Museum on Main Street

The South Dakota Humanities Council, in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution, sponsors Museum on Main Street traveling exhibitions at various venues throughout the state.

SDHC is excited to announce that

SPARK! Places of Innovation

**IS NOW OPEN AT THE**

DACOTAH PRAIRIE MUSEUM
in Aberdeen, SD!

For more information, please visit https://dacotahprairiemuseum.org/

**The SPARK! Places of Innovation traveling exhibition will be touring South Dakota**

May 18, 2024 – March 1, 2025

Cheyenne River Youth Project

Rapid City Public Library

Centennial Stone Church

Dacotah Prairie Museum

Sinte Gleska University

In cooperation with The Smithsonian Institution, the South Dakota Humanities Council is sponsoring the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street traveling exhibition, “Spark! Places of Innovation,” on tour from May 2024 to March 2025.

Spark! Places of Innovation explores the unique combination of places, people, and circumstances that sparks innovation and invention in rural communities. Technical, social, cultural, artistic, or a combination of all of these– every innovation is as unique as each community. Inspired by an exhibition by the National Museum of American History, the exhibition features stories gathered from diverse communities across the nation. Photographs, engaging interactives, objects, videos, and augmented reality bring a multilayered experience to reveal the leaders, challenges, successes, and future of innovation in each town.

Five venues have been chosen throughout South Dakota to host this traveling exhibition: Eagle Butte, Rapid City, Huron, Aberdeen, and Mission.

In each of the five Spark! tour locations, the host venues will contribute their own programming to give the exhibition a unique, locally-based context. While SDHC does provide financial assistance and logistical support to the venues at each Spark! tour site, the exhibit will be unique and representative of different themes across our state.

SDHC would like to recognize a remarkable contribution to the Smithsonian Institution and the SPARK! Places of Innovation traveling exhibition.

The entirety of the SPARK! Places of Innovation exhibition was translated into the Lakota language by three remarkable gentlemen: Alex Fire Thunder, Richard Two Dogs, and Robert Two Crow. The translated materials, which are also available in Spanish, are now a permanent component of the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibition tour.

The South Dakota Humanities Council and the Smithsonian Institution are grateful to these gentlemen for their significant contribution to the exhibition and the preservation of the Lakota language.

There is so much to learn from the story of rural America!

The story of human history is written in inventions and innovations. People are problem- solvers. Sometimes we invent. More often, we innovate—we introduce a fresh idea or an invention into use in some way that creates a new way of doing or thinking.

Invention can happen anywhere and it’s happening right now in small towns across America. Rural Americans are creating new products, taking risks, meeting challenges together, and seizing upon exciting opportunities that change local life and sometimes reach far beyond.

EDUCATOR RESOURCES

Smithsonian Institution Program at Maȟpíya Lúta Owáyawa/Red Cloud School Highlights Youth Innovation

Innovation is nothing new in South Dakota, but an ongoing youth project at Maȟpíya Lúta Owáyawa/Red Cloud School in Pine Ridge has gained national attention by being selected for funding in the amount of $10,000 by the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program as part of its Youth Innovation in Rural America (YIRA) project.

The podcast project – entitled “Wóiwahoye Gluótkuŋzapi” (Keeping the Promise) – is a unique initiative led entirely by students and conducted in the Lakota language. The initiative, which began with its first podcast in the Fall of 2023, has since expanded to include the creation of a video series to accompany the podcasts during the current school year. Amanda Carlow, Director of Adult Lakota Language Instruction at Maȟpíya Lúta, shared that the goal for this expansion is to extend beyond the podcast’s immediate impact to foster an environment where the Lakota language thrives, creating a lasting legacy for generations to come.

The video series shines a light on the dedication and creativity of the student interns involved, contributing their time and talents to each project while at the same time learning the Lakota language themselves. With fewer than 6,000 fluent Lakota speakers remaining, the timing and impact of this program cannot be understated.

While the teaching of any language in the classroom is important, additional effort is vital in creating fluent speakers. This past summer, student interns introduced a new and unique component to their YIRA programming: teaching students basketball using the Lakota language. The initiative incorporates the Lakota language into sports while promoting physical activity. In keeping with the task of the exhibition tour, it also empowers youth to be agents of change and innovation in their community…and this empowerment has not gone unnoticed. Carlow also stated that, “even in the project’s inaugural year, the school and community have witnessed the transformative power of student-led initiatives, and the podcast has emerged as a testament to our commitment to linguistic and cultural diversity. The content produced is not merely a series of episodes, it is a celebration of the Lakota language, a medium through which our students express their identity, thoughts, and ideas.“

This YIRA project is part of the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street exhibition, SPARK! Places of Innovation, a program sponsored by the South Dakota Humanities Council currently touring various sites in South Dakota.

SDHC is honored to support Maȟpíya Lúta in this innovative project that honors, celebrates, and preserves the beauty of the Lakota language through student empowerment. For more information about Maȟpíya Lúta’s efforts to revitalize and preserve the Lakota language and a link to the podcasts, visit https://mahpiyaluta.org/lak%C8%9Fota-language-resource-othi/

SPARK! Tour Information

May 18 – June 29, 2024 Cheyenne River Youth Project, Eagle Butte
https://lakotayouth.org/

July 6 – August 17, 2024 Rapid City Public Library, Rapid City
https://www.rapidcitylibrary.org/

August 24 – October 5, 2024 Centennial Stone Church, Huron
https://www.thedakotalandmuseum.org/

October 12 – January 11, 2025 Dacotah Prairie Museum, Aberdeen
https://dacotahprairiemuseum.org/

January 18 – March 1, 2025 Sinte Gleska University, Mission
https://www.sintegleska.edu/heritage-center.html

For the most current and up-to-date information on “SPARK!” events and programming in each community, please use the individual venue contact information provided to contact the venue directly.