What is the name of your organization?
Lead Horse LLC
What is the name of your solution?
Powwow Plus: Instant Tourism
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Building sustainable tourism through powwow celebrations.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Lawrence, KS, USA
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
United States
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Film your elevator pitch.
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What specific problem are you solving?
We are focused on providing economic prosperity to those that partake in our cultural powwow celebrations. This is a contentious and arduous way of life, but necessary in order to keep the cultural celebrations alive and strong for the next generations. Powwow dancers are essential to our cultural outlook, it is the most recognizable and popular aspect of our culture and should be utilized as such. Tourism is growing, and with the current outlook of our country and its inability to develop new and creative solutions, powwows serve as the focal point to our solution in the overall problem of economic stagnation, regression in urban and rural tribal communities and dismissal on mainstream platforms. Through public, private and tribal investment and partnership, this will elevate powwow participants and encourage them to legitimize their way of life, save for retirement, build networking and career opportunities in event planning, fundraising and marketing.
What is your solution?
Our solution is to provide consistent powwow celebrations that satisfy the public and private sector needs. By providing an outlet to "instant tourism", we will be able to impact any community at any time. Powwows are typically held in the weekend and range from all over the country. This solution will be piloted and based in Kansas and will emphasize week-day tourism during the "off-season" months on October through March. Emphasizing the week-day market is crucial to understand the unique and intricate needs of the powwow dancer and singer. This is essentially a new form of the "American Cornhole League" and the "Professional Bull Riders", but in an underground perspective.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
The main Native American / First Nations that participate in powwow competitions, which include singers, dances and artisan craft vendors. State and municipal governments looking for new and creative ways to spur tourism into their communities and areas. With the lack of creative tourism, especially in Kansas, it is time to maximize our proximity as a "drive-through" state and develop a reason for people to stay during the week. These competitions give the competitive drive for the powwow individual to partake, venture to a new city to stay, dine and compete. Kansas will serve as the platform state, in hopes that other states and municipalities follow due to the influx of new solutions to spur tourism.
