Committed to Native values

We support the creative spirit of American Indian peoples, both in the continued development of all the art forms and in the preservation of the traditional and contemporary artistic legacy.

We commit to governance based on the principles of American Indian self-determination.

We accept our cultural responsibility to the seventh generation.

We honor the wisdom and teaching of our elders.

We acknowledge our relations and the interconnectedness of life.

We respect the sacred and social aspects of Native American culture.

It is not enough to acknowledge that American Indian music is different from other music.

What is needed in America is an awakening and reorienting of our total spiritual and cultural perspective to embrace, understand and learn from the Aboriginal American what motivates his musical and artistic impulses.

— Dr. Louis W. Ballard