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Land acknowledgement

The land on which I live and work is the ancestral territory of the Ho-Chunk Nation, who have stewarded these lands for countless generations. With utmost respect and humility, I honor the Ho-Chunk people, their deep connection to this land, and their rich cultural heritage. It is with endless gratitude that I say THANK YOU for this opportunity to live, learn, and work on your ancestral land. I promise to do my best to support the wellbeing of the Ho-Chunk people, as well as Indigenous people both near and far.

There are many opportunities to support Indigenous people locally and globally, and here are just a few that I’m aware of. This list will continue to evolve and grow, and your suggestions for additions are greatly appreciated too!

Many of the events listed happen annually, so if a date has passed, keep your eyes peeled for the next one.

Support Indigenous People

Events & Pow-Wows

Madison, WI, April 6 & 7, 2024: Native Spirit performance Step into the culture & dances of Native America, featuring the beauty of our First Nations through storytelling, music, and high energy dance.”

Madison, WI, April 27 2024: Madison College Native American Student Association pow wow.

Milwaukee, WI, May 4, 2024: 2024 Honoring the Heartbeat PowWow

LaCrosse, WI, June 10, 2023: Artspire Free Community Art Event, featuring the Ho-Chunk Singers and Dancers.

Prarie Du Chein, WI, June 16-18, 2023: 350th Expedition Anniversary: Hoop dancing by Native Spirit’s Nedallas Hammill of the Dine’ (Navajo) Nation. Nedallas is “a top 10 World Champion Hoop Dancer this year and was the 2020 Teen World Champion Hoop Dancer” This is a great article.

Black River Falls, WI: Every Memorial Day & Labor Day weekend, the Ho-Chunk Nation hosts a public pow-wow at the Andrew Blackhawk Memorial Pow-Wow Grounds in Black River Falls, WI. I am unaware of a posting for this year’s events, but I assume it will follow the same schedule that is has for years- see the Labor Day info HERE and Memorial Day info HERE. The pow-wow is free, but please support the Native vendors selling art, wares and food if you are able.

Madison, WI, April: Madison College hosts an annual spring pow-wow.

Portage, WI, June- Sept: Josephine Lee, director of the Ho-Chunk Nation Museum & Cultural Center, will kick off the 2023 speaker series with a presentation on “Ho-Chunk Creative Arts in Cultural Context.”

Marquette, Iowa, July 1, 2023, 17th annual Emma Big Bear Winnebago History Day at Emma Big Bear Historic Presentations & Exhibits, 102 North St, Marquette, Iowa.

Madison, WI, July 12, 2023: The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is hosting “A Wisconsin Celebration”, including “Ho-Chunk drummer Eric Logan and the Little Priest Singers as we celebrate 25 years of school music advocacy with Madison Public Schools.”

Portage, WI, July 15, 2023: Indigenous Cultural Arts Day, including a live performance by the Wisconsin Dells Singers & Dancers of the Ho-Chunk Nation, talks, and art demonstrations.

Lake Mills, WI, July 16, 2023: Aztalan Day

Wisconsin Dells, Aug 25-27, 2023: Neeshla Pow-Wow, Reedsburg Road (Hwy 12), Baraboo, WI 53913

Lake Mills, WI, Sept. 2, 2023: Native American Day

Sauk City, WI, Oct 9, 2023: Indigenous People’s Celebration. I assume this event will be happening this year, but there is not posting for it yet.

Milwaukee, WI, Fall time: 44th Annual Autumn Powwow, UW Milwaukee, WI

Rothschild, WI, Oct 7-8, 2023: Central Wisconsin Indigenous Peoples’ Day Powwow

Zoom: Dec 4, 2023: Center For Native Futures presents: Mound Summit, facilitating “… conversations around Native and Indigenous Futurisms. From the vantage point of a metaphoric effigy mound, artists, thinkers, poets are asked to imagine our creative futures.”

Groups

1) Tribalized Entertainment, based in Wisconsin Dells, WI “Tribalized Entertainment is your source for Native American culture, Education, awareness, speaking.”

2) Wisconsin Dells Singers and Dance Troup, based in Wisconsin Dells, WI- I don’t believe they have a website, but they share music and dance in the Wisconsin area often. I believe Elliott Funmaker Sr. began this group.

3) A Call For Peace, based out of McFarland, WI. Again- I don’t believe they have a website, but they offer events in the area. Art and Dawn Shegonee are the founders- please message me if you’d like their information. A popular offering they’ve been sharing is “TAKING A JOURNEY OF HOPE & DISCOVERY: A Multimedia Exhibit & Storytelling Program Celebrating the Tapestry of Humanity, Transformational Education through Art, Culture, Photography, Literature and Film Inspired by the Ancient Wisdom of Indigenous People”

4) The Bad River tribe of Northern Wisconsin recently put out this documentary, “Bad River”. It affects all life in the Great Lakes region, not just tribal members. This is a really important issue and an fantastic documentary.

Art

Have you visited the "Native America: In Transition" exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum? The museum put out this beautiful video of Tom Jones, member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. Tom lives in Madison, WI and works as a professional artist as well as an assistant professor of photography at UW–Madison.

Annual Native Art Marketplace, Mount Horeb, WI

Little Eagle Arts Foundation, Wisconsin Dells, WI

Blue Bear Studio, Baraboo, WI (currently by appointment only, but that may change)

Madison Wisconsin Native American Art Market event

Wendy Red Star’s work is beautiful! Originally from Montana, and currently in Portland, OR, Wendy’s exhibits can be seen around the country, and she’s also got publications for sale. This one isn’t listed in her publications for sale page, but looks like a wonderful book: “Bíilukaa”. “(Apsáalooke), An artist's book documenting the symbolism and material culture of the Bíilukaa (Apsáalooke)” -Radius Books

Food

The Siox Chef, Minneapolis, MN

Red Lake Nation Foods'

Brenda’s Frybread, Black River Falls/Hatfield WI area (people have asked me about frybread lately!)

The Frybread Factory: Eau Claire/Menominie WI area

North American Indigenous Games Team Wisconsin hosts a frybread fundraiser, June 8-10, 2023 (details & second hand invite HERE) Madison, WI

Misc

Baraboo, WI, Aug 18, 2023, 7pm: Authentic Ho-Chunk Music & Dance at Devil’s Lake

Ojibwe Storytelling Series- live annually, with archived videos to watch year round

Native Harvest Ojibwe Products: food, art, handmade items, more

Etiquette in Indian Country

Etsy: You can search Etsy for “Indigenous owned”, “Native owned”, “BIPOC owned” and “Black owned” shops, although it doesn’t appear that you can search for particular items yet. Currently it appears that you must search something like “Etsy for Indigenous owned shops” in your search browser.

3,000 Year Old Solutions To Modern Problems”. This is just a GREAT video I couldn’t help but share, from one of the musicians in my playlist below, Lyla June.

Places

Tribal lands in Wisconsin now visible on Apple Maps, including landmarks and Places For Native Cuisine

Three Eagles Foundation and Frank’s Hill, Muscoda, WI

Lizard Mound State Park, West Bend, WI

Aztalan State Park, Lake Mills, WI

Center For Native Futures, Chicago, IL

Ho-Chunk Nation Museum & Cultural Center, Tomah, WI

Big Smokey Falls Rafting- Keshena, WI, on the Wolf River. This is a fabulous white water rapid trip that I’ve taken a couple times. The folks that operate the business are very nice and accommodating, and food (including Indian tacos), beverages, coffee, etc are sold on site- check out their options & payment methods in advance so that you can support these small business owners as much as you can :)

Music

Here's a playlist of Native American music I love. While Spotify is a great place to discover new music, it doesn't actually support the artists financially. Please support the artists financially through donations, purchasing albums, merchandise or concert tickets if you're able. Of course simply sharing their music, messages and missions is also helpful to the artists.

If any particular artist perks your ears, I’d encourage you to follow them on social media and check out their websites, as most are involved in really some good activism work for people and the planet.

Additional resources & Music

This page is dedicated to acknowledging, honoring and supporting Native peoples of the land that I live on, but over here is where you can find all kinds of resources and information about Indigenous people across the world. Scroll down for two different “resources” section.


CLIENT RESULTS

Jessica Riphenburg, Shamanic Practitioner