Decolonizing Performing Arts: Doing things the right way

It takes time, thought and frequently humility to do really anything complicated well. This is frequently the largest barrier that I see in potential partner to engaging in Native arts and culture – the largest barrier to creating equity for Native performing artists. I recently was a panelist from a granting organization with national reach and I was struck that the few proposals that had any mention of Native performers or community were sparing in their approach, or used Canadian First Nations performers (nothing wrong with it but it is emblematic that US presenters have no idea that there are US Native performing artists they could engage with – sometimes who are in their regions). Caveat these observations within the context that I understand that many performing arts venues are consistently under-resourced with little time or money available for equity related training and less time than they generally need to do community engagement well. Having said this – here are some thoughts about how the performing arts industry **SHOULD** be moving forward with regards to equity and Native performing arts.

First, accept the fact that you don’t have the answers – you will have to ask for help. Humility is, in my experience, a core shared value in Native communities (at least around Turtle Island). Accept that you will make mistakes and resolve to take responsibility for these mistakes. It’s OK to make mistakes!

Second, it (probably) isn’t about you. Doing work in Native communities is about the community. For that matter, doing work for ANY community shouldn’t be about you. There is a common colonial mindset that your community needs to be educated. I would invite you to flip the script – what do you have to learn? The answer might not be apparent – it might unfold over time.

Third, you can do things faster, but it will take more money. The old saying: fast, cheap or good – choose two, applies here. Native communities are great at doing things on slim or non-existing budgets, but they take time, lots of time.

Fourth, you have to commit. It can’t be a one day a year type of thing. Sometimes it takes showing up for years to gain the trust of Indigenous communities. By committing I mean giving without expectation of receiving – time, energy and resources. When your commitment becomes clear to the Native community, they will start reciprocating (in my experience again).

#decolonize #NativeAmerican #performingarts #equity

Decolonizing the Performing Arts: An Allegory

This is about an Native artist - raised with some knowledge of his culture but his day to day life was within the context of that of colonists - Europeans that came to our land. He grows up with his parents and perhaps a couple of other folk - who are understandably conflicted about their own heritage, being his only real examples of his culture. You see the US government has had over 200 years of what can only be described as a genocidal mindset towards Native Americans - so it hasn’t always been the best thing to, you know, stand up and be counted. As a result, popular culture images and portrayals of Native people, past and present become the most important examples of his cultural self-identity.

Funny thing is though, these aren’t either accurate or positive. Native American characters are played by non-native actors and are more often than not, the enemy or drunks or criminals.

So this is what he has to go on growing up. But he does grow up, fortunately, many of our young people walk into the next world from suicide, murder or substance abuse. In fact he goes into the performing arts. Lacking a cultural role model he assimilates for the most part - the core of his training is in the western canon. But as he works he starts to feel his ancestors talking to him - he starts a process of discovery, of his culture and it becomes part of his performance - which now looks neither like that of his colonist teachers, nor like what people think about in terms of Native art.

So, then he tries to do his performing art work professionally but - well - venue managers don’t really know what to make of it and dismiss it. It doesn’t fit into their marketing plan - they don’t think there are Native people in their city or maybe they do, but even though they have an inkling that they should be doing something - this is WAY to complicated for them to tackle now.

So the next generation comes through the same system - no examples from people who look like them. Nothing changes.

Decolonizing the Performing Arts: Understanding Invisibility

Invisibility is one of the core challenges that is facing Native people and communities today. I can't count the number of times that I have heard that Native Americans are almost extinct. I have also fielded questions from startling sources about whether Native people exist in particular cities, states or regions. There is a persistent notion that the Indigenous people in North America were almost completely wiped out with the waves of colonists and the genocidal agenda that the US Government followed them with across the rapidly expanding boundaries of the US. Bizarrely there is also a reluctance to accept that that the US was complicit in genocide altogether. These notions are reinforced by the narrative told predominately by media and entertainment industries that have largely shut Native people out of their processes. In the performing arts this has translated to the phenomena of Natives being imagined rather than engaged with: most commonly manifested as characters, or stories about current or past events created without any consultation with Native people or communities. That is if there is any mention of Native people whatsoever.

When you don't see people like yourself in the stories you read, see or hear you will start to feel invisible. Moreover other people will start viewing your community as small or insignificant or even non-existent. This is where we find ourselves, at least in large part, today as Native people in the United States. This is, in part, why it is so important that the performing arts field do its part and start taking equity seriously for Native peoples.

In the case of Indigenous communities, it is my fervent opinion that invisibility contributes to problems such as the mental health, substance abuse and suicide crises that are plaguing our people. So, this is serious. This is a matter of life and death really. We need to have our stories told, both in the places that our young people go (online and in geographic locations) but also to the US population in general. So no other Indigenous person is ever confronted with the assertion that she/he/they don't exist.

Native Invisibility is perpetuated by many systems within the US. For example, years ago I was told by a leader of a media organization that stories don't get run by news organizations, "Because there is an issue of quality" - meaning that this person was asserting that the Native writers out there weren't up to his mark and that he was unwilling to spend the energy to help train a Native person to his standard of journalism. This sentiment is not uncommon and is a direct result of societal perceptions of invisibility. It is also a failure of not caring enough to find the many extremely capable Native writers out there. Really a failure all around, but emblematic of not just media attitudes but also attitudes from presenters.

So we have a situation where change, if it comes, will come slowly - but we cannot afford to stop pressing for it. Leaders in the arts and media need to be held accountable by their colleagues (read folk of European descent) or change will likely never happen.