Host Leah Lemm (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) is back exploring how Indian Country in MN is responding and adapting to the current pandemic health crisis.

On today’s show, we hear how two visionaries are looking forward to life after the pandemic, in their respective fields.  Rhiana Yazzie (Navajo) is a theatre artist, filmmaker, playwright, and she founded New Native Theatre twelve years ago. Marisa Cummings (Omaha) is the President and CEO of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC), a non-profit organization committed to traditional ways of being and support of Native women and families.

Rhiana Yazzie speaks about how safety is a top concern, as the New Native Theatre imagines bringing new productions to audiences in the future. Rhiana reflects on how COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Native peoples, and how considerations for the well-being of community members will continue to be woven into the mission and experience of New Native Theatre, as it always has been pre-pandemic.  

Marisa Cummings shares about the great work the MIWRC does to support Native women and families in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, and how the organization’s efforts took shape and continued throughout the pandemic.  Marisa explains how meeting the challenge of engaging communities by creating programming in the virtual world, has prompted the organization to envision and imagine new ways of serving and strengthening even more women and families long into the future. 

Miigwech, Rhiana Yazzie and Marisa Cummings! We are thankful for your vision and leadership in your respective fields. 

New Native Theatre, based in the Twin Cities, is a new way of looking at, thinking about, and staging Native American stories. https://newnativetheatre.org/

The Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC) is a non-profit social and mental health services organization committed to traditional ways of being and support of Native women and their families. https://www.miwrc.org/