Covid-19 Relief for Indigenous Creatives
photo by Naomi Ishisaka
Online Exhibitions
In early 2021, yəhaw̓ released a call for Afro-Indigenous and Indigenous creatives to participate in 2 virtual exhibitions - Telling Our Own Stories and Being A Good Ancestor. Selected artists are featured online on our website and social media channels. Both exhibitions have been led by community curator Brit Reed (Choctaw/Black). All artists and BIPOC consultants were compensated equitably for their participation.
Skill Shares
As more and more arts opportunities move online, we hope these sessions empower BIPOC artists to refine their skills and share their creative practices through digital adaptations.
Artwork Phone Photography
In September 2020, yəhaw̓ co-founder Satpreet Kahlon led a quick virtual tutorial on how to photograph artwork with your phone. Satpreet showed indoor and outdoor lighting for best results, reviewed in-phone editing tips, and demonstrated set ups for different types of artwork.
About Satpreet Kahlon
Satpreet Kahlon is a Punjabi-born artist, curator, and educator based in Seattle, WA. Through her work, which has been featured in Hyperallergic and Artforum, she is interested in creating visual language and immersive encounters that express and explore intersectional cultural experiences as well as the manufactured systems of inequity that dictate their boundaries.
In addition to her studio practice, which most recently includes a solo show at Brown University, a body of work shown at the Wing Luke Museum, and a large-scale public commission at the new Washington State Convention Center, Satpreet is a co-curator of yəhaw̓, as well as the managing editor of New Archives, a non-profit arts journal covering the Northwest Coast. She has also designed and taught youth programming all over the US, running the Design Your Neighborhood program with the Seattle Art Museum between 2015 and 2017. She currently teaches part-time at Cornish College of the Arts.
In 2019, Satpreet graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she received a full-fellowship to pursue her MFA in Sculpture, and she was named one of 35 most influential people in Seattle by Seattle Magazine.
Artist Statements and Biographies
In fall of 2020, yəhaw̓ asked artist RYAN! Feddersen (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation) to create a quick video tutorial on how to write an artist statement and biography. These texts are essential for working artists, and once developed, can be used to apply for creative opportunities or lend context to online portfolios.
About RYAN! Feddersen
RYAN! Elizabeth Feddersen specializes in creating interactive murals, site-specific installations, and immersive public artworks that invite audience engagement. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Cornish College of the Arts in 2009, then remained in Seattle, working as an artist, curator, studio assistant, and arts administrator, until recently relocating to Tacoma, Washington. Feddersen grew up in Wenatchee, Washington as a part of a creative family with multiple cultural perspectives. She is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, from the Okanogan and Arrow Lakes bands, and of mixed European decent. Utilizing traditional Plateau storytelling applied to contemporary issues, historical research, and digital tools, Feddersen creates material applications which interrogate official histories, examining how what we think has been formed by the information we have been taught. She explores creative strategies to activate participation through interactive materials, crowd sourced content, and social practice. These approaches enable her work to start conversations about a broad spectrum of subjects by offering opportunities for interaction and introspection. Feddersen recently received a National Fellowship in Visual Art from the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, Visual Artist Fellowship from Artist Trust and completed permanent public artworks Synecdoche for the Burke Museum in Seattle and NEXUS for the city of Tacoma’s Prairie Line Trail. She has created large-scale interactive installations and site-specific pieces throughout North America, working with Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, the Museum of Art & History Santa Cruz, Seattle Art Museum, City of Tacoma, Alternator Centre, Missoula Art Museum, the College of New Jersey, and Northeastern University, as well as curated exhibitions for the New Burke Museum, Museum of Northwest Art, and Center for Contemporary Native Art at the Portland Art Museum.
Relief Mini-Grants
In May 2020, yəhaw̓ surveyed Indigenous artists, creatives, and cultural workers to understand the impact of Covid-19 on their livelihoods, and to determine the resources most needed to move forward during these challenging times. We found that of the nearly 100 survey respondents thus far, the vast majority have lost jobs or other sources of income. They reported well over $100,000 in combined losses since the pandemic began, with hundreds of thousands more projected in the coming months. In response to this growing need, yəhaw̓ launched a mini-grant program to distribute unrestricted awards of $500 to Indigenous artists in Washington.
We received 55 eligible requests, including applicants from a wide range of ages, career stages, and from urban and local tribal communities. Initially we had funds for just 10 grants, but we quickly reached out to local partners, and successfully raised an additional $22,500 so we could fund ALL applicants. Grants were dispersed in June 2020. A second round of funding to the same grantees was distributed a year later in May of 2021.
This was the first phase of a series of holistic Covid-19 relief programs led by Brit Reed (Choctaw), alongside members of yəhaw̓’s curatorial team, guided by community feedback.
About Our Grantees:
ages ranged from 20-71
32 lived in an urban center, 16 lived on reservation, and 7 lived in a rural area
household sizes varied from 1-14 people, with a total of 187 people across 55 households
31 women, 18 men, and 6 non-binary
most were mixed race, and alongside their Indigenous ancestry shared Black, European, Latinx, Asian, or other inter-tribal heritages
tribal affiliations included Nisqually, Blackfeet, Peigan, Cree, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Kanaka Maoli, Lenca, CHamoru, Haida, Tlingit, Yaqui, Opata, Susu, Salish Kootenai, P'urhépecha, Seminole, Gila River, Tulalip, Suquamish, Lummi, Upper Skagit, Yakama, Apache, Colville Confederated Tribes, Makah, Nez Perce, Bering Straits, Navajo, Lakota, Choctaw, Kickapoo, and others
cities included Burien, Seattle, Renton, Shoreline, Issaquah, Marysville, Poulsbo, Bellingham, Tulalip, Toppenish, La Conner, Wapato, Spokane, Wellpinit, Olympia, Snohomish, Medical Lake, Kingston, Edmonds, Fife, Everett, Okanogan, Onalaska, East Wenatchee, Centralia, and Tacoma
additional social or cultural identities shared included student, assault survivor, single mother, Queer/Two-Spirit, houseless, living with disability, grandmother raising grandchild, Elder, teacher, Veteran, Medicine person, retired police officer, and water protector - all were creatives
Impact Survey
yəhaw̓ is collecting feedback from Indigenous creatives on what kinds of support and resources are needed during this time. Survey responses help us to design Covid relief programs and paid opportunities tailored to our creative community. Here is what we heard April-May of 2020:
Survey Takers:
100 respondents
97 Indigenous
79 artist, creative, cultural worker
65 from Washington State
42 hoping to receive support, 3 willing to give, 55 hoping to receive and give
Financial Impact:
only 9 respondents said they have not lost income
between $200/month-$110k total lost
of those who reported monthly lost wages, the average lost was $1296/month
of those who reported total lost wages, the average lost was $16,049
Ideas for Further Engagement:
39 people interested in zoom calls or a virtual conference
40 people interested in mailed or picked up materials
42 people interested in in-person gathering when safe
42 people interested in small group demos
Needing Support:
all but 13 respondents said that unrestricted grants would be helpful
63 people interested in online shows
53 people interested in art being purchased for giveaways
Providing Support:
56 people would be willing to donate art for an auction
44 people willing to donate or purchase art supplies
64 people want to share skills
30 people would purchase artwork/jewelry