Bronitsky and Associates Blog

I’ve been back only about a week and a half but I hit the ground at a run to continue preparations to bring Magne Ove Varsi to the US in April. Magne Ove Varsi is a Sami rights pioneer and founder/director of the Gáldu Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Kautokeino, Norway (www.galdu.org). Galdu was established by an order of the Norwegian government. The resource centre was created to increase information about the rights of Sami and other indigenous peoples.  The Centre is independent, governed by its own board and is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusions and by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
Mr. Varsi’s diverse career also includes:

• lecturer in journalism at the Sámi University College
• news editor for SVT Sápmi in connection with the establishment and joint Nordic Sámi TV news on SVT2, NRK 1 and YLE
• president of the Sámi Journalisstaid Seari (Sámi Journalists Association) 1998-2001
• and many other journalistic and international activities

 Lecture Topics

• Sami self-determination
• Territories, lands, and natural resources
• Indigenous intellectual property rights

Magne Ove Varsi has been invited to speak at the United Nations in New York in May 2010 as part of Indigenous Peoples Month.  He has asked Bronitsky and Associates to develop an American speaking tour for him before his appearance at the UN so this is really exciting opportunity—I must admit, I’ve never worked before with anyone who has spoken at the UN!  Stay tuned!

The last day of the tour, and a great day it was.  Ulrike heads the Relgiion and Public Engagment Advisory Board and we met with them.  Thanks to Ulrike, I had already met one of the Board’s members, Jeanne Simonelli, at the Society for Applied Anthropology meetings in Santa Fe.  It was good to see her again and learn more about her work, while sharing some ideas for the Board.  And Harriet kept discussion firmly grounded in her Indigenous perspective.

Meeting with the Religion and Public Engagement Advisory Board–
Ulrike Wiethaus, Gordon Bronitsky, Harriet Nordlund,
Lynn Neal, Jeanne Simonelli

Then off to Professor Hoagland’s religion class for the last lecture of the tour, and away we went to Winston-Salem State University and Andre Minkins, professor of drama in the Department of English and Foreign Languages there.  Harriet met with students in a directing class and it was one of the most exciting moments of the tour, watching her work with a director and her actors, drawing the story from the actors themselves.  Really a great moment.

Harriet Nordlund speaking to Professor Hoagland’s class
in the Department of Religion, Wake Forest University
(above and below)

And we had the opportunity to visit the Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University, where Director Belinda Tate let us in to see a show of images that opens tomorrow.  A very striking exhibit—young people with American flags, using them in very diverse statements about being American.  If you’re in the area, by all means, go see it!

Ulrike Wiethaus and Belinda Tate, Director of Diggs Gallery,
Winston-Salem State University

At last, a farewell dinner at a local Mexican restaurant—Ulrike, her husband Duncan, Harriet and myself.  Much good food, pitchers of margaritas, lots of stories and laughter.  A perfect ending to a great tour!

Harriet Nordlund, Duncan, Gordon Bronitsky, Ulrike Wiethaus

Quite a diverse and enjoyable day here at Wake Forest University.  Harriet and I had a working lunch with Betsy Gatewood, the Director of the Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts at the university.  I must confess, I’m not used to seeing the words Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts in the same sentence—it’s a very interesting institution which reaches out across many disciplines and departments.  The Institute is developing a pilot project in Nicaragua and there was considerable interest in learning from Harriet about how to work in a mutual and respectful relationship with Indigenous people.  I shared my concern that performing arts, traditional and contemporary, should be considered in economic development, along with visual arts.  A good and productive discussion.

 
Wake Forest University Campus

Afterwards, the schedule gave Harriet and myself time to explore the Reynolda House Museum of Art (http://www.reynoldahouse.org/index.php). The Reynolda House Museum of American Art displays a premier collection of American art ranging from the colonial period to the present.  Built in 1917 by Katharine Smith Reynolds and her husband Richard Joshua Reynolds, founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the house originally occupied the center of a 1,067-acre estate. It opened to the public as an institution dedicated to the arts and education in 1965, and as an art museum in 1967.  Superb works of art shown in the setting of a wonderful and trend-setting home—very different from the often cold and formal settings for modern art at other institutions.

 On the way to the Reynolda House Museum

 
Harriet and Gordon outside the Museum

At the end of the afternoon, Harriet conducted “From Story to Play:  A Theater Workshop” for one of Ulrike Wiethaus’ classes.  I took advantage of the time to get some souvenirs and enjoy the lovely weather and the view from the terrace of one of the main buildings, overlooking the campus.  Clear blue skies, a slight cool breeze—a time to enjoy the moment and all that this tour has accomplished as it comes to an end tomorrow.

And in the evening, Ulrike treated us to a stunning performance by the Luna Negra Dance Theater.  Over the last ten years, Luna Negra has become a powerful and exciting source of contemporary Latino dance.  The final piece, Danzón, was accompanied live by the Turtle Island Quartet, renowned for their creation of bold new trends in chamber music for strings.  The cost of live performance for modern dance together with musicians is usually prohibitive so this was a special treat as dancers and musicians improvised together.  A wonderful evening!

Tomorrow is our final day on tour.  On Thursday, Harriet returns home to Sapmi, the country of the Sami people, and I head back to Albuquerque.  It’s been a great tour.

The weather here in Winston Salem continued to be cloudy but the tour continued to be interesting and productive.  In the morning, we met with Wake Forest University faculty who are creating an interdisciplinary center.  Harriet spoke about her experience developing local networks in her role as Director of the Cultural Department within the council of Jokkmokk, Sweden, the center for the native Sámi people of Lule valley.  The participants explored the relevance of this experience for the creation of ties between Wake Forest University and Indigenous peoples at the local, state and national levels.  There seems to be considerable interest in working together in the future.

Wake Forest University faculty Christy Buchanan
and Ann Wahl with Harriet Nordlund

This afternoon, Harriet participated in a conversation with Ulrike Wiethaus about “Storytelling and Remembrance:  A Conversation About Sami Oral Traditions and their Revitalization in Contemporary Sami Theater” for students and faculty.  Again, a very wideranging and interesting discussion!

Ulride Wiethaus and Harriet Nordlund at Wake Forest University

And finally, something a little different—I spoke about “Indigenous World Markets and the Arts:  Building Entrepreneurial Networks” to students in one of Ulrike Wiethaus’ classes.  It’s the first time I’ve been asked to speak on tour, and the first time in a long time I’ve spoken about my work.  The class is focused on entrepreneurship so I had a great time and I think the students learned a lot.—there certainly were some good questions and participation.

Gordon Bronitsky in the Wake Forest University Library
 

Harriet Nordlund and Ulrike Wiethaus in discussion
at the Wake Forest University library
 

Gordon Bronitsky speaking to students at Wake Forest University,
with Ulrike Wiethaus

Our host, Ulrieke Wiethaus of the Religion Department at Wake Forest, has arranged a very full schedule for both of us.  Sunday was our first full day in North Carolina and we’re off to a great start.  We began the day with services at the Triad Native American Church, a mostly Lumbee church—much good congregational gospel singing and Harriet’s first chance to meet with local Indian people.

Triad Native American Church, Greensboro, NC

Local Lumbee leader Ruth Revels met us at the church and then took us out to lunch.  It was a wonderful opportunity to learn first-hand about the  Lumbee people of North Carolina.  We were especially fascinated with hearing from her about participation by some of her late husband’s relatives in a major confrontation between armed Lumbees and the local Ku Klux Klan in 1958—an event sometimes known as the Battle of Hayes Pond. The Klan attempted to stage a rally in the heart of Lumbee country against “race-mixing”.  Armed Lumbee attacked on horseback—well, the Klan didn’t do it again!  You can read more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hayes_Pond.

Then we went with Ruth to the Greensboro Cultural Arts Center to meet with local Native people at the Greensboro Cultural Arts Center (http://www.downtowngreensboro.org/citylight/go/cultural-arts-center).  It’s a wonderful contemporary building, with performance spaces, rehearsal halls, an African-American art gallery, a café and much more. 

We met at the Guilford Native American Art Gallery and Gift Shop.   The building really is a great tribute to the foresighted people of Greensboro and the Gallery is a special achievement of the local Native people who worked very hard to make it happen.  Bravo!

Most of the people had been at the church services earlier in the morning.  The meeting began with a discussion by Harriet about Sami people and culture.  Then Ruth brought up her long-held interest in creating some sort of performance out of the stories of the Lumbee people of the county, and the discussion became quite exciting as Harriet and I began exploring with them ways to work with local people and use the facilities of the Gallery to develop a performance piece—getting local people to talk about specific experiences, and using techniques of writing and staging to present them right there in the gallery.  It really was exciting and I hope we can come back to see how it develops.

Discussing Lumbee history and Lumbee stories
with local Native Americans