Issue 11 | Barayamal Digest

Australia’s leading Indigenous publishing house Magabala Books has been named the Small Publisher of the Year at the 2020 ABIA Australian Book Industry Awards, where three of its titles were also shortlisted. First Nations Telegraph

Despite being selected above dozens of entries for the non-acquisitive prize worth $12,000, conceptual artist Amala Groom said it was a “bittersweet” win. The Wiradyuri woman said she made the piece, titled Copywrong, in response to the lack of copyright entitlements for Indigenous cultural materials. ABC Central West

Are you interested in being interviewed for the Indigipreneur podcast? The world’s first podcast focused on promoting First Nations Entrepreneurship to the world. Barayamal

An interesting subplot within this important topic is that of the indigenous label. We’ve seen it in British Columbia with Nk’Mip Cellars and it’s taking hold elsewhere on the wine map as well, sharing at least a small fragment of a rapidly growing slice of the drinks economy with native peoples. The Manual

Considering how much effort the Frog Lake First Nation has spent developing its oil business over the decades, the decision to turn off the taps was especially difficult for the community to make. Still, based on dollars and cents, it was a no-brainer. Since drilling for oil and natural gas began in the 1970s, the community has been able to use resource revenues to build more than 200 homes on the reserve and offset tuition for hundreds of students who attend college and university. CBC News

Neechee Studio is a studio led by emerging Indigenous artists that provides free art workshops for young Indigenous people. These workshops are made available for youth aged 14 – 30. Savanna Boucher is the co-program coordinator alongside Lucille Atlookan, a founding member with Matilda Suganaqueb. When Boucher started in 2015, she was a youth committee member and she noticed a common theme: everyone attending was a young Indigenous student coming from all over Ontario. TBNewsWatch.com

Since March it has had to cancel tours resulting in a loss of $60,000. “Trying to create revenue when we can’t do cultural tours is kind of hard,” said Dennis Thomas, senior business development manager of Takaya Tours. This year is Takaya Tours’s 20th annniversary. It usually does about 160 tours in its seasonal operational period of six to seven months. CBC News