Children filed into a gymnasium at the Pembroke Boys and Girls Club last week for a Youth Powwow to celebrate the end of a summer program designed to connect them with artistic expression and their own Lumbee cultural heritage.  

The event featured traditional music and dance, including dances specific to the Lumbee Tribe. Children also got the chance to learn more about Lumbee history and culture. 

Young dancers performed in regalia that is not only significant culturally and historically, but also specific to who the person wearing it is as an individual. 

Calista Deal, Miss Lumbee 2024, and Carolyn McNeill Emanuel, Senior Miss Lumbee 2024, also made appearances at the Youth Powwow to sing, offer encouragement to the children, and instill within them the pride of being Lumbee and Native American.

“What I want you to focus on is, as a Native American, we should dive into who we are and dive into knowing more about your culture and dive into knowing more about who you are as a Native American,” Deal said. 

This event was part of the Artist Innovation Mentorship (AIM) program from the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA), which seeks to partner middle school-aged children with local teaching artists to connect them with artistic exploration and opportunities. This is significant for many children who might not have this access without the program.

AIM programs are designed to cater specifically to the community they serve, and in Pembroke, the program connects children in the area Boys and Girls Club to mixed media art— including art that has significance to the Lumbee Tribe, such as beadwork, pottery, and basket weaving. 

AIM has partnered with Boys and Girls Clubs for summer programming since 2022. This year’s session stretched from June to August and served over 300 children in Robeson County.  

Angela Lombardi, director of outreach and audience engagement at the NCMA, said Pembroke serves as a great example of a successful relationship and positive connection between a local community and the NCMA. 

Lombardi emphasized the importance of meeting local communities where they are to provide them beneficial arts services and encourage local youth to create while showing them possible career options through art.  

Reggie Brewer, the Lumbee Tribe culture coordinator for the Pembroke Boys and Girls Club, has worked throughout the summer with the children in the program to teach them about art and Lumbee culture and heritage. He has been with the Boy and Girls club since 2010.

Brewer said his favorite part about the program is getting to do the work while watching the children’s faces as they get the opportunity to create something. 

“This is part of the reward is to see the young people happy and to hear these noises,” Brewer said. “And the young people are having a good time learning their culture and who they are and keeping that going on.”

Children in the program made over 300 pieces of pottery and about 154 shakers made out of gourds. 

Brewer said he learned a lot about his own history and culture from an early age while growing up around the Metrolina Native American Association in Charlotte. There he was able to grow his artistic abilities and learn about making traditional indigenous and Lumbee art. 

“That was my inspiration to do what I’m doing today. It was not always easy, but it is part of the story,” Brewer said. 

Art has a transformative quality, Brewer said, allowing children to realize important things about themselves while they create. 

“I think it awakens something up inside of them that they’re able to do more than they thought they could — share their emotions and their feelings,” Brewer said. 

Lombardi said students in middle school are often at a critical age when it comes to connecting to art, as they need this access to adequately express their complex emotions creatively and collaboratively.  

Brewer said he is extremely grateful to the help of Lombardi and the NCMA for their support and for getting the young participants excited about art. 

He said he knows the children participating in the program will be able to treasure and carry the memories they’ve made in this program long into their adulthood.

“You notice they know my name,” Brewer said. “They holler my name. They call me because they know when they see me coming, that I’m bringing good things to do, good vibes, good things for them to do. And they know I’m bringing art. And they love doing that. It stirs up their creativity. It wakes their mind to what’s possible for them to be able to do. And they love that.”