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Tuned into Tradition: Indigenous Flute Making in Standing Rock Nation

by Alicia Hegland-Thorpe

A four-day immersive workshop with award-winning musician and flute maker Bryan Akipa brought craft, tradition, language, math, and art together.

Bryan Akipa, a citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, has been making and studying the flute since 1975. Much of the award-winning flautist’s practice is about knowledge sharing and cultural repatriation. 

Indigenous flute making is more than hands-on woodworking. It emphasizes community, legacy, and the importance of uplifting Indigenous creatives. And Oúŋ, a Standing Rock Reservation based nonprofit organization, knows the value of these practices.

In July 2025, they hosted a special workshop with Akipa in Fort Yates, North Dakota, that welcomed participants from North and South Dakota to craft their own Indigenous flutes, styled and replicated from the designs their ancestors once played. 

This was the second year Oúŋ supported such an initiative, with many previous participants returning to build on their skills. 

The workshop’s goal was not only to teach the craft but also to pay it forward. “It’s part of regaining their culture. Even if it’s just one aspect or one thing you can get back, I think that’s important,” says Akipa. 

A group of people sitting and standing together. They are all holding wooden flutes.
Photo Credit: Alicia Hegland-Thorpe
Attendees of the four-day workshop recorded songs they learned as they made their flutes with award-winning artist Bryan Akipa (second from right, sitting front row).
A person standing next to another who is sitting and working with their hands.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Oúŋ
From one flautist to another, Bryan Akipa shares his knowledge with Lakota flautist and educator Dakota Goodhouse at the workshop organized by Oúŋ and its community partners in Standing Rock Reservation.

“By creating these flutes and spending time on the process, they will remember that. Maybe there’ll be someone who continues this tradition, just like me. I never planned to play flutes; it just caught my attention and became part of what I do,” adds the Nammy-winning and GRAMMY-nominated artist, who spent his years as a school teacher (while making and selling flutes on the side).

Workshop attendee Dakota Goodhouse (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe), a tribal college professor and flute player, was eager to learn more.

“Studying under a world-renowned flute player like Leksi Bryan helps to establish lineage information and the artistic process,” he says. “This workshop is crucial because, even as our population has rebounded, only a handful of people possess specialized knowledge.”

Akipa was assisted by Danny Luecke, director of Dakota/Lakota Math Connections, who connected the art of flute making with mathematical concepts. Fluent language speakers Ruby Shoestring and Grace Draskovic contributed by incorporating the Lakota language into the process.

Luecke (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) notes that learning to make and play the flute involves more than just math. “Western education often separates subjects, but I don’t think that reflects the Lakota way. I’m hopeful that in the near future, teachers will consider designing a curriculum around making and playing the flute. This could apply to science, history, and language.”

Making a flute requires time, patience, and a steady hand for carving. At this workshop, the process took four days from start to finish. It concluded with a recording session of songs they learned along the way, thanks to Grey Willow Studios in Fort Yates.

A person at a table using a pencil on a piece of wood as a handmade wooden flute rests next to them.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Oúŋ
Attendee Shyanne Comeau-Gonzalez starts creating a flute during a four-day flute-making workshop in Fort Yates, North Dakota. She plans to use the flute in her classroom as a kindergarten teacher.
A person playing a wooden, hand-carved flute
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Oúŋ
Joe Picotte Jr practices before his recording session at Grey Willow Studios in Fort Yates, North Dakota.
A person with a white polo shirt facing a table with multiple computer screens and audio recording equipment. Their arm is reaching for an equipment in front of them.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Oúŋ
Recording in session at Grey Willow Studios with Lawrence Archambault.
A room full of people in an audio recording space with microphones in front of them.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Oúŋ
The workshop concluded with participants recording songs they had learned together, supported by Grey Willow Studios.
An end of a wooden flute shaped like a mallard duck.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Oúŋ
Some participants had already made a flute in the previous workshop and came back to enhance their flute-making and playing abilities, preparing to assist as co-instructors in the third-year workshop. For others, it was their first experience.
A person standing and holding a piece of wood.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Oúŋ
GRAMMY-nominated artist and 2016 NEA National Heritage Fellow Bryan Akipa shares his knowledge of flute making with over a dozen workshop participants at the Sitting Bull College Visitor Center in July 2025.

For everyone involved, the workshop blended artistry with cultural preservation, made possible through Oúŋ’s commitment to creating immersive spaces where Indigenous knowledge bearers lead and community members thrive. 

“Through this collaborative space, we gain a deeper understanding of how interconnected we are through music, language, culture, and respect for the land that sustains us,”says Billi Jo Beheler, Oúŋ’s executive director. 

Another workshop is being planned for next year, bringing back this year’s participants and recruiting others who can help build the legacy of the flute in the Standing Rock community and beyond.