC is to build a nationwide network of tribal leaders, builders, architects, and entrepreneurs.  Our goal is foster the success of endeavors that weave cultural, ecological, and economic considerations in design and building in tribal communities. Although, this kind of work was very new and somewhat unfamiliar to many of the scientist who attended, my session had the most attendees. After the presentations, I had numerous people come up and comment on how they never thought about work such as SNCC. One particular individual, Dr. Alessa Lilian Na’ia, a well-known Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Geography & Environmental Sciences from the University of Alaska was so thrive and excited about the SNCC work, she invited me to attend a panel in June in Alaska.

As part of the session, I invited a very good friend, and royalty of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe of Idaho. Alexandria Alverez, who is Miss Shoshone-Bannock 2011-2012. I asked Miss Shoshone-Bannock for an opening welcome during the session; this being appropriate as we were all in her homeland, plus with only five Natives attended, she brought the “Native” into the atmosphere as she wrote her traditional clothing.

The session also included a presentation from Sammy L. Matsaw, Jr. from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe on “Using Science to Explore Our Paths: Western Science with Native Perspective,” and also a presentation by Mahesh R. Gautam on “Collaborative modeling and integrated framework of climate change vulnerability assessment for Native American Tribes.”

At the UNESCO Forum on Cultural Industries the second major point I want to bring across is that we must begin to form educational and training opportunities for our emerging cultural entrepreneurs.

Innovative approaches to higher education programs for cultural entrepreneurs is being developed at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Institute of Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship, Goldsmiths College, London University.

For post undergraduate and practical training The Hart Technique is being introduced in Austin, TX after being developed in Oslo, Norway.  The program is focused on developing entrepreneurial skills by “doing”.  Austin Conservatory of Professional Arts.  www.harttechnique.com

Here at the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship we focus on the cultural entrepreneur through mentorship.

Here is a helpful report from the UK that you may find of interest.  “Creating Entrepreneurship: entrepreneurship education for the creative industries”, The Higher Education Academy Art Design Media Subject Centre and NESTA, 2007.

Education and training is very important to the growth of our cultural entrepreneurs and their enterprises.  However, the approach to training the emerging cultural entrepreneur across the globe is changing.  Not every entrepreneur can go to college first.  We will have to meet the enterprising creative person at their moment of need for outside support and close to home.  The classroom is OK for some, but on the ground mentoring will be the new approach required for cultural entrepreneurship training.