Decolonization Tracks
This work of FNPA is distinct in our national landscape. We are not a producing or presenting organization, nor a funder or professional development organization. Rather, FNPA came into existence because there is an urgent need to address specific gaps and a historic lack of support for Indigenous performing artists in what is called the US.
Decolonization Track
The Decolonization Track is an eight-month learning/unlearning cohort facilitated by Emily Johnson and Ronee Penoi. This effort is for individuals who represent and work in presenting organizations across what is called the United States. Participants engage in a rigorous syllabus, specific tasks, and sessions focused on Kinship Budgets (thank you Joseph M. Pierce for this term) and backing institutional moves with funding and priority timelines; Institutional Land Acknowledgement Assessments; Supporting Local Land Back and Land and Water Protection Efforts and knowing what is being asked of allies and accomplices; Liberation, Sovereignty and the Politics of Indigenous Resistance; Settler Colonial Violence and Decolonization is Not a Metaphor (Eve Tuck); The Harms of Appropriation; Decolonization and Systems Change, Time and Radical Care; Intellectual Property and Indigenous Data Sovereignty.
Emily Johnson and Ronee Penoi developed the syllabus for the Decolonization Track, which may be found by clicking here: Decolonization Track Syllabus
All participants engage in a post-Decolonization Track assessment survey, guided by Emily Johnson / Catalyst’s Decolonization Rider and Assessment, which offers data and helps identify perceived challenges and successes toward decolonization.
Participants in the 2025 Decolonization Track:
Kayenta Arts: Miranda Wright, Sydney Burns / Bern: Dorothee Baumann / Emerson: Joy Prince / Catalyst: Leomary Rodriguez
Participants in the 2024 Decolonization Track:
Vera List Center at The New School: Adrienne Umeh, Carin Kuoni / Movement Research: Marya Wethers, Barbara Bryan / New England Foundation for the Arts: Jane Preston / Beth Morrison Projects/Prototype Festival: Sarah Bellin, Julia Mendes / DiverseWorks: Xandra Eden, Ashley DeHoyos / University of Denver: Andryn Arithson, Aisha Ahmad-Post / UCLA’S Center for the Art of Performance: Edgar Miramontez / University of Washington Bothell Kundiman VONA Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundations: Ching-In Chen / Portland Museum of Art: Shalini Le Gall / Catalyst: George Lugg / Independent Producer: Ben Pryor / Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: Claire Ruud
Participants in the 2023 Decolonization Track:
Pace Gallery: Jumoke McDuffie-Thurmond / Sozo: Dana Greenfield / University of Minnesota: Nora Jenneman / Anchorage Concert Association: Schatzie Schaefers, Becky Kendall / Carolina Performing Arts: Alison Friedman / Walker: Pablo De Ocampo / Ringling: Elizabeth Doud / Pave Gallery: Rebecca Wertheimer / Boom Arts: Tracy Francis
Participants in the 2022 Decolonization Track:
Abrons Arts Center: Ali Rosa-Salas, Jon Harper, Tyler Diaz, Craig Peterson / Bates Dance Festival: Shoni Currier / Bunnell Street Arts Center: Asia Freeman and Adele Person / Chocolate Factory: Brian Rogers / Creative Time: Diya Vij and Alex Winters / Dance/NYC: Alejandra Duque Cifuentes and Candace Thompson-Zachery / Field Hall: Steve Raider-Ginsburg / Five Colleges: Alex Ripp / Independent: Vallejo Ganter / JACK: Alec Duffy and Jordana De La Cruz / Jacob’s Pillow: Pam Tatge / Links Hall: Stephanie Pacheco / MANCC: Carla Petersen and Ansje Burdick / New York Live Arts: Kyle Maude and Janet Wong / National Performance Network: Caitlin Strokosch and Stanlyn Brevé / The Perelman Center: Meiyin Wang and Bill Rauch / Performance Space New York: Jenny Schlenzka and Pati Herling / Portland Institute for Contemporary Art: Erin Boberg Doughton