One artist at a time…
Duane Humeyestewa has a goal to bring equity, representation and solutions to Indigenous artists in his community through his new business.
credit by Raymond Chee
Humeyestewa’s business, Fairground Collective, will create an Indigenous Tribal Community centered marketplace. The marketplace will function on a virtual platform and will be web/app based. By being virtual, the seller and buyer would easily have access to each other, which makes it easier for the seller to generate revenue.
With this type of marketplace, the artists’ work will be accessible to a world wide audience. Which Humeyestewa feel would bring bigger opportunities to local artists and creators by allowing them to have a new audience.
He plans to launch Fairground Collective this Fall and is currently working on a two part marketing plan to get artists interested. By showing artists what this platform can accomplish, Humeyestewa is certain he’ll be able to get many artists on board.
Growing up in the village of Mishongnovi on Second Mesa in northern Arizona, he saw the struggle his dad faced as an artist trying to sell his work and that stuck with Humeyestewa. He knew he wanted to find a solution to his dad’s problem, a problem he shared with other Indigenous artists.
By nurturing the artists talents and helping them create successful businesses from their homes or studio’s, Humeyestewa believes he can help make a difference. Instead of telling artists that they need to get an education and find a job, he wants to be a solution for them to continue their creative work while making enough money to support their families.
“It’s taking all of those concepts and ideas of something that’s already inherently part of the culture and figuring out ways to really make it work to their advantage and how it can make a bigger impact directly on their pocketbooks and directly for their families and their communities,” he said.
credit - Raymond Chee
Not only does he want to get artists’ work globally available, he also want to advocate for Indigenous artists and teach buyers around the globe what authentic Indigenous made art and jewelry looks like, as well as teach them the history behind the work. He hopes to show the buyers why it’s important to buy straight from the source and what authenticity looks like compared to the fakes and frauds.
“I’ve seen it growing up on Hopi, where other manufacturers will try to copy silver overlay or jewelry or the weaving or even like Kachina dolls mass produced in China,” he said. “We’re moving in that direction with this platform to teach and educate the world, all these buyers, that’s there’s a certain authenticity and distinction to the type of work that comes out of these communities, our tribal communities.”
Through the help of Change Labs, Humeyestewa has been able to flesh out his business and business plan to better serve his future customers. He’s worked on creating a global marketplace but he’s also taken it one step further.
Through the help of Change Labs, Humeyestewa has been able to flesh out his business and business plan to better serve his future customers. He’s worked on creating a global marketplace but he’s also taken it one step further.
“What I want to do is make it so much easier for artists to just focus on what they do best, which is make and create. Our platform will handle a lot of the backend. Anything from cash flow management to administrative work to social media marketing aspects to all general administration of running a business,” he said. “Especially when it comes to accounting for example to allocate funds. We’ll create the system in a way where it’s already separating money so that your taxes are being covered and you don’t have to worry about it as an artist.”'
It’s been his dream to create a tool like this and it’s something he’s been working on for several years.
“One of the big things was witnessing and seeing the disparities that we’ve all faced as Indigenous communities,” he said was one of his inspirations. “Seeing how much we’re still behing in comparison to other cultures and communities, especially in the U.S. No matter how you position or couch it, we’re still at major disadvantage and all of those are a result of decades of suppression, or displacement, or lack of equitable access to resources, knowledge or education.”
He said there is slow change happening and he sees there is effort to help build a stronger base for indigenous communities communities but that effort isn’t as strong globally as he believes it could be.
“I noticed a few years ago that we weren’t up to par with really maximizing and leveraging technology and I think that’s one of the things that stood out,” he said.
But then he had to figure out the best way to use technology in rural communities that already lack it. the task was daunting and took a lot of research and brainstorming.
After speaking with indigenous artists at different art markets and taking a survey, he saw that there was a need and interest in his tool. When he finally launches, he plans to go door to door to one artist at a time to show them how the tool works and what benefits it offers.
“Sitting down with them one on one is going to be super important,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of hard work but it’s one of the best ways to really reach the community.”
credit - Raymond Chee