The Arrow's Journey: Online Video Series

Using Digital Media to Inspire Youth through Video Storytelling

Indigenous peoples consider an arrow to be a representation of life’s journey where the arrowhead is the individual’s view soaring through its course and the rod symbolizing connectivity to its roots, a continuation of each origin. Much like a snowflake, every arrow is unique, none having traveled the same passage or having a mirrored outcome. Every indigenous person holds their own arrow, tethered, redefined, and shaped by their life's hardships and blessings. Above all, we can share our arrows’ journeys to not only inspire others, but also aid one another in healing from a troubled history, standing as a bundle of arrows, unable to be broken.

The Arrows Journey Indigenous Initiative is an all-indigenous-lead media production company designed to inspire and empower Indigenous peoples in their journey. Today, there are 3.2 billion people using social media, up 13% from last year with 88% of users being 18 to 29 year olds (Hootsuite Social Media Barometer Report 2018). Using this expanding platform to reach a young and diverse audience, The Arrows Journey Indigenous Initiative will broadcast the successes and strengths of Indigenous youth to create connectivity and provide a unique voice to indigenous peoples in a technologically expanding social world through an online series named The Arrow’s Journey. Here, we intend on creating a platform for video storytelling where we can bridge oral tradition with present day social technologies. With The Arrow's Journey we can share young and successful Indigenous people’s experiences in achieving their ambitions and motivate the audience in their own lives to enrich their reserves/reservations. Furthermore, being located in Utah, we are also strive to directly serve with local communities such as the Navajo Nation and travel to Oceti Sakowin and Hopi Tribe communities to work with successful youth.

Adam Conte, one of our Founders, was raised with traditional Oneida knowledge and saw his own community threatened to be stripped of its culture. When searching for solutions, he came to recognize how internet-based means can uplift and give back to other Indigenous youth and sparked the idea for The Arrow’s Journey. Through the Arrows Journey Indigenous Initiative, we can bridge all peoples in efforts to find solutions that eliminate miscommunication and misrepresentation of indigenous youth. Without hearing positive narratives, indigenous youth could believe that their own lives will follow the negative narratives they so often hear.

The Arrows Journey Indigenous Initiative will also give a hands-on chance for youth to grow and develop through internship opportunities and gain experience with our potential partnerships with events like the UEN Film Festival. Though reaching a broad audience is eased through the versatility of social medias, we still face a challenge in funding potential interns. However, programs like Solve MIT stand to provide resources to set all unique arrows’ paths on a beautiful and successful journey. Together as a bundle of arrows within home communities and in an ever-growing web of internet activity, we the future of our indigenous communities, can become united in all platforms of life.

Though social and digital media have been popularized in the last decade through various platforms such as Facebook, its application to traditional storytelling remains unique. We believe with the collaboration of the two we can uplift and give back to other Indigenous youth.

The Arrow’s Journey Online Series gives a medium to reach Indigenous youth through popular social and digital platforms to share and inspire through video storytelling. With the unique combination of storytelling and videography, we are innovatively using their strengths in reaching young Indigenous peoples in creating a community of cultural sharing and encouragement.

The Arrow’s Journey is accessible to anyone with internet and is free to be viewed by all. We hope that any individual can get on their phone or computer, click a video from our series and be able to listen to the many voices of our diverse indigenous nations.

Currently, the Arrows Journey Indigenous Initiative is a small all Native led team serving hundreds of viewers from various communities throughout the United States and Canada. Videos broadcasted on The Arrow’s Journey social medias have reached thousands of views and have inspired and encouraged even more.

2019 Goals:

• Obtain quality videography equipment to film ‘The Arrow’s Journey’ online series

• Travel to different Indigenous communities to film on site

• Edit, release and promote video content to further program vision (10 videos)

• Achieve partnering with the Utah Education Network Native Film Festival and others

• Set the foundation for internship program with Arrows Journey Indigenous Initiative (3-5 interns for short term internships)
  

Since its debut, we have produced over ten videos on successful indigenous youth and one of our videos had over 39,000 views through Facebook alone. In our comments and reviews, we have heard from many indigenous peoples saying that our featured youth videos have been “very captivating, inspirational; just awestruck”. We have also been awarded a grant with the Running Strong for American Indian Youth Dreamstarter program to continue our current work and fuel our future projects.

MIT Solve has encouraged future indigenous leaders to find self-sustaining and innovative solutions in assessing various issues affecting our Native communities. With The Arrow’s Journey online series, we provide an easy means to find support and traditionalism through different social and digital pathways. In the future, The Arrows Journey Indigenous Initiative will provide internship opportunities for youth interested in using technology to serve their own communities. Together with Solve MIT, we can continue to create positive narratives for our indigenous communities.

Currently, we are working with Running Strong for American Indian Youth Dreamstarter, a program designed to fund young indigenous youth with innovative projects. With this program we strive to complete various projects such as implementing an internship curriculum and launching our online video series.  

We would like to work with individuals and organizations that are ran by and for indigenous people. Partnerships such as one with various film festivals like Utah Education Network (UEN) American Indian Film Festival would enrich our future interns’ experiences and the further capture the beauty of our indigenous communities.