Fresh works by young Native American artists; part of a broader campus effort in indigenous representation in connection with Dartmouth's 250th anniversary

HANOVER, NH—What do the voices of the next generation of Native artists sound like? Indigenous Rising: An Evening of NextGen Native Artists presents a vivid sampling on Wednesday, January 30, in shows at 7 and 8:30 pm, in intimate Warner Bentley Theater.

The program shares three diverse projects:

• Indian School Project, a work-in-progress by playwright Ronee Penoi (Laguna Pueblo/Cherokee) that uses song and satire to tell the harrowing history of Carlisle Indian School and the brutal assimilation enforced under its motto “Kill the Indian, Save the Man”;

• Performance poetry by Storme Webber, a Sugpiaq/Black/Choctaw poet and interdisciplinary artist who identifies as Two Spirit, a modern term used by some indigenous North Americans to describe people in their communities who fulfill a traditional “third-gender” (or other gender-variant) ceremonial role in their cultures; and

• Scotti Clifford and Spirits Cry, a rock-blues trio that fuses rock, blues and alternative rock in honor of Grandmother Earth and their Oglala Lakota ancestry.

The show was guest-curated by Andre Bouchard (of Kootenai and Ojibwe descent), an arts organizer from the American Northwest who brought to the Hop last year’s Looking for Tiger Lily. The evening is part of a Dartmouth initiative to place art by and about Native people front and center—especially as the college approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding. Founded with money raised for an “Indian charity school,” the college instead catered to young men of European descent. In 1970, it began reckoning with that unfulfilled pledge and now leads in educational opportunities for, by and about Native peoples. Indigenous Rising is the second collaboration with Bouchard, the first being last season’s performance by Native American “drag clown” Anthony Hudson.

The evening builds on themes developed in films this year at the Hop. In fall, that series included a sold-out screening of the documentary Dawnland, about Indian children in foster care in Maine, with a post-show talk including co-producer Bruce Duthu, Dartmouth’s Samson Occom Professor of Native American Studies and an internationally recognized scholar of Native American law and policy; the documentary Chamisso’s Shadow, with a post-screening discussion with its creator, German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger; and the drama Woman Walks Ahead. In winter, the Hop will screen the documentary Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (January 20).

These events also coincide with an increased commitment to indigenous art by Dartmouth’s Hood Museum of Art. Earlier this year, the Hood created its first curatorial team devoted to Native American art, and Indigenous Rising follows a week after the museum is slated to open on January 26. The renovated museum will afford more space to regularly exhibit works by Native American artists, contemporary and traditional.

Indigenous Rising at the Hop is funded in part by the Wetzel Family Fund for the Arts and the Class of 1961 Legacy: The American Tradition in Performance Fund.

MORE INFORMATION

Andre Bouchard

Based in Vancouver, Andre Bouchard is on a mission to bring great indigenous performing artists to the world’s attention. He represents a stunning range of exceptional artists across many types of performance who also understand how to reach non-indigenous audiences.

Ronee Penoi is a playwright, dramaturg and theater producer. She founded Theatre from the District, has worked extensively with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, was a New Play Producing Fellows at the American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage, and has worked with Anna Deavere Smith,The Shakespeare Theatre and others.

Storme Webber’s work is cross-genre, incorporating text, performance, audio and altar installation, archival photographs and collaboration in order to engage with ideas of history, lineage, gender, race and sexuality. Her practice explores liminal identities, survivance and decolonization, and does so in a blues-based experimental manner, often incorporating acapella vocals.Her first solo museum exhibition, Casino: A Palimpsest, was presented at Frye Art Museum in Seattle and will tour in the future. Her most recent book, Blues Divine, is available from her website, along with its companion CD recording.

Scotti Clifford and Spirits Cry is a trio from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Clifford was among the first group of activists arrested the summer of 2016 as part of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation protests against the crude oil Dakota Access Pipeline. Clifford formed the band after breaking with his former band, Scatter Their Own, with whom he performed internationally, including opening for Bonnie Raitt and B.B. King.

CALENDAR ITEM

Indigenous Rising: An Evening of NextGen Native Artists

Curated by Northwest-based arts activist Andre Bouchard, this program of a rising generation of indigenous artists features excerpts from Ronee Penoi’s play about the harrowing history of Carlisle Indian School; performance poetry by interdisciplinary artist Storme Webber; and Scatter Their Own, a rock-blues duo from South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation.

Wednesday, January 30, 7 pm and 8:30 pm

Warner Bentley Theater

$25, 18 & under $17

Dartmouth students $10

General admission