Open Call
This is an open call to invite new members to the Waawiiyaataanong Arts Council.
Waawiiyaataanong (Waa-wiiyaa-taa-nong), meaning 'where the water curves around (the land)' in Anishinaabemowin has since time immemorial been a meeting location for Indigenous people; it remains so today. In the spirit of our ancestors we will continue to follow the beaten ancestral paths to Detroit to meet, plan, and form kinships through the arts and the creative and radical efforts of our nations and friends.
The Waawiiyaataanong Arts Council is a group of artists, activists, cultural workers, and community organizers with many intersectional identities that centers Indigenous and Black voices. The Waawiiyaataanong Arts Council exists to facilitate the collective liberation of all, through advocating for the repatriation of all Indigenous land and life, and by enacting new forms of kinship and reciprocal relation among all of the inhabitants of what is currently called North America.
At the moment our work centers around a distinct type of colonial institution where we currently have the most leverage: the museum. Our most immediate goal is to reimagine practices of Land Acknowledgment, in ways that emphasize the importance of meaningful action, continued commitment, transparency, accountability, and long term relationship building,
The council will work with regional cultural institutions to implement Land Acknowledgement practices that move beyond symbolic gestures, and include short and long term plans for the redistribution of the institution’s power, privilege, resources, and eventually, land. We will follow up, and continue to hold institutions accountable.
Our work centers the land and its original inhabitants, calling in and including all who have developed relationships to this land, as well as all Indigenous people, here and beyond, with an attendant centering of women, elders, youth, Afro-Indigenous, Two-Spirit people, and all those historically and continually affected by persistent colonial narratives and practices.
We want to include more voices on the council and invite you to join us in this work. Please click on this link to submit an interest form, or leave a message at this number (313) 757-5254. We will begin to review submissions after Dec 3rd, 2020 and will get back to you as soon as possible.
