“A great race was held between the two legged and the four legged as the world was deciding its order. A young female bison was favored to win for the four legged, a young Lakota man and the birds ran for the two legged. In the end the young man fell behind as had all the birds except one. The magpie, who during all the racing and competing was forgotten about, rode on the back of the bison and in the end flew ahead and won the race for the two legged. ”
About Racing Magpie
Racing Magpie is a Lakota-centric arts and culture organization located in Rapid City, South Dakota, founded in 2015. We do our best to center the Lakota practice of being a good relative in everything that we do and our mission is to elevate and amplify the work that artists and culture bearers are doing already in our community. We do this through affordable studios, a Native art gallery, arts and cultural programming, innovative collaborations, and creative community space.
Throughout our history, we have sought out innovative and collaborative approaches to amplifying the incredible creative and community work already happening in Native communities. This leads to many experiences with our community resulting in short- and long-term impact to us as an organization and artists and culture bearers in our region. Perhaps even more importantly, we continue to build mutual trust and deeper and more meaningful relationships with artists and Lakota community members. Each year, we see a new landscape of what programming our community asks of us, and we embrace that as best we can.
We are explicitly rooted in Lakota thought and action, which includes a holistic view of being a good relative to everyone around us - animate and inanimate. This worldview and approach include considering our responsibilities and obligations to the entire surrounding world (animate and inanimate) and expecting, if not requiring, reciprocal behavior and actions from others. In reflection of Lakota epistemology and practices, we are deeply committed to inclusive and creative decision-making processes, while focusing our input and output on Lakota and other Native artists, culture bearers, and communities. Our programming, planning, structures, and decisions are made with Lakota community members and artists in mind, often thinking generations into the future. We also spend considerable time and energy encouraging others to make more meaningful opportunities for Native artists and community members in their artistic and organizational endeavors.
Our values and guiding principles:
Racing Magpie is committed to growing and maintaining our relationships to the land, our community, and our human and non-human relatives through all of our work. All that we do is guided by a set of five principles, each of which is intertwined with our core values of respect, reciprocity, and collectivity.
Being a good relative
Thinking seven generations ahead
Maintaining a good relationship with the land
Enabling action by allowing space for others to approach solutions in ways that feel right for them
Creating space for feedback