One-of-a-Kind School Teaches Students Native American Arts

The huge buildings of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, stand out against the desert of the American Southwest.

Here, about 500 students are involved in intense study of Native American arts. Some study painting and sculpting. Others learn about storytelling and poetry. It is the only college like it in the country.

Members of about 100 native tribes attend the school, says IAIA President Robert Martin, a member of the Cherokee Nation. He adds that the school also has non-native students and students from overseas. “We’re open to everybody,” Martin said.

Daniel Yazie Natonabah is an IAIA student and a member of the Navajo tribe. He said before he started school there, his “whole perspective of the world was just Navajo”. “But when I came here I learned other perspectives of other tribes," he said.