"NATIVE REPORT" Returns To PBS
Viewers are advised to check their local PBS listings and to request their local station carry "Native Report" if it is not available in their immediate viewing area.
"Native Report," a program that is geared toward both a Native and non-Native American viewing audience, celebrates Native culture and heritage. Past programs included interviews with tribal elders, youth, artists, celebrities and some of Indian Country's most influential leaders.
"I am very proud to be part of an ongoing program that shares positive stories about Native communities and peoples to an overwhelmingly appreciative audience," says Thunder. "To be able to share our stories - our rich histories, cultures and traditions, and what we are doing today - especially when coverage in the media about Native America has traditionally been minimal and almost always negative, is a wonderful thing."
The fifth season's programs will include interviews with members of the Wolf Pack from the blockbuster film New Moon; stand-up comedians Marc Yaffee, Jim Ruel, Vaugh Eaglebear, and JR Redwater of the Pow Wow Comedy Jam, now appearing on Showtime's Goin Native Indian Comedy Slam; Olympic gold medalist, Billy Mills; National Indian Gaming Association Chairman, Ernie Stevens, Jr.; and stories such as the Honor The Earth Pow Wow in Lac Courte Oreilles; Native Thunder Distance Runners; and the United Nation's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the passage of the "Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples."
In 2004, "Native Report" started with four episodes and quickly grew into a full 15-episode program by 2006. The program is aired in markets in the U.S., including Minnesota, Wisconsin, California, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Florida, Alaska, Utah, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, Oklahoma, Virginia, Michigan, and Oregon.
Thunder is a citizen of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe in northern Minnesota and is also from the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe. She is a practicing attorney and serves as general counsel for the Red Lake Band. She is co-owner with world-renowned musician Robby Romero of the Taos, N.M.-based Eagle Thunder Entertainment, an independent Indigenous entertainment company (entirely operated and managed by its artists) with four divisions: film production; music label; music publishing; and artist management.
Recently, Thunder acted in the Starz hit "Crash," a provocative 13-episode drama series from the producers of the Academy Award-winning Best Picture starring Hollywood film icon, Dennis Hopper. She also acted in the feature-length independent film "Cold Feet," a romantic comedy that channels the Hepburn/Grant films of the 1940s and in the independent short films, "Beauty Mark" and "Magic Wands." In "Magic Wands," Thunder plays the mother of a young Ojibwe boy, whom she teaches to harvest wild rice traditionally as it has been done for generations.
In addition to her roles in television and film, Thunder also has served as executive producer of four music releases: "Old Times," "Painting the World;" "P. Town Boyz;" and "Native Children's Survival: If not now, when? If not you, who?"
"Old Times" by the Red Lake Singers, a group of six elder men from the Red Lake Ojibwe Nation, is a raw recording produced to capture and preserve old songs and an "old style" of singing of the Ojibwe people at Red Lake. "Painting the World" is a Robby Romero EP that features Indigenous artists from around the world to celebrate and commemorate the adoption of the United Nation's "Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" and to raise awareness about global warming and climate change. "P. Town Boyz" is the self-titled debut release from the acclaimed traditional youth drum group from the Red Lake Nation. "Native Children's Survival: if not now, when? If not you, who?" is an essential CD/DVD collection highlighting original songs, music videos, and interviews from Romero's award-winning and critically-acclaimed public service announcements and "rockumentary" films including MTV's "Free Your Mind," VH1's World Alert Special "Makoce Wakan;" Sundance Channel's "Hidden Medicine;" and SABC Africa's "America's Last Frontier."
Thunder also is a board member of the Nike N7 Fund and Native Children's Survival. The N7 Fund was created in 2007 to provide Native American communities in North America with grants to fund sports and physical fitness programs. Native Children's Survival is an organization founded by Romero in 1989 and dedicated to raising awareness about critical issues facing Mother Earth, her children, and the seventh generation to come through the international languages of music and film.
In 2009 Stacey was recognized as a recipient of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development's Native American 40 Under 40 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 40 Under 40 is a prestigious award presented to young American Indian professionals who have demonstrated leadership, initiative, and dedication to achieve impressive and significant contributions in their businesses, communities, and Indian Country.
Stacey Thunder
