LISTENING GROUND SPONSORSHIP
Building relationships and collaborating with our sponsors is paramount to this transformative listening project. Become part of our story circle and add your breath of life!  Help us perpetuate the endangered orality of tribal American people for future generations.
2014 Funding Goal:  $77,250
Funding Timeline. Help us reach these gifting milestones!
Big shout out to 2013 donors for helping us raise $2,800 thus far!  
  • $24,450 by April 30, 2014
  • $25,000 by August 31, 2014
  • $25,000 by December 31, 2014
Your Sponsorship supports the following projects:
<> Collection of Indigenous Stories 
The collection includes: 
  1. Ways of Blessing:  Stories that prepare people for rituals and give them the strength for ceremonies.
  2. First Things:  Stories told about concerning being new, first things and starting over. Stories about being born and coming into this world. Creation myths, legends of traveling from the second world to this world, the birth of First Man and of Changing Woman.  Stories about how the rivers came to be, what drove mountains up and valley down and how corn arrived on this earth.
  3. Explaining Why:  Stories given to explain why Coyote has a bushy tail, why animals cannot talk with people anymore, why skunks and owls are to be avoided.  Questions that cannot be answered are discussed.  
  4. Saying What Cannot Be Said:  Stories of death and how to prepare for dying. Ancient prophecies of the world dying, ready to be reborn, to move on into the fourth world.  These stories can be very clear and explicit telling exactly what to do to prepare.  Or they can point to what cannot be said directly and leave the important things to silence.
<> Hama-Ha, Winter Hearth  (Audio Podcast)
This podcast series is set around the winter hearth and regenerates winter storytelling time. In tribal American oral traditions there are specific stories and topics only shared during winter, such as Coyote and Raven stories, hunting songs and winter dances.  Host storyteller, Larry Littlebird, will be joined by guest Native elders and storytellers. We envision the Hama-Ha, Winter Storytelling Time podcast becoming a featured radio program with ongoing episodes. 

<> The Front Porch (Audio Podcast)
This podcast series is the seasonal companion to Hama-Ha winter stories. In winter, the stories are quiet, reflective, introspective, then in summer, stories of instruction are shared.  Sitting under the shade arbor in the heat of the day, these stories tell how to do the simplest recipe or perform the hardest task. They help the boy or girl become a man or woman. They help us learn how wool is turned into a rug or the clay is formed into a water jar, so that every detail of action, every moment of thought and feeling can be done correctly by the individual and community.  Host storyteller, Larry Littlebird, will be joined by guest Native elders and storytellers. We envision The Front Porch podcast becoming a featured radio program with ongoing episodes. 
<> Larry Littlebird's Story Blog 
Pueblo Indian author and master storyteller, Larry Littlebird shares real time stories as he travels through time and place, embarking on a one-year listening journey upon his beloved Southwest homelands during a time of great climate change and drought.It 

<> It All Begins with Water (Short Film)
An evocative, visually rich video features Larry Littlebird, Pueblo Indian storyteller/artist and hunter-farmer, as he shares stories, songs and prophecies from his rich tribal American oral tradition.  Stories which still flow unbroken through a remnant oral culture lineage.  Stories about climate change and building resilient communities during times of drought. Stories of our kinship to water and our relationships to land, air, fire, plants, bees, elk, deer and all creatures. This video gives the story listener a rare glimpse into simple living rooted in indigenous land wisdom and spiritual principles. 
<> The Planting Stick (Short Film)
This engaging educational video features Larry Littlebird, a Pueblo Indian farmer as he shares stories and songs about his rich Pueblo Indian life ways through the lens of indigenous land wisdom. The film begins with a Pueblo man in his cornfield singing a blessing song for planting corn “the old way”.  As we walk with him on the land, we discover how our walking stick becomes our planting stick, which then transforms into our talking stick. 

<> Elders/Storytellers (Honorariums and Travel)
We have been blessed over the years to work with and know many consecrated tribal American storytellers.  Several of these precious ones have already crossed over.  Many are on our endangered radar.   We feel an urgent prompting to capture these story dialogues as Larry Littlebird visits with tribal elders and kin.  

<> Interactive Website
The Listening Ground interactive website will feature recorded Native stories as well as become an online resource for educating people about tribal American people, history, culture and place. The website design will be visually evocative with layers of material leading the "listener" through a personal experience in a spiraling motion much like the  listening process unfolds between storyteller and story listener.  

<> Book and Study Guide
Weaving together Larry Littlebird's work as a master storyteller, gifted artist/painter and writer, the Listening Ground book will draw from the breadth of Littlebird's storywork spanning the past five decades. This exclusive compilation of story, art and poetry with a companion study guide will be used for developing an approach to storytelling based upon tribal American oral traditions and educational concepts. This exceptional book will be a treasure trove for all ages and generations to come.  
HAI'KA'MI $1,000
DHU'WE'YA $2,000
CHU'MI'YA  $3,000
DA'NAH'WA  $4,000 and up
Donations of any amount are accepted and greatly appreciated!  
MAKE  A GIFT

Online donations carry a 2.5% transaction fee charged to Hamaatsa, therefore you may prefer to mail in your donation. 
MAIL IN DONATION FORM

Listening Ground is a project of HAMAATSA, a Native-led, 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization.  Sponsorship gifts are tax deductible and a tax receipt letter will be sent to you for your records.
We Honor Your Sponsorship Gift
Your generous contribution will be recognized on our website, all printed and recorded materials and at all Listening Ground events.

Listening Ground features our Sponsors Stories
This exchange allows value-rich sponsors to come alongside our mission while at the same time connect with listeners across the globe. Your featured story can be a written article, audio recording or story dialogue with Larry Littlebird. 

Contact Us
If you have additional questions or would like to speak with us about becoming a Sponsor or Corporate Underwriter, please contact us at:  littlebird@hamaatsa.org  /  505.899.6028
Coming Soon!
Stories from our Sponsors
BREATH OF FOUR
A Pueblo Indian Blessing 
This being that I am, in humility, I present myself to you, you who are the Life Giver. Now I receive all that you would bless me with;  all that I can be given, is raised up in front of me, you set it all before me. One time, Hai-ka-mi, I take in the gift, breathing in I accept it.  Two times, Dhu-we-ya, I gather the gift all about me, and breathe it in;  Three times, Chu-mi-ya, my hands stretching forth I embrace the gift, breathing it in; Four times, Da-nah-wa, now you have breathed upon me, completing life in me.  Four times, I breathe in your gift to me, accepting how it is, you bless me. I am made whole.  This is the way it is.  I am complete.
Artwork/Photo Credits:  Paintings by Larry Littlebird; Photo by C. Malone