Bronitsky and Associates Blog

I’ve been invited to speak at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas March 10-13.  Jerry Hollingsworth,  former student of mine from my teaching days at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa (truly a galaxy long ago and far away), has invited me there to speak.  I haven’t been back to Texas since I left Odessa in 1981 and I’m looking forward to the experience.

I’ll be a panelist participating in The Quest.  Historically, McMurry has used American Indian mascots and imagery and is now working to change and find new directions.  Rather than focus on the past, I intend to map out some possibilities for honoring American Indians in the future, through the creation of spaces where Indigenous voices can be heard in all their power and diversity–theater, dance, music, film/video and much more.  I think the University has the opportunity to create a new beginning and develop something entirely new.  Stay tuned!

Seems like I’ve barely had the chance to catch my breath since the last entry.  To bring you up-to-date–I’m not going with Mariachi Imperial de America to Albania and Macedonia, due to lack of sufficient funds, but audiences there are in for a real treat.  I still remember their tour of Armenia as an 8-day musical party.  What a pleasure!

And I just purchased the airplane tickets for Sami rights pioneer Magne Ove Varsi’s US tour–Texas, Arizona, Hawaii and Minnesota.  It’s going to be quite an experience, as he’ll be speaking at a human rights center, tribal colleges, and public universities too.  Still trying to figure out what to pack–Minnesota AND Hawaii in April?  Maybe fur-lined sandals?!

The highlight since my last post, of course, was the trip to Israel.  Ten very full days–sightseeing, friends, and family.  My new grandniece really is incredibly cute!  And two days packed with meetings with museums, embassy staffs, venues and organizations to share with them the power and diversity of Indigenous performing and visual artists from around the world, from Tibetan singers to Hopi reggae to Mexican son jarocho and so much more.  I really believe that much will come from these meetings–a museum is seriously considering an American Indian singer-songwriter, a puppet festival asked for materials from an Indigenous puppet theater, and an embassy is looking at materials that could lead to a veritable mini-festival.  Stay tuned!

Sometimes it does seem as if I’m in the midst of almost too many things.  Right now, I’m waiting to find out if I’m accompanying Mariachi Imperial de America to Albania and Macedonia in March.  Will the Alianait Festival in Nunavut obtain funding from the US embassy in Canada to bring the Chinle Valley Singers and myself to Iqaluit in May?

I’m also in the midst of finalizing the US tour for Sami rights pioneer Magne Ove Varsi in April.  That’s going to be quite a trip.  You can visit the tour schedule elsewhere on the website, and I hope you can join us.  But what to pack?  April in Honolulu and April in Cloquet, Minnesota are going to be VERY different!

And Wednesday, off I go to Israel to see my new grandniece, Lihi–my sister’s first grandchild.  I am so ready!  I’m also using this as an opportunity to introduce venues, organizations, potential audiences and the staffs of several embassies about the power and diversity of Indigenous performing and visual artists from around the world–stay tuned!

The New Year has begun.  I turned 60 in 2009, and I’ve been in this business for fifteen years.  I’ve been thinking a great deal about what I’ve accomplished, where I’ve been, and where I want to go.

Over the years, I’ve learned from experience that Indigenous artists and performers are almost always marginalized–there is one and only one artist or performer at an event or festival, especially in the performing arts, especially for contemporary performers.  Many years ago, I saw a production of Tomson Highway’s wonderful play, The Rez Sisters, in Denver.  Afterwards, I asked the theater director when it would be possible to see more Indigenous theater–and he replied that now they were getting back to “serious theater”.  Now THATS marginalization!

This marginalization often traps performers, audiences and venues into the limitations of what “everybody knows” Indigenous people do, rather than opening all of us up to the power and diversity of what Indigenous people actually do.  Yes, American Indian music certainly includes powwow and flute music–but it also includes chamber music and hiphop and heavy metal.  Yes, some American Indian music is spiritual–but it is also loud, angry, funny, and much more.

But where can audiences and booking agents and venues go to listen to this music, see the range of Indigenous performance, hear Indigenous comedy?  In conversation with American Indian artists and performers, I often say that if I asked them where I could hear the best powwow music, or see best arts and crafts, they could easily name ten places off the top of their heads.  But if I was to ask where I could hear the best Indigenous hiphop, see the best Indigenous theater, enjoy the best Indigenous fashion, the answer is often just a shaking of the head–who knows?

But it’s not because the fashion, the hiphop, the theater isn’t there.  It’s because there is no place to experience international Indigenous performance on a regular basis.  Yes, several countries now have festivals and events which regularly showcase the best in their countries–shoutouts to The Dreaming in Australia, Planet IndigenUS and Imagine + Native in Canada, Pasifika in New Zealand.  But what about Indigenous performance from Siberia? or Mexico? or Peru? Or the US?

As a result, I’ve decided that my goal now will be to create an annual Indigenous performing arts festival that will:

1. be partnered from the beginning with an Indigenous organization or community
2. showcase the best Indigenous performing artists from around the world–theater, modern dance, music, fashion, film/video, photography, written and spoken word
3. train Indigenous young people how to run the festival and, eventually, take it over
4. introduce Indigenous performing artists to the business–what is an agent?  what is a contract?–since many people come from isolated rural and urban communities where this information is difficult if not impossible to find
5. eventually, serve as a performing arts showcase as well, introducing the best Indigenous performers to venues and booking agents from around the world

It’s an exciting goal and one that needs to happen.  I’m not sure I can make it happen, but I am sure I’ll give it everything I have.  Why not join me?

The end of the old year, the start of the new year, both approaching fast! 2009 was quite a year. I initiated and produced an international Indigenous theater festival in London in May–ORIGINS™ (www.originsfestival.com), something I’ve been dreaming about since 1998. What an incredible experience! And I toured Sami playwright Harriet Nordlund from Sweden to the US and Apache playwright David Velarde from New Mexico to Sweden.

2010 promises to be even larger, bolder, and more exciting:

• touring Mariachi Imperial de America to Albania and Macedonia under the auspices of the US embassies there, and meeting with Albanians about coproducing an Albanian performing arts festival to bring the best Albanian performers to the world
• touring Sami rights pioneer Magne Ove Varsi from Norway to the US in April–including Hawaii! University of Minnesota is also one of the stops, so it will be interesting figuring out what to pack for tropical Hawaii and, shall I say, less than tropical Minneapolis
• speaking of cold weather, the Chinle Valley Singers have been invited to perform in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada in May, pending funding, and I’ll be accompanying them to speak to people there about creating a Nunavut performing arts event. I’ll definitely have to take a sweater!
• funding permitting, though, I’ll be able to warm up in June, going with the Chinle Valley Singers to the San Juan Fiesta in Lima, Peru, and meeting with Ashaninka and Yanesha performers and artists
• there may even be another tropical jaunt, with Mariachi Imperial de America in July to the Dominican Republic, as they’ve been invited to perform at a formal reception at the home of the US ambassador there
• maybe I’ll even produce an event in Santa Fe, as Bruce Bernstein, the director of the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA), has invited me to produce a throatsinging concert in Santa Fe during Indian market with Lois Suluk and Maria Illungiayok from Nunavut and a throatsinger from Mongolia. I’ve toured Lois and Maria to Ireland and Mexico and enjoyed working with them–but I haven’t met them yet. This could be my big chance!

There will be more coming in the year ahead, but that should give some idea of what’s going on.

And now that I’ve turned 60 and been doing this for 15 years, I’ve been thinking about where I want to go next–not geographically, but professionally. But you’ll have to wait til my next blog entry!