RedLine is a proud partner and administrator of the Arts in Society grant. This collaborative program provides grants to both individuals and organizations that use art as a vehicle to promote social justice and community welfare.

We love highlighting our Arts in Society (AiS) grant recipients and all the unique and impactful projects made possible by their grant.

We’re excited continue this series with the 2023 AiS Grantee: Huajatolla Heritage Foundation (HHF)!

Learn all about HHF and how this foundation promotes cultural preservation and equity by honoring cultures through art, education, and presentation.

Tell us about your organization

Huajatolla Heritage Foundation (HHF) has been serving Huerfano County for 6 years. It was founded as an official vehicle to address a social issue in the small community of La Veta, Colorado.

The local school mascot was the “Redskins.” A group of middle-school students in a critical thinking class came to Sandy Dolak (founder) and asked if she would support their efforts to change the mascot. Of course she would, but at the time had no idea there was a firestorm about to be unleashed.

Many of the citizens of La Veta loved their mascot and felt a change threatened the fiber of the community. It was not pretty. Sandy received backlash!

*Image of Sandy Dolak, courtesy of Rocky Mountain PBS*

Sandy’s Native friends suggested that she put her efforts into activities that would honor the Native communities and illustrate the positive aspects of their rich contributions to the legacy of our area.

Thus, was born the idea for HHF to “promote cultural preservation and equity; honoring cultures through art, education, and presentation.” And after more than seven years, the mascot was changed to the RedHawks!

HHF came to embrace so much more than that single issue and as an organization became aware of other issues of social injustice to the Native and Hispano cultures in our area that were the absolute foundation of our communities.

It was then that HHF embarked on efforts to not only honor those who came before, but to provide opportunities and platforms to share the richness and wisdom through a number of different avenues.

“HHF acknowledges the importance of providing opportunities to participate in cultural sharing with the resulting pride in personal heritage, especially for youth.”

— HFF

Tell us about your first project that will utilize your AiS grant

The AiS grant to HHF is building on an AiS grant made to another non-profit that Sandy worked closely with in 2022. That grant, El Arte de Nuestros Abuelos (the Art of our Grandparents) defines living as an artist and working with the Hispano community in Huerfano County with the goal of the “WisdomKeepers becoming the WisdomSharers.”

As is often the case, the more deeply that project became embedded in the community, the more aware HHF became of the need to collect and share more of the rich history and stories. Our supply of the great knowledge keepers is diminishing almost every day and although not intentionally, with each generation the rich legacy becomes more dilute.

The AiS grant awarded HHF in 2023 addressed this very issue to support the work of the Wisdom Archives of Huerfano County.

*Norberto Valdez presents at La Veta Public Library courtesy of RMPBS*

Of the many grants that we have received over the years, this has been the absolute most rewarding. Our first major project this year was to showcase 25 Founding Hispano Families of Huerfano County in a pictorial archive.

HHF was fortunate to partner with two people that had been involved in collecting some of this information but had not shared it collectively or publicly.

On May 28th and 29th we had a two-day event to introduce our 18-foot pictorial archive in both La Veta and Walsenburg. Although there are far more than 25 (and we actually featured 33 families with 39 surnames) we only featured the ones that we had pictures of.

The pictures are dated between 1862 and 1900. We presented the pictorial debut with a gala celebration with food and music. The project continues with the display traveling throughout the county. It will be shown in Pueblo at the Heritage Museum in September, and is being invited to a genealogical event in Denver in the fall.

What’s next in the pipeline for your organization? What other projects are you dreaming up for next year, and how will your AiS grant help to support these efforts?

Building on our successful model with the Founding Families project, we wanted to reach out to honor other ethnic groups in our culturally diverse county.

Our current project is “Coal Camps and Cow Camps—how the miners, ranchers and cowboys shaped the legacy of Huerfano County.”

During the “heyday” of coal mining in Huerfano County, it was recorded that there were 57 different languages spoken!

We will again create a similar 18-foot pictorial display. Along with the display will be historical information on the many mines in the area and the 14 Centennial Ranches.

We have two great musicians lined up: Tom Munch doing mining related songs and old cowboy tunes. Alan Povilka will be playing accordion tunes that resonate with many of the ethnicities represented in the project.

And food? Of course, food. Not exotic, but true to both “camps”—beans and cornbread! We are working on a roster of speakers that will tell all sides of the mining legacy and Huerfano County’s relationship to the historic Ludlow Massacre that was just a few miles from the county line.

The stories of the cowboys and the ranchers are a bit more challenging to collect, in that they don’t think their stories are important. It’s still more of a living legacy while the mines have long ago closed down.

Having all the stories and history gathered together will hopefully bring to awareness some of the social injustices that have not been taught in sterilized history.

It’s exciting that Story Corp by NPR has taken interest and offered to help get our work archived in the Library of Congress!

What was your experience like when applying for an AiS? What tips would you share with artists looking to apply for an AiS grant?

I have successfully applied to AIS with several different hats and a couple of different umbrellas. I love the opportunities that are provided for individuals, projects, and non-profits. When RedLine got involved, it got even better.

I feel the key is to understanding what it is that AIS funds and be in alignment with that. It is more than simply art. It is cross sector projects that involve art and artists in finding solutions to social and civic change.

Being able to think of art as more than just something to create or appreciate, but thinking of art as a catalyst that can address social issues is key to successful applications.