‘The Arapaho Covered Wagon Redux’ green lighted

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“The Covered Wagon” is a 1923 silent film. BCM and the Boulder Symphony are collaborating on a new soundtrack that retells the stereotypical cowboys and Indians movie with a tribal perspective featuring the Northern Arapaho Eagle Drum and Singers.

Boulder Community Media (BCM) had great success in 2022 and wants to keep it up through 2023. BCM was awarded a highly competitive $10,000 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant for “The Arapaho Covered Wagon Redux,” four years in the making.

BCM is seeking matching funds to record a contemporary soundtrack for the 1923 epic “Covered Wagon” silent film. The original score compiled by Anne Guzzo will be performed by the Boulder Symphony led by Devin Hughes in remembrance of the 160th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre. Most of the funds will pay musicians and the Northern Arapaho Eagle Drum. For information, watch the trailer.

When “The Covered Wagon” screened, tribal members appeared before the audience while casting directors Ed Farlow and Tim McCoy provided information about why they hired 500 Native Americans, mostly Northern Arapaho to perform in the film. Ironically, the realism they wanted to purvey added to tribal stereotypes.

Your tax deductible contribution will make an impact by undoing old stereotypes whether you donate $5 or $500. Every little bit helps. Thank you for your support. We previously raised $500 for the project.

BCM is a 501c3 production company dedicated to make media in all their forms accessible to all.
If you’re a facebook user, BCM has a year-end fundraiser happening through the end of 2022.

Beyond Wind River: The Arapaho and Fort Chambers in preproduction

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Sand Creek Massacre ledger art scene by Howling Wolf

Beyond Wind River: The Arapaho and Fort Chambers” is the latest documentary by Alan O’Hashi and Boulder Community Media.

A Boulder, CO shaker and mover named David Nichols in 1864 recruited 100 local volunteer militiamen to train at Fort Chambers located just east of town to kill Indians at Sand Creek.

Flash forward to 2018 when the city of Boulder government purchased the fort location as open space and a group of citizens called Right Relationship Boulder (RRB) is working to repatriate that land, in some form, back to the Arapaho people.

This is a story about a chapter in Boulder’s cultural history told from the perspectives of the Arapaho people. Arapaho cultural traditions are oral ones.

Documenting Arapaho voices preserves tribal members’ Sand Creek Massacre experiences that have been orally passed down from generation-to-generation.

RRB is a group of Native and non-Native Boulder-area residents who work with local governments and organizations to help all residents learn about the Native peoples who lived here historically, and who live here today.

RRB is also the lead organizer of Boulder Indigenous People’s Day that happens in October.

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The city of Boulder purchased the Chambers property east of Boulder.

The Chambers property includes a home and pasture land along Boulder Creek at Valmont and 61st east of town.

Stay tuned, for project updates. BCM is also seeking contributions of any amount towards the project to match the Boulder Arts Commission grant.

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Contributors will be included in the movie credits.