Npustin (N poos teen) is a Salish word that means to bring what's in the heart into the world. Each person holds wonderful, important gifts and stories.  The members of Npustin will honor each person's unique contributions within its organization and beyond.  Npustin is a non-profit organization that offers educational opportunities to celebrate indigenous arts, history and culture.

Many important stories have simply not been told.  Since stories are a crucial aspect of understanding one's place in the world, it is imperative that Npustin, not only helps preserve ancient stories, but also provides an avenue for more people to tell their stories, their truths through a variety of mediums.  Tribal voices are often absent in the available resources for American Indian culture and history.

Npustin's work is not only innovative; it's vital. Ms. Cajune and Jennifer Greene, Npustin Board Members, believe in the power of personal and community stories as sources of inspiration and validation for reservation youth. Julie Cajune, a member of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes and educator, founded Npustin in 2007.  She wanted to make art, culture and history accessible, relevant and exciting. One of Npustin's goals is to bring artists to the Flathead Reservation to introduce arts to the community as a valid way to make a living.  Npustin will support artists and scholars with fair compensation and provide rural communities with humanities programs they may not otherwise have.

Interested in positive collaborations, Npustin received support from the Arlee Community Development Corporation, a non-profit organization, Salish Kootenai College, and individual community members to get its feet off the ground and complete its first project a CD entitled: Heart of the Bitterroot: Voices of Salish and Pend d’Oreille Women.  A companion study guide for the CD has just been completed and will be available to educators using the CD as an educational tool.

 Npustin has many other exciting projects and collaborations planned.  Npustin is headquartered in Arlee, which is located on the Flathead Reservation in Western Montana.

Basic Flathead Indian Reservation Information

The Flathead Indian Reservation is the home of the Bitterroot Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and Kootenai people and is located in the mountains of western Montana.  Flathead is the name of the reservation, not a people.  The tribes are formally referred to as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

The Salish, Pend d'Oreille (pronounced "ponder ray"), and Kootenai (pronounced "Koot nee") shared this land since time immemorial.  The Bitterroot Salish and Pend d'Oreille are both Salish bands and share the same language base.  However, the Kootenai are a separate tribe with their own distinct culture and language. 

The reservation land base of the Salish, Pend d’Oreille and Kootenai is a remnant portion of their aboriginal homeland. The tribes’ remain occupants and stewards of an old tribal world their ancestors have known from time immemorial.

The tribes govern themselves with a tribal council that consists of ten elected members.  The tribes have had to buy back large portions of their land because the U.S. government divided it up under allotment legislation and declared unallotted land “surplus,” opening it up to homesteading in 1910.  The Confederated Salish & Kootenai reservation is about 1,243,000 acres.  Approximately 62% is tribally owned, the remaining acreage having passed out of trust status into fee patent.

The Flathead Indian Reservation is beautiful and rich in natural resources.  Tall mountains, abundant wildlife, coniferous forests, numerous lakes, rivers and streams paint the reservation landscape.  Missoula, one of the largest Montana cities, sits less than 30 miles from the reservation.  Consequently, land on the reservation is highly valued and sought after.  Unlike many reservations, members of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes are a minority on their own reservation.  As a result, tribal people have undergone great efforts to maintain and preserve their reserved homeland and culture. 

Due to the mostly rural setting of the reservation and the reservation's proximity to an urban area, tribal members (about 7,000) work in a wide variety of professions on and off the reservation.  Many cultural activities are still practiced and others are being revived.  Most importantly, the members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes remain resilient, strong and still here.