Celebrating Sisseton

In June 2021, 15 months after the COVID-19 pandemic first reached the state of South Dakota, the Sisseton community came together at Celebrate Sisseton.

An event that drew on more than a year of sharing, dreaming, and planning by We the Many artists and community members, Celebrate Sisseton included a traveling gallery, pop-up art making station for festival goers, and performances by musicians such as Bryan Akipa and Starr Chief Eagle, artist in residence Alex Barreto Hathaway, and local performers Georgia Streier, Derrick Lawrence, Melanie Yost, Olivia Bartnick, Josh Anderson and Janeen Kohl.

The weekend also included the opening of an art show at Nicollet Tower & Interpretive Center. The space was both lively with the energy of an art opening, and reflective of the meaning behind the moment.

Special Moments

As program coordinator Madeline Achen reflected on the experience “It was a really amazing moment of finally getting to meet the people that I’ve been seeing over zoom – to just be excited to be together and to say, “Oh, I recognize the place in that painting” and start telling each other stories…”

Jane Rasmussen, Director of the Sisseton Arts Council, added “I think I’ll always hear that laughter in the room. That was so special. It was like, that was the moment when we, when we were together in person after all those months of zoom.”

Reflections of Community

The show featured artwork created in response to interviews of 30 individuals from Sisseton, Agency Village, and Veblen. Their stories inspired visual art, including pieces by artist Inkpa Mani. Inkpa reflected on the process, “How can we make this a legacy rather than an event? We’re keeping the stories and finding ways that we can keep them alive. And we’re providing feed for new projects as the years go on.”

Local artist, MJ Derhak, was also energized by the stories that came from the project, which directly inspired the work she created. “I was going to listen to around half of the community interviews, and when I started listening to them, they were so interesting that I couldn’t stop. They were so wonderful and vulnerable,” said MJ. “I probably could have created maybe 20 more pieces out of the interviews that I listened to, but there wasn’t enough time. That was kind of the frustrating part – I wanted everybody to walk into the gallery and see themselves.”

Soundtrack of Sisseton

The interviews were also the inspiration for a new album by local singer-songwriter Patrick Jenkins, who drew on the conversations to create 10 original songs. Same Sky is available on Bandcamp.

Each part of Celebrate Sisseton wove together the stories of this community into layered, thoughtful, creative pieces – a fitting finale to two years of work together.

“I have never seen stories told in such a beautiful way.”

– Dustina Gill, artist and community member

Getting Creative Online

In darkness, the power of creativity comes to light.

Sisseton’s We the Many artists and community partners never expected that they would find themselves trying to bring people together during a global pandemic. But like many of us in 2020, they had to navigate the unprecedented – adapting gatherings to social distancing and finding new ways to foster creativity over Zoom.

Their efforts had a deep impact at a time when people needed it most and proved the power and possibility of building bridges to new audiences.

On Connecting Virtually

“I was thinking about one of those one of those Zoom events where we had our local artists teach some workshops. It was a winter night, and I was looking at my screen and there was an entire family of all ages from Agency Village doing this art project together around their kitchen table. It looked so warm and inviting. Then at the same time, there was a little girl up in Veblen, who was sitting on her bed and she was doing the art project. She was just so chatty and really responding to it, and then suddenly, she said, “I’m sorry, I have to go to bed and I have to leave. It just made me laugh because I thought, you know, that wouldn’t have happened [in person. That little girl would not have been at an art class and that family wouldn’t have all been there together.”

- Jane Rasmussen, Director, Sisseton Arts Council, We the Many community partner

“We got folks from Veblen, from Sisseton, and Agency Village, and they don’t even have to take their slippers off! They can just open their computer and be in the same space with entire families. And they don’t have to drive. People are taking these virtual classes. There is a demand.”

- Alex Barreto Hathaway, We the Many artist-in-residence

On Learning, Connecting, and Creativity

Thanks to the efforts of the We the Many community partners and artists, local residents began coming back to creativity or finding it anew.

“This experience was so profound for me. Just the fact that I’m painting again. And I keep telling myself that now because I need to push to continue to do that, because it’s easy to fall back and think, “Oh, I need to perm my poodle instead.”

- MJ Derhak, local artist and We the Many participant

“I learned a lot of things, like how to paint and draw, and it was fun.”

- Norvin Moreno, youth art participant from Veblen

“The need for relationships has been accentuated even more. We may be gathering in different ways, but we are still making connections. Meeting and talking and seeing the process evolve is extremely energizing”

- Karie Geyer, We the Many participant and community partner

Connecting Sisseton, Agency Village, and Veblen

“I can’t speak for the entire community. But for me, it was wonderful because I wouldn’t know any of the people I know now had it not been for We the Many. This project truly made people connect to each other, I think, more than anything I have ever experienced.”

- MJ Derhak, local artist and We the Many participant

We the Many seeks to help communities build new bridges, express and experience creativity, and expand our collective definition of Midwestern identity. From the start, Sisseton structured their work to do just that, by connecting to neighboring towns.

Located within a 20-mile radius of each other, the towns of Sisseton, Agency Village, and Veblen are all located within the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, the homeland of the federally recognized Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. About one-third of Lake Traverse Indian Reservation inhabitants identify as of solely Native American heritage. Others are recent immigrants from Central America or are descendants from White European settlers.

We the Many provided community members an opportunity to reflect on how these many identities shape a sense of place.

On language

“While playing soccer last Monday in Sisseton, the primary language on the field wasn’t English, it wasn’t Spanish, it was K’iche’ — an indigenous Mayan language. What’s fascinating is that in a community where the Dakota language and culture is thriving, so is K’iche’.

- Alex Barreto Hatthaway, We the Many artist-in-residence

On building dialogue through art

“There was an event in Veblen, held in an old legion building, where we were just painting and seeing people of all ages, youth and adults, working together and the conversation was about how art really does bring people together and opens the door for communications. And then, just the laughter in that building. I haven’t heard in a long time… So, I think this project was a morale booster—and that it opened our eyes, and that it will continue to be with us.
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- Karie Geyer

On building new relationships

“A lot of people were popping up on zoom calls and I thought wow, we live in the same town but never knew each other. There were a lot of people that never met before this project…You feel more a part of the community now. I lived here and felt a part of the tribal part of the community but never felt a part of the other parts. I see people now and I say “Hey!” It’s neat because it’s making us more of a community”

– Dustina Gill

On involving more people in the arts

“We the Many has pushed us to work harder to make our area an arts community. Art’s been around a long time, and our Sisseton Arts Council here is amazing. But I feel like this project has pushed different people into getting involved—and that can be really, really community-changing for the better”

– MJ Derhak

Exploring Storytelling

In June 2021, Perry, Iowa’s We the Many community partners began hosting the in-person events that they had been planning –and dreaming of — since the early days of the pandemic. One of the most profound was an evening at Tin Pig Tavern.

Over the last 1.5 years, Perry residents had been connecting to each other, planning a residency in their community, and participating in storytelling workshops. This finale performance was a chance to bring all these threads together in one event.

Bustling with the energy of a hot summer night, locals from Perry and the surrounding area came together to share stories and experience the music of singer-songwriter Chad Elliot.

“As Chad was performing, I scanned the crowd, and saw the delight on people’s faces. It has been over a year since we’ve had experienced that. I had goosebumps – a live event is special and unique.”

– Akwi Nji, Artistic Director

The Power of Story

The evening was a chance to tell for both novice and expert storytellers to share their reflections on life in and beyond Perry, Iowa. These stories were months in the making, guided by artist in residence Erik Dominguez.

As an educator, trainer and coach, Erik has always been fueled by stories — imagined and real. Through a series of three workshop series, helped Perry locals develop and perform 5- to 10-minute personal stories at the Tin Pig Tavern — and to encourage their friends and neighbors to do the same.

“A lot of people hesitate to tell their stories because they don’t know how or they don’t have a venue.” said Erik. “A program like the one in Perry helps heal individual hearts and the heart of the community.”

“Listening to stories from people that took the course with Erik and seeing how well they did… their stories are compelling. I had that sense of pride for these individuals. Seeing it through was exciting to me.
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- Lynsi Pasutti, Art on the Prairie staff and We the Many community partner

Inviting in Everyone

It was important to We the Many organizers to spread the word about this event to all sorts of people in their community. Before organizer Mary Rose Rose Nichols retired, she had spent 27 yeas as a teacher in the local school district.

“We wanted to engage more people in our events, so we all reached out to people that we wanted to invite,” said Mary Rose. “I reached out to some of my former students — and they came! It was so fun to visit with them – I hadn’t talked to them since they were in eighth grade. and to have us all there that evening. As it turned out, a lot of them ended up either taking a storytelling workshop or even being a storyteller. It was a great night for me to see.”

Capturing What’s Good

Celebrating place is a core component of We the Many, and each community partnership begins with in-depth asset-mapping conversations with local project partners. The goal of these conversations was to learn about existing resources (institutions, associations, individuals, traditions), and incorporate these unique strengths into the project.

But celebrating place didn’t end with those early planning sessions. Instead, Ames, Iowa-based visual artist Jennifer Drinkwater brought her What’s Good Project and ethos to Perry – inviting local students to photograph what’s good about their community.

Capturing photos of local trails, businesses, houses, and landmarks, high schoolers Sebastian Hernandez and Jaylene Karolus documented places across Perry that they consider meaningful. In June, the images were proudly displayed on Main Street, at Betsy Peterson Gallery and the Chamber of Commerce.

The project was both an important way for the students to share what they value about their home, and for the Perry community to see what some of its younger residents consider most important:

“I’m 16 years old, and I have lived in Perry for most of my life. I decided to photograph a few of my favorite spots in Perry where I have a lot of memories growing up. I took a few pictures of our downtown because I love how beautiful and lively it is. A couple of my favorite downtown places are the Carnegie library and Soumas Court. Another location I photographed is the McCreary Community Center. It’s an important place to me because growing up, I’ve spent a lot of time there doing taking part in community activities and being with friends and family. I also took photos of a few outdoor public places such as Forest Park, the Raccoon River Bike Trail, and Weise Park. These are places where I have spent time riding bikes, playing, and hanging out with friends and family. I love being outside and in nature, so I’m glad Perry has areas where people can enjoy the outdoors!”

- Jaylene Karolus, student participant

A Path Towards Welcoming

The following is a reflection on the power of creativity to bring people together by Cathy Gatchel, Chief Development Officer at the Honeywell Foundation, and the impact of We the Many on Wabash, Indiana.

“We the Many came at a time when our greater community was just at the cusp of starting to ask questions about being a welcoming community. It took us on a journey we didn’t know we needed to take, allowed us to ask questions we didn’t know we needed to ask, go places we didn’t know we needed to go, and it gave us the priority to do it, because we had the program, the grant, and the artist.

We the Many allowed us to lead difficult conversations in our community about race and social justice and being a welcoming community. It has been an opener – a conduit — for us to be a part of the conversation about how we can become a more welcoming community to our Spanish-speaking population.

For us as a performing art organization, we’re very used to creating programming, having programming, offering it up, letting people come to those programs, and what We the Many was for me, was very different. It’s been very proactive in a way that it’s not like, “Here’s a program, come see it.” It’s about reaching out and truly listening and connecting in a way that is authentic.

We learned that listening takes time. It takes a lot of resources and effort, and so even though the project is ending, it’s not the end of our work. I think one could be naive in terms of what it really means to be welcoming, because it takes quite a bit of initiative. I think those of us in the White community take so many things for granted in terms of our assumptions. We assume, “Why wouldn’t you feel welcome? We’re welcome. I’m welcoming. Why wouldn’t you feel that way?”

I think that’s, by far, one of the things that we really came away with.”

Helping Students Grow

Wabash’s We the Many brought programming directly into schools. Working alongside Chicago-based artist-in-residence, Ana Velazquez, students of color in Manchester Community Schools were able to express themselves and their creativity through theater classes and public performances.

In total, Ana visited the schools over 16 weeks. She helped to lead 42 activities, 10 rehearsals, and a final performance by the students.

“Through this program our students have had the opportunity to explore their culture, explore their language, and show classmates and family members how important their culture is.”

– Nicole Screeton, English Language Director, Manchester Community Schools

On We the Many’s Impact on Students

“Not only has this project affected me and impacted my life but it has also impacted the students’ lives.”

- Karen Jiménez, student intern

“There were tears of joy after the students performed. Afterward, we all gathered in the park in Manchester for a big community-wide celebration. Ana presented each of them with a shirt that they had designed together and then just really spoke truth into them, giving them hope and encouragement. There was a very meaningful connection that was developed between Ana and the students. And that’s what I just continue to think about is just the importance of connections.”

- Kristi Unger, Director of Education, The Honeywell Foundation, We the Many community partner

Artes Latinas in Wabash

As part of their We the Many project, Honeywell Center for the Arts sponsored Artes Latinas in Wabash, an exhibition of illustrations, prints, paintings, and mural by Colombian, Puerto Rican, NuyoRican, and Mexican artists.

“We are excited to showcase this fantastic artwork in Wabash. Art speaks a universal language that connects us all”

- Eduardo Luna, exhibit curator and We the Many advisor

The featured artists – and Eduardo Luna, the curator – were proud of the exhibition, and what it signaled for creating a more inclusive community.

The exhibition also featured artwork by Wabash County students who worked alongside We the Many artist-in-residence Ana Velazquez. As Ana shared, “Our goal is to create a space for students to voice their feelings and experiences.”

On this exhibit making a difference

“We’ve got people coming from an hour away to come see it. All the community downtown is like, ‘Oh, this is great, we’re so excited, this is so awesome.’ The artwork, of course, is fantastic, but it’s just… I’m not even sure we would have done a Latino art exhibit two years ago. I feel like those are the things that are really the “see change” kind of differences that will stick with us.”

- Cathy Gatchel, Chief Development Officer at the Honeywell Foundation, We the Many community partner