Looking Back, Looking Ahead
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!