MAACAGíRAAC (Thank You in Hidatasa)

We are happy to welcome you to The Shoreline, American Indian Community House’s new seasonal newsletter for our community of allies and donors. 

At the beginning of each new season we will bring you updates from AICH, invitations to monthly events for our ally community, and recommendations for other ways to engage with urban Indigenous life in NYC.

The name The Shoreline is inspired by Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg musician, writer and academic Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s latest book Theory of Water. Leanne’s work is rooted in Nishnaabeg intellectual practices and relationships with her elders, contemporaries, and her homelands and waters. In Theory of Water she is inspired by time spent in a canoe with her mentor Doug Williams, the shoreline research of his other student, Maddy Whetung, and her band’s album Theory of Ice. Simpson’s description of the shoreline mirrors the space we want to create in this newsletter and our ally events:

“Shorelines are continually changing, mapping a coming together of land and water, and then unmapping the departures. They are gathering sites for living beings from the lake, the air, and the land. They are sites of dense relationality, renewing relationships, reaffirming connections and generating ecosystems.”

The symbol we have chosen to represent our New York City shoreline is our plant friend, Seaside Goldenrod or Solidago sempervirens (latin translation: to make whole, always alive). A fierce survivor with her thick, waxy leaves and flexible stem, this goldenrod can be found on salty ocean shorelines, by the brackish bay, and the freshwater creeks across the city. Seaside Goldenrod can also be found on the side of the highway or breaking through concrete bulkheads on New York’s harder edges. Seaside Goldenrod reminds us it isn’t always easy but we can bloom where we’re planted.

We welcome you into dense relationality at the shoreline of urban Indigenous life and our community of supporters and allies generating repair and redistribution.

JOIN OUR RENT CAMPAIGN!

The Impact of Sovereign Space

Since moving in March, we have already hosted 21 events with a total of 575 attendees!

• • • • First Foods Pantry distributions of Indigenous foods
      • Indigenous Futures/Indigenous Pathways programs for young adults navigating Native life in NYC, including a book talk, a student mixer, and moccasin workshop
      • Youth Council meetings and events
      • Women’s Talking Circles
      • Spring Market of Indigenous vendors
      • Community CPR training
      • Open House where the community came together to celebrate this move that was years in the making!

Our community is already using the space to co-work, meet-up with friends, and drop-in for support from AICH staff. Community members have also used the space to host their own events including:  

• • • an Indigenous foodways and storytelling event
    • a film screening fundraiser for an immigrant's legal fees 
    • a vegan food demonstration
    • quilt square preparation for an event to prevent Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP)

Four ways to plug-in:

1. 1. 1. If you’re a one time donor, join our monthly sustainers giving anywhere from $5 - $250.
      2. If you already give monthly, can you increase your donation?
      3. Forward this email to a friend and ask them to join you!
      4. Volunteer to fundraise with us! Sign-up here.

Will you help us keep this sovereign Indigenous space in NYC by contributing to our Rent Campaign?  Monthly sustaining donors currently cover 40% of our rent, which is a huge gift. Can you help us get to 100% by the end of the year? 

COME TO OUR DONOR & ALLY EVENTS

JUNE 25th - Movie Night & Talking Circle - Register Here

AUG 2nd - Artist Talk - Register Here

AUG 20th - Indigenous Perspectives on Wealth & Redistribution - Register Here

EXPERIENCE INDIGENOUS NYC

JUNE 7TH - Drums Along the Hudson A Native American and Multicultural Celebration

Drummers and Dancers from around the world, Native Arts & Crafts, Storytelling, Environmental Tent, and International Foods

11am-6pm at Inwood Hill Park

JUNE 15TH - Firelei Báez Exhibit Opening with Jeffrey Gibson & Candice Hopkins

A conversation with Firelei Báez honoring the opening of feet squelching on wet grass, nourished by uncertainty, touching on art, the cosmos, nature, world building and more with artist Jeffrey Gibson and curator Candice Hopkins

6:30-8:30pm at Cooper Union

JUNE 20TH - Rematriation Day with Blis Collective

A Reunion of Hope is an immersive cultural gathering and community exhibition that brings people together to reclaim history, repair relationships, and rehearse a liberated future ahead of the United States' 250th anniversary. Tickets going fast!

12pm-11:30pm at 25 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY

JUNE 30TH - Homesick, In Celebration

“Homesick, In Celebration” is a gallery, a community gathering, and a night to celebrate our homesickness. There will be an art gallery, light food and drinks, music, and space to be in community with one another. 

5pm - 8pm at the American Indian Community House

JULY 2ND - Karaoke Party with AICH Youth Council

AICH Youth Council is fundraising to go to the national UNITY conference of Native Youth Councils. Tickets are $5-25. Come sing, dance and send our young leaders off!

5pm-8pm at the American Indian Community House

JULY 24TH-26TH - Thunderbird Powwow Music, Dance, and Food!

This spectacular 3-day powwow features intertribal Native American dance competitions by over forty Indian Nations. Program features an expansive market of authentic Native American art, crafts, jewelry and food (don’t miss the fry bread!).

Daily at Queens County Farm Museum

EVERY WEEKEND - Visit AICH’s Artist Residency on Governors Island & keep an eye out for workshops with our residents on AICH’s Instagram, Facebook, and newsletter. 

Every time I meet with other donors and allies and even now as I write to you, my heart is filled with the possibility of what we are creating together. I can’t wait to deepen in relationship with you.

With care, camaraderie, and gratitude,

Maren Cadwallender (European descent)
AICH Development Director