An Enriching Mosaic of Existence and Truth-Telling

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer (Choctaw Nation), Artist in Business Leadership Fellow 2015

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Artists, community leaders, and culture bearers held space in solidarity and reflection on their experiences for the 2018-19 Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) fellowship year. At the final place-based intensive for this ILI cohort in San Antonio during May 2019, some of the fellows expressed how they underwent spiritual and life transformations. Others were surprised at the level of knowledge and development they can take back to their own communities.

Nijeul X. Porter, a participant in the inaugural ILI cohort in 2017-18, was a Core Facilitator and Design Team Member this year. He facilitated virtual cohort convenings and provided direct support for the “Learning Pods.” These pods were smaller break-out teams of 4-5 program participants working together throughout the year to dive deeply into issues they identify around leadership, arts, and culture.  

“Holding this space for ILI 2.0 gives me that opportunity to still grow in my own leadership,” Nijeul said. “I understood that we were building the ship of interculturality as we were sailing it.” One of this year’s ILI fellows, Christopher D. Sims, shared his thoughts for ILI Voices [http://www.weareili.org/voices]. He is an internationally known poet, spoken word performer, and community organizer. He is also a race relations expert and a lay minister who speaks on social justice issues throughout the country.

“I have been around diversity and multiculturalism for most of my life,” Christopher said. “But this experience [ILI] is unlike anything I have taken part in — mostly because of the knowledge, the wisdom, and the ethnic heritage that we possess. The stories that leave the tongues of my fellow cohort’s mouths amaze and mesmerize me. To have listened to everyone, especially in the larger settings, gives me a deeper understanding of who people are and where they come from with their specific work. It is an enriching mosaic of existence and truth-telling.”

ILI is a collaborative program of Alternate ROOTS, First Peoples Fund, National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures (NALAC), and PA’I Foundation. The effort grew from the direct experiences of the leaders of these founding cultural organizations. This 2018–19 ILI cohort underwent three place-based intensives for their Fellowship Year. The initial intensive was hosted by First Peoples Fund (FPF) during September 2018. Held in South Dakota, the five-day leadership immersion brought shared learning, personal exchange, and direct experience with the true history and sacred places in Lakota Territory.  

“There is nothing like going to places to walk the land, breathe the air, and feel the warmth of the sun in a particular place,” Christopher said. “I enjoyed and embraced the dryness, the majestic stars in the night sky, and the animals we shared the same grounds with.”

His roommate was Robert Martinez (Northern Arapaho), a 2012 FPF Artist in Business Leadership and 2015 FPF Cultural Capital Fellow.

“Under the darkest skies, and in the light of the morning, Robert and I would share and discuss our experiences in South Dakota after each day,” Christopher said. “We laughed, we guessed, we appreciated being there, and we looked forward to the next day.”

Hawaiʻi was next on the ILI agenda, the intensive taking place in January 2019. The fellows were immersed in the history and revitalization efforts of Native Hawaiians.  

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PAʻI Foundation hosted this intensive that involved exposure to and practice of the Hawaiian language, a visit to sustainable farms, paddling out to an island and back, and an art museum tour. A cultural showcase at the end of the week provided a stage for ILI Fellows as artists and culture bearers to present their work.

ILI Fellow Liza Garza and former ILI Fellow Eli Lakes form the mother/son musical duo GROW. They performed during the gathering.

“The convenings are showing us that we still have a lot of work to do, but that we are surrounded by others who are ready and willing to do that work together,” Liza said. “That’s love in itself. A lot of what happens in the ILI convenings are very intimate hashing out of difficult things. And then we eat dinner together! There is healing coming out of that.”

The third and final place-based intensive was in San Antonio. The intensive, hosted by the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC), was designed to help the fellows continue grounding their experience in the four core topics addressed in Lakota Territory and Hawaiʻi: “Who We Are, Where We Are, How We Work, Why We Matter.” It allowed the fellows to reflect on and articulate the changes that came about within themselves through ILI, and how they can take those personal qualities back to their communities and put what they learned into action.  

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Evonne Gallardo was the ILI Host Facilitator in San Antonio, and she shared her thoughts about the vision for what an intercultural framework and methodology might look like.

“So many of our cultures experience major life milestones in intergenerational spaces,” she said. “It was my hope that the ILI Partners and Fellows would feel a sense of family — we have moments of love, and moments of discord, but in the end, we are connected and want the best for one another.”

The work for these ILI Fellows didn’t end with the last of the place-based intensives.

“The in-person time is so valuable,” Nijeul said. “At the same time, I understand and try to share with the ILI community that the work actually begins when we leave the intensives. I push the participants to make our understanding and exploration of interculturality more expansive. Take the conversations we have through ILI and make them part of your day-to-day. Just call each other. That’s what creating intercultural practice is. Show up and work through.”

“The proximate time I spent listening to all of my cohorts has empowered me to seek new friendships and partnerships with my ILI cohorts as much as I can,” Christopher said. “This is professional and spiritual development I will need to continue my work — the work we are all doing in our own unique ways.”