Convening 2021

Convening: to come or bring together for a meeting or activity; assemble.

FNPA held its first convening since the onset of COVID-19 in September 2021. The 3-day convening took place on the traditional homelands of the Multnomah, Oregon City Tumwater, Walata, Wasco, Kathlamet, Cowlitz, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook (chin - ook), Tualatin Kalapuya (kālā pu ya) , Molalla, and many other Indigenous peoples. 26 participants were present in attendance, and an additional 10 participated virtually. This gathering was critical to determining the future shape and endeavors of FNPA, and solidified our Network Track, the group of Indigenous arts workers who advise the FNPA consortium on strategies and activities. This convening also provided a needed opportunity to develop trust and kinship amongst the group – and within FNPA, after a time of tremendous isolation.

Participants in the 2021 convening included:

Kunu Bearchum, Ed Bourgeois, Dakota Camaco, Raven Chacon, Brook Colley, Demian DinêYazhi', Timothy White Eagle, Maura Garcia, Kevin Holden, Kaloku Holt, Anthony Hudson, Emily Johnson, Mario Lemafa, Drew Michael, Rachael Nez, Holly Nordlum, James Pakootas, Ronee Penoi, Joseph Pierce, Madeline Sayet, Carlee Smith, DeLanna Studi, Quita Sullivan, Chloe Alexandra Thompson, Allison Akootchook Warden, Rhianna Yazzie

This Convening focused on the people FNPA serves and how it can best position itself to meet their needs. It also focused on the ways FNPA can bring the people it serves, Indigenous and First Nations artists, into the process FNPA will use to develop itself, its methods, and its resources.

  • Quita Sullivan

    Montaukett/Shinnecock (she/they)

    Quita Sullivan, JD (she/her/they/them) (Montaukett/Shinnecock) is the Senior Program Director for Theater at New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) where she leads the National Theater Project, supporting the creation and touring of devised, ensemble-based theater. She is a Board Member of Grantmakers in the Arts and a frequent speaker on supporting Indigenous Artists.

  • Tanya stands wearing a black dress and beaded earrings and necklace in front of a desert landscape

    Tanaya Winder

    Duckwater Shoshone, Pyramid Lake Paiute, Southern Ute (she/her)

    Tanaya Winder is an author, singer/songwriter, and motivational speaker. She comes from an intertribal lineage of Southern Ute, Pyramid Lake Paiute, and Duckwater Shoshone Nations where she is an enrolled citizen. Tanaya blends storytelling, singing, and spoken word to teach about different expressions of love. Her specialties include youth empowerment and healing trauma through art.

  • Joseph is standing in an urban environment giving the camera a cool and welcoming look

    Joseph M. Pierce

    Citizen of the Cherokee Nation (he/him)

    Joseph M. Pierce (Cherokee Nation) is Associate Professor at Stony Brook University and co-curator (with SJ Norman) of the performance series Knowledge of Wounds.

  • Anthony stands on a stage with a colorfull background lit with purple light and holding a microphone

    Anthony Hudson

    Enrolled Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Confederated Tribes of Siletz descendant (they/them)

    ANTHONY HUDSON (Confederated Tribes Grand Ronde, Siletz) is multidisciplinary artist perhaps best known as Portland’s premier drag clown Carla Rossi. Together they’ve performed in Looking for Tiger Lily, Clown Down, and Queer Horror—the only LGBTQ+ horror film screening series in the United States, presented at Portland’s historic Hollywood Theatre.

  • Dakota sings into a microphone, wearing a vest and crown with pink lighting

    Dakota Camacho

    Matao / CHamoru (Guiya / yo'ña)

    Born and Raised throughout Coast Salish Territory, Dakota Camacho’s work activates a Matao/CHamoru worldview to make offerings towards inafa’maolek (Balance and harmony with all of life). Weaving through languages of altar-making, movement, film, music, and prayer, guiya (they) generate moments of encounter with self, each other, spirit, and the natural world.

  • Madeline crouches in a dark room on stage looking toward the camera with intensity

    Madeline Sayet

    Mohegan (she/her)

    Madeline Sayet is a citizen of the Mohegan Tribe, Executive Director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program, and an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University. For her work as a theatre maker she has been named a Forbes 30Under30, TED Fellow, and recipient of the White House Champion of Change Award from President Obama. Her play Where We Belong produced by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is currently on tour.

  • James stands in a suit in front of a white background smiling.

    James G Pakootas

    Enrolled Colville Confederated Tribes (he/him)

    James "Just Jamez" Pakootas is a wordsmith; a modern-day story weaver. He is an influential, multi-award winning hip hop artist, spoken word poet, motivational speaker & producer who cultivates change in the world through the power of words. James was raised on The Colville Indian Reservation in Washington State and is an enrolled member of The Colville Confederated Tribes.

  • Maura is dancing with an arched back in front of a desert landscape

    Maura García

    Non-enrolled Cherokee / Mattamuskeet (she/her)

    Maura García is a dancer, choreographer and erotic artist. Her vibrant creations channel the sensual rhythms of the natural world and inspire people to liberate themselves. She makes original work and collaborates with other creatives and clients to produce: new dance works, music videos, theatre productions, fashion shows, sex shows, live music shows, private performances and erotic print art. At the root, Maura's luscious work is powered by a desire to bring ancestral wisdom to life, to respect the living earth and to bring happiness to people.

  • A native man is underwater with his hands near his face, looking down and long hair drifting in the water

    Timothy White Eagle

    Unenrolled Mohave, Shasta (he/they)

    Timothy White Eagle is a mixed race artist. The roots of his work rise from a 30 year exploration of traditional ritual and embodiment practices. He creates experiences, installed spaces and objects in service to community and global healing. He has toured internationally with Macarthur “Genius” Taylor Mac on his Pulitzer Prize finalist “ A 24 Decade History…”. His work has been displayed in the ruins of an ancient Roman bath, a palace in Vienna and on a fence in the park.

    He is a 2018 WAA/AIP Launch Pad Fellow.

  • Rhiana Yazzie

    Navajo Nation Dine' (she/her)

    Rhiana Yazzie is a 2021 Lanford Wilson and 2020 Steinberg Award winning playwright, a director, a filmmaker, and the Artistic Director of New Native Theatre (Mpls/St. Paul). She’s seen her plays on stages from Alaska to Mexico including in Carnegie Hall’s collaboration with American Indian Community House & Eagle Project. Her first feature film, A Winter Love, (writer/dir/prod/actor) will premiere at festivals in 2021/22.

  • Native man facing a microphone in a recording studio

    Kunu Bearchum

    Northern Cheyenne & Ho-Chunk Nation (he/him)

    Kunu Bearchum (Northern Cheyenne & Ho-Chunk Nation). Based in Oregon, recently producing award-winning documentaries for native-owned non-profit Wisdom of the Elders and releasing his debut Hip-Hop Album titled "Through The Battle Smoke" with local & regional mainstays in the music scene. Kunu creates his work as a tribute to traditional Native American storytelling but with a contemporary lens and toolkit.

  • Native man stands center stage playing guitar with a band in front of a lavish red curtain

    Kaloku Holt

    Native Hawaiian (he/him)

    Kaloku Holt is the Executive Director for Ke Kukui Foundation, a Hawaiian cultural nonprofit organization located in the Pacific Northwest. He is also a professional performing artist with over 25 years of experience dancing and singing across the globe.