Written by Sheila Regan
Tuesday, August 25 2009
Musician Kevin Locke (Lakota/ Anishinaabe) and storyteller Mary Louise Defender Mary Louise Defender/ Bush Award recipientKevin Locke Bush Award recipient(Dakotah/Hidatsa) have each been awarded The Bush Foundation’s $100,000 Enduring Vision Award. A total of three artists received the award this year, with funds to be distributed over the next three to five years.
The Enduring Vision Awards are given to established artists to be an example for present and future generations in their fields, according to a Bush Foundation press release.
It’s purely coincidental that two of the three final winners are Native, as there are no racial or gender quotas in the criteria, according to Kathy Graves, a spokesperson for the Bush Foundation. In 2008, one of the award winners was White Earth Ojibwe painter Frank Big Bear. 
