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- By Cheyenne River Youth Project
EAGLE BUTTE, SD — The Cheyenne River Youth Project has announced that it will host its 11th Annual RedCan Invitational Graffiti Jam on July 9-12. The Native-led nonprofit organization is preparing to welcome nine nationally recognized graffiti and street artists from across the country to this year’s four-day arts and culture festival in the heart of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation.
Returning artists include: East, an artist of Cherokee descent from Denver; Cyfi, a Yaqui and Azteca artist from Minneapolis; 179, a Latine artist from Seattle; Hoka, an artist of Oneida, Oglala Lakota and La Jolla Band of Luiseño descent from Albuquerque; TamiJoy, a Cheyenne River Lakota artist; Minneapolis-based artists Biafra and Wundr; and Amp, a Ponca artist from Kansas.
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Joining RedCan for the first time is Lady Rise, P'urhépecha from Michoacán, México. Born in California to a family of migrant farmers and raised amid the Chicago graffiti art scene, the artist currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
On July 9-10, the artists will bring Lakota language, stories and culture to life at large-scale mural sites across the city of Eagle Butte while local children participate in volunteer-led art activities in the community. CRYP’s teen art interns and Lakota Art Fellows will support the artists, giving them priceless opportunities to learn, collaborate and practice new skills.
On July 11-12, the action will move to the youth project’s Waniyetu Wowapi (Winter Count) Art Park. All nine featured artists will paint in the park while guests enjoy hands-on art activities, traditional Lakota dancing, music and more.
In addition, Taté Walker, an award-winning two-spirit Lakota storyteller, will be returning to RedCan this year to conduct their popular youth poetry workshops. Workshop participants will have an opportunity to share their work through spoken-word performances in the art park.
As always, the Cheyenne River-based Wakinyan Maza drum group will begin and end each day with songs and a blessing. And, renowned Mvskoke Creek/Seneca hoop dancers The Sampson Brothers will be returning to RedCan again this year to teach hoop-dancing workshops and provide an eagerly anticipated Saturday evening performance to close the festival.
The RedCan Invitational Graffiti Jam has become a significant event on Cheyenne River’s annual calendar. During RedCan last year, 616 youth participated in art activities, 436 people enjoyed free community dinners in CRYP’s art park, 535 people directly engaged with artists at their mural sites, and more than 8,600 people walked, rode or drove past as the murals came to life.
“Over the last decade, RedCan has become so much more than a public art project,” said Julie Garreau, CRYP’s founder and chief executive officer. “It has become a nationally recognized model for Native youth empowerment, cultural reclamation, language revitalization and cultural exchange.”
Survey results revealed that more than 90 percent of youth agreed that RedCan made them feel proud of their culture and their local community, 79% agreed that it strengthened their cultural identity, and 60 percent agreed that RedCan participation improved their Lakota language. Nearly 100 percent said they want RedCan to continue, and it has a positive impact on the community.
Other indigenous communities are taking notice. Last year, Native youth from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in Arizona traveled to RedCan to learn more about the event and the role it plays in cultural reclamation and language revitalization. This spring, they succeeded in staging their own culturally grounded graffiti and street art festival at home.
“We were thrilled when Rezmo, a Salt River-based Diné and Mexicá artist who has participated in RedCan in the past, reached out to us to let us know about the success and impact of their event,” Garreau said. “This is absolutely what we want to see happen — Native nations creating their own arts events, by their community, for their community.”
RedCan also will be represented this year at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. RedCan artist Hoka and select CRYP art students will paint on site during the festival, which is scheduled to take place on the National Mall on July 2-7.
Just one day after that festival concludes, this year’s RedCan artists will arrive in Eagle Butte, ready to start painting at their large-scale mural sites the next morning.
To learn more about RedCan 2025, this year’s nine featured artists and special guests, and how to help support this groundbreaking event in Indian Country, visit www.lakotayouth.org/redcan. Additional details and a full schedule of events will be available in the coming weeks.
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