It’s back. This July, graffiti artists from around the world will converge once again in a small town on the South Dakota prairie for a revolutionary, one-of-a-kind arts celebration: the 2nd annual RedCan graffiti jam at the Cheyenne River Youth Project®.
The RedCan gathering, scheduled for July 6-9 at CRYP’s Waniyetu Wowapi (Winter Count) Art Park and at sites throughout the Eagle Butte community, is unlike any other public graffiti event. On the remote Cheyenne River Lakota reservation, graffiti culture and Lakota culture come together in a creative explosion of culture, innovation and fellowship.
“We’re thrilled to be hosting RedCan for a second year,” said Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director. “The inaugural event exceeded our wildest expectations, and it really resonated with our community — particularly with our children. We’re deeply grateful to the artists who gave us their time, ideas and dedication, and we couldn’t be happier that several of them are returning this year.”
The featured artists in this historic event are: Serval from Switzerland; Scribe from Kansas City, Missouri; East from Denver, Colorado; Kazilla from Miami, Florida; and Biafra, Cyfi, Daesk and Wundr from Minnesota’s Twin Cities. (To view the artists’ bios and learn more about them, download the RedCan Graffiti Jam iPhone app through the iTunes App Store.)
According to Garreau, RedCan provides priceless inspiration to Cheyenne River’s young people, who seek to explore their identities, find their own unique voices, and express themselves in a positive, healthy way. It also offers offers an unprecedented opportunity for the Cheyenne River community as a whole to experience what has become the largest art movement in the history of humankind.
“RedCan gives featured artists the opportunity to show off different techniques and styles,” she explained. “Community members and visitors are able to get an inside look at the contemporary graffiti movement, which has evolved so dramatically in the last five decades.”
RedCan also brings together generations and cultures in the Cheyenne River community and in Waniyetu Wowapi, an innovative, free public art space dedicated to graffiti, street art and traditional Lakota painting. The park is a gathering place where positive self-expression, storytelling, reconciliation and healing takes place for all. And, once again, hip-hop groups, native drum groups and native dancers will be on hand to ensure that RedCan is a high-energy merging of two worlds.
“Once you’ve experienced it, RedCan will stay with you for a lifetime,” Garreau said. “Our artists came back to us after last year’s event and told us that RedCan was unlike anything they’d ever experienced. They were genuinely moved by it.”
Hosting such a major event with acclaimed artists from around the world is no small task, and CRYP is asking for support from from RedCan fans. It has started a fundraising campaign through Crowdrise, and 100 percent of the proceeds will be used to purchase paint, artist supplies, food and beverages, and to help cover the artists’ travel expenses. For more information on how to help support RedCan, contact organizers at redcan.cryp@gmail.com.
And, for a peek at what you can expect at this year’s RedCan graffiti jam, visit the youth project’s YouTube channel. In the video library, you’ll CRYP’s newly released trailer for the 2016 RedCan event, as well as the trailer and a 12-minute documentary feature from 2015.To stay up to date on the latest CRYP news and events, follow the youth project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The Cheyenne River Youth Project, founded in 1988, is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing the youth of the Cheyenne River reservation with access to a vibrant and secure future through a wide variety of culturally sensitive and enduring programs, projects and facilities that ensure strong, self-sufficient families and communities.