Institute of American Indian Arts in Fierce Battle to Survive Story-Date: 05:51 p.m. PST Sunday , August 10, 1997 Institute of American Indian Arts in Fierce Battle to Survive BY KAY HUMPHREY, INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY, RAPID CITY, S.D. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News SANTA FE, N.M.--Aug. 11--The Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., has helped students turn their lives around and find a way to bridge the gap between the mainstream and their American Indian cultures. But federal funding cuts threaten to shut down the two-year college which is waging a fierce battle to continue its operation. The U.S. House of Representatives voted three weeks ago to reduce the federal funds the school receives from $5.5 million to $3 million, a 46 percent reduction. House members also proposed dropping federal funding for the school entirely in 1998. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee members approved $5.5 million, but included the measure to drop the school from the federal budget for 1998. That measure still must be debated in the full Senate Appropriations Committee and on the Senate floor. The House and the Senate must then work out an agreement on how much IAIA might get. Federal funding is nearly 80 percent of the institute's annual budget supporting both the art school and a museum on Cathedral Place. The college, now in its 35th year, helped to turn life around for G. Almond Williams, who grew up in a depressed inner-city neighborhood in Albuquerque, N.M. The 29-year-old student, who is approaching his second year at the school, said he struggled with substance abuse including drugs and alcohol from childhood into his mid 20s. He reached his lowest point when he found himself sleeping in the streets. It was then Mr. Williams knew he had to change his life. Mr. Williams' mother, a nurse, was a single parent who found that her time at work was taking a toll on her children so she chose to stay home and raise them. Because she didn't have an income the family was forced to go on welfare. The IAIA student, who is the father of a toddler, has pulled his life together in five years and hopes to make a difference in helping others turn their lives around. Now enrolled with nine other students in the college's creative writing courses, he is taking the courses to improve his reading and writing skills. When he finishes, he plans to go to the University of New Mexico and enroll in its Native American Law program. Mr. Williams chose the small college because of its well-known artists/instructors and because it offered him a comfortable setting with other American Indian students. Another attraction was Allen Houser, a nationally known Chiricahua Apache painter and sculptor, who was teaching at IAIA when Mr. Williams enrolled at the college. ``I had always admired him and knowing that he taught there was one of the things that inspired me to go there. I really admired what he had done for the native American community and all the doors that he had opened,'' Mr. Williams said. The Caddo Delaware tribe of Oklahoma, where he is enrolled, paid $3,000 toward his tuition and the federal government picked up the rest of a $9,000 tuition bill during Mr. Williams' first year of college at IAIA. However, there were no additional funds for room and board, so the young writer pays his way by helping his girlfriend, Judy, run the Marcy Street Coffee Gallery, a small coffee shop in Santa Fe. When he isn't at the coffee shop, he is working a second job at Santa Fe Stages, a local production company. And even after two jobs, he works in the college's work study program to make ends meet. Even though the college reduced its tuition nearly 46 percent in April, students are still looking at a bill of nearly $4,800 each for the year. Mr. Williams, who was very vocal about the need to reduce the tuition, said it was difficult for students to come up with the money to attend the school. ``It was outrageous. That didn't include a meal plan or living expenses for the dorm. I thought that was ridiculous,'' he said. The tuition was expensive for a college that lacked basic facilities for classes, he said. The classroom where Mr. Williams attended his first class, which was held in one of dorms, was absent of desks or even a chalk board. The students had nowhere to sit, he said. ``The truth of the matter is they didn't have anything. We just had an instructor,'' he said. The dorm where the class was held has substandard plumbing and students were forced to use portable toilets that were set in the hallways, Mr. Williams said. ``It was really in bad shape and it still is in bad shape,'' he said. Meanwhile, art classes which began in a lecture hall were moved to a small barracks with a battered chalk board and uncomfortably small desks, he said. ``It was just like being back in grade school,'' he said. Despite the small college's short comings, Mr. Williams recognizes that it provides the chance for students to grow in a comfortable social environment. ``I know the school can help a lot of people. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm going to return,'' he said. IAIA's strength, he said, has been the American Indian artists who have taught there. However, Mr. Williams claimed that when faculty is cut, American Indian instructors are the first to be cut. ``They say that it's because of the federal budget cuts, they have to let faculty members go. I don't have a problem with letting faculty members go, but my problem is them letting American Indian faculty members go. They are suppose to have preference,'' Mr. Williams said. Meanwhile, the college which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year, will hold a $10,000 per table benefit brunch Aug. 21 at the Allen Houser Art Park. Despite the threats of additional cuts, the college may see a more optimistic tread. It received a $1.5 million grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. The three-year grant is earmarked for the museum. A June fundraiser brought the college about $100,000 for its two endowment funds which include scholarships, but the contribution only made up a portion of the $300,000 that was allegedly stolen by a former IAIA employee. The college is expecting a fall enrollment of more than 80 new students and 43 returning students, but 90 percent of them require financial aid. ----- ON THE INTERNET: Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------