Bush fellow to explore culturally attuned investment strategies for fellow creatives

The Oglala Lakota tribal member started in her 20s with the First Nations Development Institute, then known as the First Nations Financial Project.

“While there, I built their artist marketing support system for artists,” Pourier told Buffalo’s Fire. “I’ve always done professional development type of training with artists, helping artists grow their businesses, and have always worked alongside Native community development financial institutions.”

Pourier says there are several areas of needs for artists, including access to capital and financial education. While many are skilled with brushes, pens or beadwork, few have had training in how to set up checking accounts or even have a bank.

When Pourier became active with the First Peoples Fund in 1999, she coordinated research into the arts in tribal communities, particularly the Pine Ridge Reservation.

“We found that 71% of the households were engaged in some sort of tradition based, home-based business,” said Pourier, who added that more than half of those same households were practicing traditional forms of art. “So that’s how we started.”

One of those ventures evolved into a refurbished airport shuttle with a multi-colored herd of bison design on it. Launched a decade ago and christened the Rolling Rez Arts Bus, the vehicle has traversed more than 8,000 miles across the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River reservations and made a special trip to the Sacred Stone Camp at Standing Rock. It’s employed roughly two dozen artists who’ve instructed hundreds of participants in mediums ranging from photography to rawhide painting.

“We were seeing the needs for artists,” said Pourier, noting that many artists made under $10,000 annually. By coming to them the Rolling Rez Arts bus helped artists access credit and capital, build their artistry skills and learn the fundamentals of running a business.

The Rolling Rez Arts Bus doubles as a mobile bank. Thanks to a partnership with the Lakota Federal Credit Union and Lakota Funds, artists can make deposits, cash checks and fill out loan applications, accessing services that they’d otherwise have to drive to.

“We launched the Lakota Funds on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and it was the first microloan fund in this country,” Pourier said. She also pushed for the founding of the Oglala Lakota Artspace, a dynamic facility that had its grand opening in May 2023.

Pourier founded the First Peoples Fund from 1999. Last year, she was appointed to senior fellow for the organization. Her new responsibilities include storytelling. She’s produced seven short films of the Creative Spirit Award honorees, and is doing the legacy work of First Peoples Funds for future generations.

It’s this visionary thinking that has earned Pourier recognition and respect in the Native arts community. Now she aims to build on that through her Bush Fellowship, announced in June. The Bush Foundation provides recipients up to $150,000 over a two-year period to develop skills, expertise and knowledge to help them reach new goals. In Pourier’s case, she wants to explore socially responsible ways to invest in Native artists that align with cultural values.

“Once Lori gets latched on something she doesn’t let go,” said Sherry Salway Black, a longtime friend and colleague. “She doesn’t stop until she does it.”

Black is also an Oglala Lakota tribal member who came to work for the First Nations Development Institute in 1985. Pourier had started there a few months earlier as a marketing intern, and later became the primary marketing person for First Nations Arts.

In the 40 years she’s known Pourier, Black said, her friend has spearheaded many important ventures, including the “We the Peoples Before” event held at one of Washington D.C.’s most prestigious venues in July 2022. More than 50 Native performers took to the Kennedy Center stage to share stories, music and dance that demonstrated traditions infused with more modern elements, including jazz and hip-hop.

“She really wanted to bring Native people and their art and culture to the Kennedy Center in a very big way. She’d had this idea in her head for at least 10 years.”

Pourier became the event’s executive producer and managed to get all the tribal flags displayed inside the Kennedy Center for the three-day event.

“It was phenomenal,” recalled Black. “It was dance, it was art. It was a performance on one of the main stages. They had a big procession that went all the way around the Kennedy Center, we had special presentations by Hawaiian people. The performers who were in it rehearsed for months and months to do this.”

Black said for all of Pourier’s achievements, she retains a generous spirit. This includes sharing her knowledge with others wanting to empower and sustain Native artists.

“And humble,” added Black. “She has a very humble nature as well.”

Another person who admires Pourier is a 2022 Bush Fellow. Tashina Banks Rama — whose father, Dennis Banks, was a co-founder of the American Indian Movement — said she’s known Pourier for most of her life, but the two became especially tight in their late teens.

“Lori is an incredible sister, a friend to have in your life,” said Rama. “She really is a cheerleader and a champion for women.”

Rama said she invited Pourier to be part of a Lakota womanhood ceremony for two of her young daughters: “That’s how much I love and respect her. I want her type of influence and wisdom imparted to my daughters. She’s a person who shows up and walks her talk, and I absolutely adore her.”

As executive vice president of Maȟpíya Luta, or Red Cloud Indian School, Rama also has worked to empower Native people. A self-described “A.I.M baby” of Oglala Lakota and Anishinaabe heritage, Rama said it was Pourier’s activism and lifting up of Indigenous rights that created a connection between them.

“It’s not even just our region in the Midwest and the Plains areas,” said Rama. “She has impacted tribes across the country with all of the work she’s been doing with First People’s Fund over these last 25 to 30 years, and in the early days of the Community Development Financial Institution.”

Rama said Pourier is a visionary in how she’s built up investment for culture and tradition bearers across the Native arts community. She believes her friend’s foresight will make her succeed as a Bush Fellow.

“The Bush Fellowship has really changed so many lives around me, and I can’t wait to see what it does for Lori.”

Looking back at her 26 years working with the First People’s Fund, Pourier feels that she’s helped many Native artists, performers and filmmakers find their footing and voice. She said there have been more than 115 Community Spirit Award honorees now, and she considers them her teachers.

“I draw all of my inspiration from the artists and the tradition keepers,” she said. “Those artists continue to be my teachers and my inspiration in the work I do.”