To help support the Standing Rock community, students from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) will host an event to raise funds for the Sacred Stone School at Standing Rock on October 16, 2016, from 2 to 4pm, in the Library and Technology Center (LTC) on the IAIA campus. Organized by IAIA student Barbara Robidoux, the event will feature readings by noted authors Diane Glancy (Cherokee) and Toni Jensen (Metis), along with a short film and talk by Ricardo Caté (Santo Domingo Pueblo).

Caté is a well-known cartoonist from Kewa Pueblo. He recently spent an extended time in North Dakota at the Sacred Stone Camps where he made a film of his experiences. He is also creating a book of his art that was completed there. Diane Glancy is an award-winning poet, playwright, and novelist. In 2008-2009, she held the Visiting Richard Thomas Chair at Kenyon College. Prior to this position, Glancy taught creative writing for nearly two decades at Macalester College. Her books include Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears and Designs of the Night Sky, both of which draw on the history of the Cherokee Removal, as well as Stone Heart: A Novel of Sacajawea. Toni Jensen (Métis) is the author of From the Hilltop, a collection of linked stories published through the Native Storiers Series at the University of Nebraska Press. She holds a Ph.D. from Texas Tech University and teaches in the MFA program at the University of Arkansas.

In addition to the film and readings, the event will feature a show of artwork for sale in the lobby outside the auditorium with paintings created by kids from Standing Rock School brought back by the approximately 30 IAIA students who recently visited the site. All support collected and proceeds from the sale of the art will go to benefit the Sacred Stone School—Defenders of the Waters—at Standing Rock.