ARTS AWARDS

Four years ago, a group of predominantly Native American entertainment industry professionals scraped together $50 to put on an awards program in a restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard.

“I looked around and saw that blacks and Latinos were honoring their own but native people didn’t have anything like that and I thought we should do something,” recalls filmmaker Bob Hicks, chairman of First Americans in the Arts, which puts on the awards.

Adds Dawn Jackson, the group’s co-founder and vice chairman: “We had very humble beginnings. We didn’t have a mailing list, we just hoped people would show up that day.”

About 130 people did show up, and in succeeding years the event has gained the support of Jane Seymour, Sinbad, Larry McMurtry and producer Lauren Shuler Donner. Though they lack the big-league stamp of a TV contract, this year’s ceremonies, the fifth annual, will be held Saturday at the Beverly Hilton. The crowd is expected to exceed last year’s total of 800.

And while all involved point to the growth of the event, whose winners in 13 categories will receive a glass trophy etched with the symbol of an eagle feather, organizers complain that there is still a distinct lack of parts for Native American actors, particularly females.

“We searched high and low for nominees,” says Arigon Starr, First Americans in the Arts trustee, “but we didn’t find any for leading actress or supporting actress in film. The same goes for the [theater] category.”

All told, three categories contain only a single nominee, while five categories that existed last year had to be dropped because they lacked even one nominee.

“It seems that we are where blacks were at 20 years ago,” says Sheila Tousey, who’s been nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a TV movie or special for her starring role in HBO’s contemporary drama “Grand Avenue.” “With First Americans, it’s a sign that we are organizing--that there are a few of us that live here in the city and maybe we have a voice.”

The leading nominations-getters were “Grand Avenue” and TNT’s “Crazy Horse” with seven apiece.

Greg Sarris, who wrote and served as co-executive producer (with Robert Redford) of “Grand Avenue,” calls the film version of his novel “a landmark in American Indian representation in Hollywood.”

“It’s the first time an Indian from the community has written a major Hollywood production,” says Sarris, who was the sole nominee for outstanding achievement in writing. “If you ask anyone in Hollywood, this was an unusual feat for this town.”

Jackson says progress is being made, however slowly, to break down stereotypes and create positive images of Native Americans in the arts. “It’s always heartwarming to me, when I go out around the country to promote this, that people already know about us,” she says. “It’s giving many native people a lot of pride and role models and we’re very happy about that.”