Dear colleagues,

We would like to invite you to the 45th AIW to Pardubice, held from the 16th till the 19th of April. Here is a webpage link for more details.

45th American Indian Workshop – Katedra sociální a kulturní antropologie (upce.cz)

I would like to update you on the progress of the AIW preparations.

We have been working on the program. We should have three very interesting keynotes – two will be online – Janice Forsyth (Forsyth, Janice - Kinesiology (ubc.ca)), Rick Hill (Member of the Six Nations is appointed to the Order of Canada | Brantford Expositor) and Susan Brownell (Dr. Susan Brownell | UMSL).

The last year we applied for a Wenner-Gren Foundation grant, unfortunately we were not successful. The Canadian Embassy expressed their willingness to help us at the end of 2022 and it was confirmed at the beginning of 2023. Unfortunately, in January 2024 they announced that they were not able to provide any financial support. During the last year, the ambassador has changed. The Canadian Embassy offered us to support the 45^th AIW through their social media. In January, we applied to the American Embassy for 2024 U.S Embassy Small Grants projects, unfortunately we did not receive any support. We also applied for support from the City of Pardubice from the grant program for 2024, we are still waiting for the results.

To some extent we also relied on the promised support from our university. Unfortunately, a month ago without any expectations, the dean decided to fire 10-11 academics and cut 20% of the budget for each department due to lack of funding in higher education in the Czech Republic.

Because of this, we had to resort to a higher conference fee. The tax is 21% from the fee. Our department and faculty to some extent will fund what will be above the conference fee.

We hope that institutions will support their academics who are planning to participate. The 45^th AIW organizational committee decided that we will leave a voluntarily contribution on those who come as accompanying persons because the tax burden on even a small amount is high.

We hope that despite any external support we will enjoy the 45^th AIW together, including photo exhibition, film screening and trip to the Opočno castle on the 19^th April.

We are looking forward to see you in Pardubice or online.

Best regards,

Livia