for immediate release: october 7, 2022
Phoenix and NYC – On Monday, October 10 – which marks Indigenous Peoples’ Day – members of NDN Collective will be present at two separate events, highlighting the breadth and geographical reach of their work.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day Phoenix Fest
- NDN Collective is sponsoring the VIP experience at Indigenous Peoples’ Day Phoenix Fest, which gives attendees access to an exclusive musical lineup and fashion show. At the event, they will also run multiple booths and experiences – including a “Sko Vote Den” booth dedicated to voter registration, engagement, and education of Indigenous folks in the Southwest.
“We are honored to support our partners at Cahokia for the Indigenous Peoples’ Fest in Phoenix, AZ,” said Bre Jackson (Oglala), NDN Collective Executive Assistant. “Indigenous Peoples’ Day is the day before the last day to register to vote in Arizona. We will show up as a part of our non-partisan Sko Vote Den voter engagement program, encouraging our Indigenous Relatives to register to vote, learn more about how we can use voting to protect our sacred sites and homelands, and bring Indigenous issues to the forefront of the political process.”
“Voting becomes effective when we can exercise this collective power in a way that lets elected leaders know we will no longer accept erasure of our peoples, our history, and our rights!” said Janene Yazzie, Southwest Regional Director. “It’s important to show political and grassroots solidarity in a city that has long benefitted from the theft of water and development of coal from Hopi and Diné lands, and the theft of land and water and destruction of food systems of our Yavapai, Gila River, Salt River Pima and Tohono O’odham relatives.
“But this is just one step towards larger mobilization – our resistance doesn’t begin or end at the voting booth. We are here to change power dynamics by centering Indigenous-led solutions for a more just, sustainable, and regenerative future.”
“We are proud to stand beside our relatives, friends and local partners to honor Indigenous Peoples past, present, and future!” said Alberta Eagle, Director of Operations. “This opportunity allows us to uplift the local Indigenous organizations that work hard to provide education, engagement, and registration opportunities in Southwestern Native communities. The power of our Native Vote can make tremendous systemic changes that will create a better world for all Indigenous Peoples!!”
New York Grantmakers in the Arts Conference
- At New York Grantmakers in the Arts Conference – a week-long event which provides valuable professional development for arts grantmakers and encourages the reimagination of the present and future of arts and culture by those stewarding wealth for their communities – the following will provide an opening keynote presentation on October 10th:
- Sarah Sunshine Manning, citizen of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in Idaho and Nevada, and Chippewa-Cree of Rocky Boy, Montana and NDN Collective Director of Communications
- Mic Jordan, Ojibwe/Anishinaabe hip-hop artist and an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribe in Belcourt, ND and NDN Collective Creative Director
- Frank Waln, Lakota public speaker, multi-genre music artist and curator, 2021 Radical Imagination grantee
- Marca Cassity, enrolled citizen of the Osage Nation and folk-rock-electronic artist, 2021 Radical Imagination grantee
- Will Wilson, Dine’ Photographer and Trans-customary Artist, 2021 Radical Imagination grantee
“The “Lighting the 8th Fire through Indigenous Arts” keynote responds to a prophecy among the Anishinaabe where humankind faces a crossroads – determining whether we continue down a road of extraction and destruction, or choose to live within the laws of the natural world”, said Tina Kuckkahn (Ojibwe), NDN Collective’s Director of Grantmaking. “In the gift of free will, there is hope. In the gifts of Indigenous artists, there is medicine to move and inspire us all to make the right choice. We’re not here to entertain, but to inspire real change during this urgent call to action.”
Both events will be livestreamed on NDN Collective’s Youtube | Facebook | Twitter pages.
Watch NDN Collective’s ‘We Are Unapologetically Indigenous’ video in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
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NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building, and narrative change, we are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.
