Events

For Indigenous creatives, creating film and television in community is key to centering culture and tradition, but how do you translate your story from script to screen? One important team member to add to your crew: a storyboard artist. 

 Join us for our next #KinTheory Virtual Office Hours where we’ll be visited by storyboarding artist Joe WIlliams (Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ Dakota, from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate.) Joe will share some of his work with us, talk about the right time for storytellers to engage him for projects, and what it means to him to help Indigenous-focused projects come to life. Joe is also an accomplished muralist and podcaster (5 Plain Questions) currently serving as the Director of the Indigenous Programs at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota. 

 Register TODAY for this virtual event in order to get access to the Zoom link!  

Join the Kin Theory team for office hours on the third Thursday of each month at 10amPT / 1pmET. These get-togethers are for current Kin Theory members, Indigenous creators who are thinking about joining the database but have questions, or non-Indigenous folks who are interested in learning more about Kin Theory, working collaboratively and respectfully with the members of Kin Theory, and understanding the importance of Indigenous storytelling and narrative sovereignty. Feel free to join for a few minutes or the whole hour. We can’t wait to see you!

On October 18, 2022, join Kin Theory and IF/Then Shorts at imagineNATIVE for an interactive workshop entitled “Powerful Practices for Connecting with Partners and Pitching Your Project.” Strong pitching skills are essential for finding collaborators and building a sustainable film career. Join our partners Merrill Sterritt and Caitlin Mae Burke of IF/Then Shorts, alongside Jessica Ramirez of Nia Tero’s Kin Theory, and other special guests for this transparent and unapologetic session. And bring your pitches!  

Meet Kin Theory member and outreach advisor Loren Waters at Tallgrass Film Festival! See her film “Restoring Néške’emāne” on September 29, then join her for the Filmmaker Network Lunch on September 30 to learn more about her work and about Kin Theory.

Kin Theory’s Michelle Hurtubise will be moderating Firelight Media’s “#BeyondResilience: Indigenous Forms” session at IDA’s Getting Real conference on Wednesday, September 28 at 2pm PT / 5pm ET. Panelists include Julianna Brannum, filmmaker (LaDonna Harris: Indian 101); 

JKin Theory’s Jessica Ramirez will be at Local Sightings Film Festival on Tuesday, September 20 to introduce Nia Tero’s Reciprocity Project films. Join Jessica for the screening, as well as a meet-up after the screening at a local establishment that will be announced at the event. Bring your #KinTheory questions!

Join the Kin Theory team for virtual office hours on the third Thursday of each month at 10amPT / 1pmET. These get-togethers are for current Kin Theory members, Indigenous creators who are thinking about joining the database but have questions, or non-Indigenous folks who are interested in learning more about Kin Theory, working collaboratively and respectfully with the members of Kin Theory, and understanding the importance of Indigenous storytelling and narrative sovereignty. Feel free to join for a few minutes or the whole hour. We can’t wait to see you!

Join the Kin Theory team for virtual office hours on the third Thursday of each month at 10amPT / 1pmET. These get-togethers are for current Kin Theory members, Indigenous creators who are thinking about joining the database but have questions, or non-Indigenous folks who are interested in learning more about Kin Theory, working collaboratively and respectfully with the members of Kin Theory, and understanding the importance of Indigenous storytelling and narrative sovereignty. Feel free to join for a few minutes or the whole hour. We can’t wait to see you!

In this virtual panel, enjoy stories from Indigenous creatives from Pasifika and beyond about how they center their cultural upbringing to create community-specific and place-based media, as well as the movement to grow, strengthen, and support new and existing media connections across the global Indigenous community.

Panelists will include multi-disciplinary artist and researcher Dakota Alcantara-Camacho (Matao / Chamorro / Ilokano), filmmaker and poet Chad Charlie (Ahousaht First Nation / Black), filmmaker Erin Lau (Kanaka Maoli), speaker and coach Alyssa London (Tlingit), and journalist Thomas Mangloña II (Chamorro). Moderated by Tracy Rector (Choctaw/Jewish/Black), Managing Director, Storytelling, Nia Tero.

Kin Theory Strategist Michelle Hurtubise will be presenting her paper, based on 2021 Kin Theory panel discussions, at the 2021 American Anthology Association’s Annual Meeting, which takes place November 17 to November 21 in Baltimore, MD. Hurtubise weaves interdisciplinary theories of Paulo Friere, Augusto Boal, and Clemencia Rodriguez that use media and civic literacy to lift oppression through education, the arts, and citizen’s media with the decolonization and Indigenization work of Sonya Atalay, Glen Coulthard, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson to frame Kin Theory’s 2021 film festival panel discussions to find pathways towards co-liberation joy.

The presentation is open to the public; registration to the American Anthology Association’s Annual Meeting required:  Register here!

During the Center for Experimental Ethnography’s Third Thursday convening in November, Sosena Solomon and Peter Decherney, directors of DREAMING OF JERUSALEM (a film about the Jewish community in Gondar), will talk with Kin Theory strategist and PhD candidate Michelle Y. Hurtubise about different forms of collaboration.

Learn more and register here.

Join this robust, virtual screening and conversation about the importance of narrative sovereignty, where Indigenous creators (re)take control of their stories in a rapidly shifting industry landscape. Indigenous media makers are making important interventions at all levels of production in order to bring authenticity and respect to screens big and small. Watch stories and get advice from Brit Hensel (Reservation Dogs, Osiyo TV, Reciprocity Project) and Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Molly of Denali, Reciprocity Project), and more. Those who register for this event in advance will receive access to a private screening link to work by the panelists. Filmmaker and Nia Tero Managing Director of Storytelling Tracy Rector will moderate. This event is a collaboration between Florida State University’s Department of Art History in the College of the Fine Arts and Nia Tero’s Kin Theory Indigenous media makers database.

Alongside skyrocketing demand for Indigenous made media must be strong support networks, increased visibility, and safe industry connections. It’s essential that Indigenous artists have access to networks and resources that support their artistic journeys. In this virtual panel, hear from those who have created (and are creating) Indigenous media online communities and how they are uplifting Indigenous storytellers, why collaboration and care are prioritized, and where their networks (and others) are intersecting to create a wider web of support for Indigenous creatives. Contributing to this conversation are: Amalia Cordova (Latinx), Supervisory Curator, World Cultures, at Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage; Jennifer Loren (Cherokee), Director of the Cherokee Film Office; Jennifer Podemski (Anishinaabe/Ashkenazi), Founder and CEO of Shine Network; and Tracy Rector, Nia Tero Managing Director of Storytelling and Executive Producer of Kin Theory. Tracy Rector will also moderate this discussion. 

Register at: https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_m4mxbrUARpWqwxfFop9kSA

 Kin Theory strategist MIchelle Hurtubise will be presenting her paper, Indigenizing with Kin Theory, Making New Tables in Media Industries, at the 40th annual Union for Democratic Communications (UDC) Conference. Since 1981, UDC has been a place for scholars in the political economy of communications to level theoretically sharp inquiry into the relationship between media, quality of life, democracy, and equality. This year’s focus is on the politics of “masking” and “unmasking” in relation to our broader political, economic, and media.

• Tickets: This is a free, virtual event. Those interested in attending can reach out to the Kin Theory team to request access: mediacommunity@niatero.org