The Minneapolis American Indian Center is using technology – like short form video and music production – to teach Dakota and Ojibwe to young people in the Twin Cities.
Transcript
This is Minnesota's Legacy, a look at the organizations and the people who have benefited from Minnesota's Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.
Nat Sound: Today, we're going to be showing you how to have a conversation in Dakota and Ojibwe.
Julie Censullo: In Minneapolis, Indigenous teens are finding creative ways to show off their language skills. These are participants in Project TALK, or Technology-Assisted Language Keepers, which is based out of the Minneapolis American Indian Center.
Mary La Garde: So Project TALK is utilizing technology, doing some teachings with our young people.
Julie Censullo: This is Mary Lagarde. She's the Executive Director of the Minneapolis American Indian Center.
Mary La Garde:
You know, a lot of our community members might not have had access to Ojibwe language or to their Dakota language, so there really has been that need.
Julie Censullo: The Minneapolis American Indian Center is a leader in language preservation, but thanks to support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, they've been able to expand their offerings to young people. One group of Project TALK students even wrote and produced their own hip hop songs in Dakota and Ojibwe.
Mary La Garde: Being able to revitalize languages has been just really important for all of our urban community members.
Minnesota's Legacy is produced by AMPERS with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Online at AMPERS dot ORG.