WBAY quotes Prof. Leary, alumna, actress on Native American cinema

Native American cinema events at and around UW-Green Bay are generating participation and media attention. On Monday (March 4), WBAY, Channel 2 came to campus to capture one of those sessions, a Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) workshop titled “The Business of Acting: SAG Professional Acting Workshop.” Led by actress DeLanna Studi (Cherokee), casting director Rene Haynes and Brian Wescott (Athabascan), the workshop introduced participants to the business of acting, from headshots to auditions and more. WBAY’s Kristyn Allen spoke with Assistant Prof. JP Leary, who helped bring the workshop to campus, along with Studi and recent UW-Green Bay alumnus Luanne Funmaker. “(It’s) to help our native students think about, ‘people like me do this. People like me do this here,’ ” said Leary, First Nations Studies. “There are opportunities to embrace this craft and hone this craft, right here on our very own campus.” Click here  (full story) to see the WBAY news video.

Studi (with microphone, below), who is national chair of SAG-AFTRA’s Native issues committee, concludes her one-week residency at UW-Green Bay with a free program from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Friday, March 8, in the Rose Hall 250 =. Titled “Arts and Advocacy in American Indian Education,” the session featuring Studi will share stories of her upbringing and education in rural Oklahoma, her experiences as a professional performer in film and theatre, and how these experiences have led her to become an advocate for Native issues.

The week’s events represent a collaboration among UW-Green Bay, the Green Bay Film Festival and a new organization, the local American Indian Film Society being led by members of the Oneida Nation. The project is funded in part by a major grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council’s Greater Green Bay Area Humanities Fund, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.