Manitobah Mukluks Storyboot School
Purpose
This former TreadRight project helps revive the heritage art by creating partnerships with elders and artisans who fashion mukluks and moccasins the traditional way.
Objective
Today, the Storyboot Project has emerged as a global online marketplace where Indigenous artists showcase their one-of-a-kind mukluks and moccasins and receive 100% of the proceeds. The project has grown to include a national Manitobah Mukluks Storyboot School where young Indigenous people can learn the art of mukluk-making from elders and expert artisans.
Impact
Manitobah Mukluks and TreadRight have established an educational space/work space at The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada, at which an Indigenous artisan delivers weekly Storyboot School sessions that serve to teach the heritage art of mukluk-making to local indigenous students and visitors.
The project has created a not-for-profit, artisan-run Indigenous arts program that helps sustain Indigenous craft while providing cross-cultural exchange. The project creates an income for the managing artist, educates the next generation of Indigenous artists on the art of mukluk-making, creates a forum for cultural exchange, and expands the Storyboot School’s capacity to create real opportunities and life skills for Indigenous artists.
The project also displays and sells the work of existing Storyboot artists from Canada in the museum’s gift shop.
UN GLOBAL GOALS
The Storyboot Project engages expert Indigenous artisans and offers them an opportunity to share their art with others, contributing to reduced inequalities. It also provides economic opportunities to artists who otherwise would not have a platform to reach international markets.
The Storyboot Project teaches the tradition of mukluk-making to young Indigenous students that will carry on and safeguard this tradition, contributing to the protection of the Métis cultural heritage.
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