Northwoods Niijii Enterprise Community, Inc.

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Northwoods Niijii Enterprise Community (NNEC) will receive $100,000 over two years to support planning efforts to coalesce three existing Lac du Flambeau facilities – The George W. Brown, Jr. Ojibwe Museum and Cultural Center, the Lac du Flambeau Wa-Swa-Gon Indian Bowl, and the Woodland Indian Art Center – into a more unified arts and culture campus that will help spur local economic development while sustaining long-held cultural practices. NNEC is a partnership of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Sokaogon Chippewa Community of Mole Lake and the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin along with eight municipal partners. The organization facilitates projects that foster cultural preservation, social enterprise, and economic development. By creating a more integrated cultural campus, NNEC will be supporting the efforts of the local tribes to increase the visibility of their cultures' contributions while also creating an economic engine in their community. The Woodland Indian Art Center will assist traditional and contemporary Native American artists with skill development in social enterprise, leadership training, and financial literacy. The nearby Indian Bowl, an outdoor amphitheater area currently in disrepair, will be restored as the home of weekly powwows and cultural events. And in complement to a renovated Ojibwe museum that can attract local and tourist dollars, the Indian Bowl will once again become the site of an outdoor marketplace that showcases local foods, crafts, and works of art.