Wearing an orange shirt symbolizes your awareness to the Residential School System in Canada while standing in solidarity with Indigenous peoples.
A beaded pin can be worn at any time to symbolize your awareness, understanding, and solidarity with First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. They are conversation starters to learn more about the Residential School history and Reconciliation.
We’re happy to be providing local Indigenous beadwork to the community through donations to AO. It’s difficult to purchase authentic Indigenous beadwork through larger distributors like Etsy. When you purchase through a large distributor you often don’t know where the item is coming from. This is why we saw the importance of providing Indigenous people the opportunity to create their own beadwork business through an organization where donations will be going back to the local Indigenous community to help them grow their businesses.
These Sponsorships are enabling local Indigenous peoples to jump-start their own small businesses.
As a donor
With your minimum $150 sponsorship, AO will provide the artists:
- beading kits
- workshops teaching Indigenous peoples the art of beadwork
- mentorship & guidance on how to create and scale a small business
This skill set can then be used to bead other items and provide opportunities for Indigenous folks to grow a business beyond this program.
Once the pin is complete, we will purchase the pin back from the artist and ship it to you as a thank you for your sponsorship.
These beading kits and the sponsorship process are a tool for teaching Indigenous peoples to reclaim culture through art.
Your contribution will help us reach our goal of creating over 1000 Indigenous-owned small businesses.