IndigenousWays
IndigenousWays
IndigenousWays is a Native-led Indigenous Arts nonprofit founded in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2007. IndigenousWays highlights Indigenous artists of all media as well as 2SLGBTQIA+ and differently abled performers. The IndigenousWays Festivals originated through events on the Navajo Nation and has grown to live events in Santa Fe. In recent years, eleven IndigenousWays Festivals have taken place at the Santa Fe Railway Park – reaching out to broader communities and ensuring access through American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and disability access for all events. In 2025, festivals will continue to take place at the Railyard Park.
In addition to our festivals, our initiatives include monthly virtual Wisdom Circles – using online media to provide platforms highlighting resources offered by culture bearers across the globe. Our speakers include visual and language artists, dancers, singers, and honored elders with precious Indigenous knowledge. We maintain an archive of all these events to continue sharing these stories. Once again, our reach is broadened by involving ASL interpreters prominently in all events - including empowering Deaf and Hard of Hearing presenters to educate our audiences.
We continue to build our program by adding interns, providing hands-on training in arts management, event production, digital media, and nonprofit administration for a next generation of leaders. One of our guiding values has been collaboration with others. In 2025, we look forward to bringing our Wisdom Circle to the Vital Spaces Theater in Santa Fe, permitting a live venue and audience for continuing our important virtual events.
We are grateful for the support of the Santa Fe Community Foundation that has enabled our programs to flourish and remain free for all attendees.
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The Santa Fe Community Foundation invited its nonprofit grantees to submit stories related to our September topic of Education.
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
Last year, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian opened Carved Stories by Hopi artist Mavasta Honyouti. Featuring all sixteen low-relief carvings from the Coming Home series — created in tandem with Honyouti’s children’s book Coming Home: A Hopi Resistance Story — the exhibit recounts his grandfather Clyde Honyouti’s experience at an off-reservation federal boarding school. This Indigenous-led project offers a powerful and visually compelling reflection on Hopi life, culture, and history. As Brian Vallo notes, “Carved Stories… is both powerful and beautiful.”
Kha'p'o Community School
With support from the Native American Advised Fund, sixth-grade students at Kha’p’o Community School embarked on Our Voice, Our Stories — a year-long documentary project blending traditional Tewa arts and modern digital storytelling. Through pottery, weaving, sewing, and film, students explored their cultural identity and celebrated their voices as young Tewa people.
Truchas Services Center Preschool
The Truchas Services Center Preschool serves children from all the surrounding communities, providing supervision and appropriate curriculum for children ages 3 to 5 years old. The mission of the Pre-School program is "Children learning through playing".
