The National Academy of Native Arts Society (NANAAS)

[BlackWolf]

Has anyone ever heard of this?

http://www.nanaas.com/home.html

[Diana]

Hmmm, I can't remember ever hearing of this group, but I did notice that Jim Boyd is a board member. I just saw him this past weekend and I will probably be running into him again in a few weeks. I'll ask him about this group.


Lim lemtsh,


Diana


 

[educatedindian]

If you go to their list of board members, it seems to be entirely nonNative except for Boyd.

And the board has this guy, Ed Laughry, who calls himself Redhawk. We have a thread on him, and he's part of several dubious groups.
 http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=797.0

Their site also claims they support the Native crafts acts regarding authenticity. But since the law covers crafts and not music, it's a bit confusing what they're claiming. There are no crafts for sale on the site. Are they claiming all the music is NDN? All the artists? Obviously not, since they sell Laughry's and have him as a board member.

[Superdog]

With the exception of Jim Boyd there's not a lot of the music they're presenting that I particularly like.  But that's just a personal opinion.  Ed Laughry...too cheesy and stereotypical.  Red Blanket, nice bunch of guys and they are there because of their proximity to the production, but they are not a true southern drum in the literal sense and, from the sound samples, also make an attempt at northern music for the show.  Nothing out of the ordinary, however.

I wouldn't list this organization as a fraudulent group, however, as they state that they are open to Native as well as non-Natives who support Native cultures.

From their site (bottom of page):
http://www.nanaas.com/newnewsatnanaas/thenativeamericatour.html

"The NANAAS supports all Native American arts and crafts (designed and or manufactured) including all listed categories up for nominations. All aforementioned categories under consideration by the NANAAS are open to Native and non-Native alike who support the Native culture, arts and history. At the same time the NANAAS recognizes the laws supporting “authentically claimed” Native arts and crafts.
 
THEREFORE;
The NANAAS supports the Native American Arts and Craft Act of 1990.  All arts and crafts products, displayed, for sale or exhibited during any and all award shows will comply with The U.S. Department of Interior’s Indian Arts and Crafts A ct of 1990 (P.L. 101-644) including any and all updated amendments. The law covers all Indian and Indian-style traditional and contemporary arts and crafts produced after 1935.               
Visit http://www.doi.gov/iacb/act.html  for more information."

-----------------------------

This also explains their support of Native crafts and authenticity as it mentions that crafts sold at their performances will comply with the Native American Arts and Craft Act. 

While I may not personally like that the PBS is filming a documentary on these performances, it's just my opinion.  I think there are much more deserving Native theater productions and PBS has done a good job in the past finding them and staying away from lower quality (which I believe this to be).

However, this group is not fraudulent.

Superdog

[Superdog]

I do find one thing amusing however.  In an effort to pad the accomplishments of the board of directors they've listed on all of them "voting member of the Grammy Awards."

This statement in an of itself is very misleading.  The truth of it is they are all members of the National Recording Academy.  In order to become a member of the Recording Academy you need 6 credits in your lifetime of recordings that are sold in the market.  That doesn't mean you need to record 6 separate albums.  It just means you have been given credit of any sort for helping create or perform any single pieces of music.  If you work in spoken word recordings this applies as well...as long as the work is recorded and then sold.  While they make it sound like a big deal, it really isn't all that hard to become a member of the Recording Academy and all members are eligible to vote on the Grammy Awards.  The only other requirement is that you pay your yearly dues.

I have in the past been a member of the Recording Academy, but I've let my yearly dues go by the wayside because it really didn't do a thing for me as I'm not a practicing musician of any sort and it's a little on the expensive side. 

They separate the music into different "fields" which are broad ranges of categories and you can vote on any of the fields you choose up 8.  You don't have to even like the music you're voting for or even have listened to it, if you choose to....you can vote for it.  For anyone that's ever wondered, that's how they get questionable winners often in new or rarely heard from categories.  (i.e. Jethro Tull winning the first Heavy Metal grammy, and a few questionable winners in the Native American category as well.)

Superdog