Jewell Arcoren (Sisseton/Sicangu)
FNCI Acting Interim Director
Jewell is an enrolled member of the Sissteon Wahpeton Sioux Tribe and comes to FNCI with a background in the arts and a passion for American Indian people. Jewell loves to assist in setting up programs and see them develop to their full potential. Most recently she has set in place a youth program for Dream of Wild Health, an Indigenous Farm program that works with inner city American Indian youth. Jewell has also been instrumental in setting up two women’s groups; the Dakota Women’s Society and Dream of Wild Health Women’s Cooperative. Both of these groups are vibrantly alive and functioning well among the local Native community. Jewell also provides presentations on traditional Indigenous foods in correlation with health and wellness for American Indian people and diabetes prevention. She loves to research, collect and cook old/new traditional recipes. Jewell’s passion and interest in revitalizing Dakota quillwork designs led her to develop and coordinate a four part series of quillwork at Intermedia Arts of Minnesota designed to reach and teach urban Dakota men, women and children the importance of quillwork. She has also coordinated a four part series of presentations at Fort Snelling, Minnesota with Allies: media art, sponsored by the Minnesota Historical Society. The series, created for Metro area Dakota people, offered information and experience in Dakota cultural history and art, including quillwork. Jewell has been a video producer, associate producer and has helped produce Dakota contemporary media. She has served as an associate curator with Two Rivers Gallery. In her spare time she quills and researches Dakota quillwork designs. Presently, Jewell is pursuing her BA at a local Twin Cities college. She is a mother of three and grandmother of four.