Beyond Land Acknowledgements at Arts Midwest

Thursday morning, the CAIRNS director conducted a 3-hour workshop/discussion for staff of Arts Midwest, a Regional Arts Organization located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was conducted virtually. The director advocated that all initiatives dealing with American Indian communities should be grounded in the “Four Rs” that serve as guideposts for CAIRNS: Rigor, Reliability, Respect, and Relevance. He also encouraged attendees to critically examine the language and grammar usually associated with American Indians and shared a framework that argues there are at least three different and distinct orientations under an “American Indian” umbrella. This framework is illustrated in the slide above. The workshop concluded with attendees being randomly assigned to one of five groups and then each group had a different online inquiry that they completed and then reported back to all participants.

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