THIS IS ILI

The Intercultural Leadership Institute is a year-long intensive leadership experience for artists, culture bearers and other arts practioners.
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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 out of our direct experiences as leaders of these founding cultural organizations. We often found that many personal and professional leadership programs emphasized dominant cultural norms, modes of learning and social approaches that didn’t match our commitment to cultural equity and change-making in our own communities.

ILI’s  “intercultural”  approach emphasizes overlapping experiences, shared spaces and mutual accountability – and seeks to challenge dominant social norms while honoring differences of histories, traditions, vocabulary and more. We seek to develop leaders specifically within the arts & culture field to adeptly respond to significant changes that impact society, politics, environment and economy. As a peer cohort, ILI intercultural leaders hone personal and professional skills to affect local, national and global communities – and promote a shift toward greater awareness, resourcing and action in the broader field of arts & culture.

The long-term goals

1. BUILD stronger strategic intercultural collaborations and solidarity in the field of arts, culture and social justice.

2. PROMOTE the traditional and contemporary practices of artists and culture bearers, establish an alternative pathway for them to work within existing structures and provide opportunity for them to create and normalize new structures.

3. ADVANCE and enhance the capacity of artists, culture bearers and arts organizations to pursue cultural equity and sustain their work in a changing environment.

4. IMPACT the language, shift the attention and endow greater resources in multiple sectors to support transformative practices of artists and culture bearers.

In this political moment, our country’s leadership is skewing male and white. ILI represents a space for leadership development where narratives from indigenous, Native, immigrant, and other varied voices are central.
- Carlton Turner, Alternate ROOTS Executive Director

Learn more about the year-long ILI program

ILI Year Guidelines & Application

ILI LEADERSHIP

María DeLeón, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures President & CEO

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María DeLéon
National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures President & CEO

San Antonio, TX
María López De León is the President, CEO, and board member of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC). In 2013, President Obama appointed Maria to serve on the National Council on the Arts. In 2012 and 2013, she was named among the nation’s Fifty Most Powerful and Influential People in the Nonprofit Arts. María has been with NALAC for seventeen years and has served as Executive Director for fourteen years. She directs all aspects of development of NALAC programs and national strategic initiatives. Under her leadership, NALAC developed three grant programs, the NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA), the Transnational Cultural Remittances (TCR) and NALAC Diverse Arts Spaces grant program. She has directed the continued development of fifteen editions of the annual Leadership Institute and the Latino Arts Advocacy Institute in Washington, DC; directed the convening of six NALAC National Conferences and dozens of Regional Arts Training Workshops; and the production of Visiones, a six-part documentary series on Latino art and culture and development of accompanying education curriculum. María is a cultural organizer and practitioner and noted speaker and advocate for the arts and cultural equity. She is dedicated to strengthening communities through the arts and has multiple years of experience working with Latino artists and arts organizations nationally and internationally. She serves on many arts and culture policy panels. She is a member of the National Council on the Arts and board member of the First Peoples Fund, the Performing Arts Alliance and serves on the advisory boards of San Antonio Cultural Arts and Women of Color in the Arts. She studied Journalism at the University of Texas at El Paso.

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Vicky Holt-Takamine, PA'I Foundation Executive Director

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Vicky Holt-Takamine
​PA'I Foundation Executive Director

Honolulu, HI
Vicky Holt-Takamine is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and received her BA & MA in Dance Ethnology from the University of Hawai’i. In 1975, She graduated as kumu hula (master teacher of Hawaiian dance) from Maiki Aiu Lake. In 1977, Vicky established her hālau hula (school of Hawaiian dance), Pua Ali‘i ‘Ilima. Twenty years later, in 1997, Vicky co-founded ‘Īlio‘ulaokalani Coalition, a coalition of Native Hawaiian artists and cultural practitioners to advocate and protect Native Hawaiian rights. In 2001, she established PA‘I Foundation to protect and preserve Native Hawaiian cultural traditions and the natural and cultural resources of Hawai’i for future generations. She is the executive director of PA’I Foundation and a lecturer at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.

Lori Pourier, First Peoples Fund President

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Lori Pourier
​First Peoples Fund President

Rapid City, SD
Lori Pourier, (Oglala Lakota) President, First Peoples Fund, an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation in southwestern South Dakota, has served as the President of First Peoples Fund since 1999. She has nearly 30 years of experience in community economic development with a specific emphasis on native arts and culture revitalization within tribal communities. Between 1994 and 1998, Ms. Pourier served as the Executive Director of the Indigenous Women’s Network (IWN), a U.S. based nongovernmental organization. While at IWN she was responsible for fundraising, operations and the political action work of the organization. She represented IWN at numerous international conferences at the United Nations as well as the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. During her tenure at IWN, Ms. Pourier established a leadership program placing young emerging leaders in non-profit organizations throughout Indian Country and within regional and national foundations. Ms. Pourier served on several boards; Grantmakers in the Arts, Native Americans in Philanthropy, Honor the Earth Fund, the Chinook Fund. She was awarded Native Americans in Philanthropy’s 2013 Louis T. Delgado Distinguished Grantmaker Award in recognition of her work in philanthropy. In addition she was awarded the Women’s World Summit Foundation’s 2013 award for Women’s Creativity in Rural Life. She holds a Master of Science degree from New Hampshire College’s Graduate School of Business. Nominated by the Ford Foundation, Ms. Pourier was selected for the Center for Social Innovation fellowship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, a partnership between Stanford University and National Arts Strategies.

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Michelle Ramos, Alternate ROOTS Executive Director

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Michelle Ramos,
​Alternate ROOTS Executive Director

Michelle Ramos is the Executive Director of Alternate ROOTS, a regional non-profit arts organization based in the South supporting artists working at the intersection of arts and social justice. ​Dr. Michelle Ramos brings a deep and incredibly robust diversity of experience to her new role as Executive Director of Alternate ROOTS. Her background includes most recently working in criminal justice reform as Project Director of the Vera Institute of Justice, philanthropic work as a Program Officer at Women’s Foundation of California, and service organization leadership as Board Chair of Dance/USA. In addition to being a licensed attorney, she has significant organizing experience, and has committed her career to serving communities and individuals adversely impacted by issues of race, gender, disability, class, socio-economics, inequitable laws, and systemic oppression.
Ramos, a retired professional ballet dancer, has worked as an executive director for multiple non-profit arts organizations in many cities across the US, and was Director of Dance/NYC from 2006-2010. She also serves on the boards of Dancing Grounds and BAR None in New Orleans. She is the proud mother of Broadway choreographer, Ellenore Scott, and since retiring from her own dance career, Ramos has continued to teach dance, has competed as an Ironman triathlete, and now enjoys her southern New Orleans lifestyle.

Carlton Turner, Mississippi Center for Cultural Production Executive Director

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Carlton Turner,
​Mississippi Center for Cultural Production Executive Director

Utica, MS
Carlton Turner is the Executive Director of the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Sipp Culture). Carlton Turner is co-founder and co-artistic director, along with his brother Maurice Turner, of the group M.U.G.A.B.E.E. (Men Under Guidance Acting Before Early Extinction). M.U.G.A.B.E.E. is a Mississippi-based performing arts group that blends jazz, hip-hop, spoken word poetry and soul music together with non-traditional storytelling. He is also a member of the Progress Theatre Ensemble. Carlton is currently on the board of Appalshop, an advisory member to the National Theater Project at NEFA and the Catalyst Initiative, a member of the We Shall Overcome Fund Advisory Board at the Highlander Center for Research and Education, a steering committee member of the Arts and Culture Social Justice Network, and former Network of Ensemble Theaters steering committee member. In 2011, Carlton was awarded the M. Edgar Rosenblum award for outstanding contribution to Ensemble Theater by Irondale Ensemble Project in Brooklyn, NY. In 2013, Carlton was named to the Kennedy Center Honors Artist Advisory Board alongside Debbie Allen, Mar.a De Le.n, and Ping Chong. M.U.G.A.B.E.E. is a recipient of the 2015 Otto Ren. Castillo Awards for Political Theatre.

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Alternate ROOTS supports the creation and presentation of original art that is rooted in community, place, tradition or spirit. We are a group of artists and cultural organizers based in the South creating a better world together. As Alternate ROOTS, we call for social and economic justice and are working to dismantle all forms of oppression – everywhere.

First Peoples Fund (FPF) supports the Collective Spirit. of artists and culture bearers. Rooted in the traditional values of generosity and respect, humility and fortitude, FPF uplifts the Indigenous Arts Ecology – relationship based ecosystems that strengthen Native arts and culture grounded in ancestral knowledge. We accomplish this by 1) supporting culture
bearers and artist entrepreneurs as transformative community leaders, 2) deepening tribally
based organizations’ capacity to serve artists and their families and 3) investing holistically
into the next generation of resilient artists.

National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC), is the nation’s leading nonprofit  organization exclusively dedicated to the promotion, advancement, development and cultivation of the Latino arts field. In this capacity, NALAC stimulates and facilitates intergenerational dialogues among disciplines, languages and traditional and contemporary expressions.

PA‘I Foundation, organized in 2001, preserves and perpetuates Hawaiian cultural traditions for future generations. PA‘I Foundation is the non-profit organization of Pua Ali’i ‘Ilima, a h’lau hula (school of Hawaiian dance) founded by kumu hula (master teacher of Hawaiian dance) Vicky Holt Takamine in 1977. While the organization is centered around and supported by h’lau members, the purpose of PA‘I Foundation is to address and serve the needs of native Hawaiians and those who make Hawai’i their home.

In Native Hawaiian, ‘ili means skin – the outer layer that holds together something vital. The ethnobotanical meaning alludes to the skin or bark of the Hau plant (hibiscus). The traditional mele Ka ‘ili hau pa kai o ‘Alio (the hau bark wet by the sea sprays of ‘Alio) is a reference to a strong shore-dweller, indicating that salt air and sea sprays made the bark of the hau trees on the shore stronger than those of the upland. The hau plant is useful in a variety of ways crucial to Native Hawaiian culture: as cordage to sew kapa sheets or tie sandals and hula skirts; as wood for outriggers and floats for fishnets; and as medicine. Like the Native Hawaiian ‘ili, our ILI intercultural approach to leadership cultivation, too, aims to hold together a space for resiliency and resourcefulness.

ILI SUPPORT TEAM

Nijeul X. Porter, Core Facilitation and Design Team Member

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Nijeul X. Porter,
​Core Facilitation and Design Team Member ​

Nijeul X. Porter is a cultural organizer, educator, and producer with the wholehearted belief that art is at the tipping point for social change and is always excited about opportunities to facilitate the intersections of art, education, and community. Nijeul co-led the launch of artEquity, a national training initiative for art practitioners providing tools and resources at the intersection of art and activism. Since it’s inception, artEquity has launched three national cohorts and continues to provide strategic thinking and leadership across the country. Nijeul serves full time as Producer and Strategist with SOZE, a social impact creative and production agency based in Brooklyn, NY. Nijeul has produced campaigns, initiatives, and events around social justice issues of criminal justice reform, immigration, education, and health. He has worked on campaigns including #IAmAnImmigrant, @SonsAndBros, and Vote For Justice. Prior to SOZE, Nijeul served as Director of Student Programs for Greenway Arts Alliance, serving over 2,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District using art and creativity in and out of the classroom. Nijeul has worked in partnership with organizations such as FWD.us, The Open Society Foundations, Google.org, CultureStrike, The California Endowment and others between Los Angeles, Chicago, and the District of Columbia. He is a 2018 Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, a 2012 Jack Kent Cooke Scholar and board member with the Friends of Theatre & Dance at Howard University. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Management from California Institute of the Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from Howard University.

Carrie Brunk, Core Facilitation & Design Team Member

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Carrie Brunk
​Facilitation Team

Clear Creek, KY
Carrie Brunk works with people and organizations committed to envisioning and enacting a better world. She works primarily as a facilitator and coach drawing on two decades of experience as a non-profit executive, program director, coalition organizer, event producer, popular educator, fundraiser, writer and small business owner. Carrie conceived and leads Ridgeway | A Transformative Leadership Experience, a program designed to support Appalachia’s post-coal transition to a brighter future by offering an immersive year-long regional cohort experience that is on par with the best national-level leadership, organizational and network development programs. The vehicle for her work is Clear Creek Creative, which also serves as an artistic and event production company most recently touring a performative piece “Where’s That Power Gonna Come From?” which explores her community’s resilience in relation to the threat of fracking and ongoing fossil fuel extraction in Appalachia. Carrie lives and works within an off-the-grid community gathering place in the Appalachian foothills of East Kentucky where she co-curates and hosts the annual Clear Creek Festival, abundant local farm-fresh performative feasts, rustic artistic exchanges and residencies all of which are powered by the sun and fresh mountain spring water. Carrie was a Fulbright Fellow at Oxford University and her training has been guided by the Social Transformation Project, Presence-Based Coaching, Social Justice Leadership and through joint programming of SJL and the Rockwood Leadership Institute.

Lynette Two Bulls “Scouts the Way Woman” ILI Host Facilitator - Lakota Territory

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Lynette Two Bulls
“Scouts the Way Woman”
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​Host Facilitator - Lakota Territory

Lynette Marie Two Bulls grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and is
an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, and is of Northern Cheyenne descendent.
Lynette has 30 years of experience in the profit and non-profit sector. She served as the
Advertising Sales Director, Business Manager and as the Associate Publisher for Indian Country
Today the nation’s leading Native Newspaper. During her tenure as Associate Publisher she was
part of the team that was instrumental in the transition from a regional newspaper The Lakota
Times to a National publication. Mrs. Two Bulls served as a Financial Consultant for some of the
leading Investment Firms including Dean Witter and Merrill Lynch. As a Financial Consultant
she managed assets, and provided investment training, and developed investment policies for
Tribes and Organizations. She has always been involved in creating change, and promoting
cultural understanding and integrity.
Throughout her career she has continued to “:give back” to her communities by volunteering her
time through mentoring and serving on many non-profit boards. She is the Director and Co-
founder of Yellow Bird a non profit founded on the value of reciprocity, and addresses social
justice, environmental justice, food sovereignty, youth, family and community empowerment and
wellness issues. She is also the lead facilitator of the Fort Robinson Outbreak Spiritual 400 mile
Run, Healing the Sacred Child through the Spirit of the Horse Conference, and Reclaiming our
Sacredness Gathering for Women.
She currently is a Co-Owner of Medicine Wheel Model, LLC along with her companion and life
partner Phillip Whiteman Jr. a traditional Northern Cheyenne Chief. The model developed and
created by both is a Circular, Holistic; Strengths based Wellness Model utilizing Indigenous
values, traditions, and healing with horses as the foundation to empower youth, families, and
communities. This is accomplished through facilitating convening’s, speaking engagements,
cultural presentations, consulting, and development of traditional based curriculum.
Lynette and Phillip received the First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Award as Culture Bearers
and the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples Firekeeper Award for their work with
Yellow Bird.
Lynette acknowledges her grandparents the late Matthew and Nellie Two Bulls for the teachings
they instilled in her, and credits them for her many accomplishments. She currently resides in the
beautiful hills of Lame Deer Montana with her beloved family​

Mehanaokala Hind ILI Host Facilitator - Hawai'i

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Mehanaokala Hind
Host Facilitator - Hawai'i ​

Mehanaokala Hind is a Kumu Hula and cultural practitioner skilled in hula and oli.  She descends from the hula lineage of Kumu Hula Leinaʻala Kalama Heine and earned the rank of Kumu Hula in 2009 when she completed the ‘uniki rites set forth by her Kumu.  She has been trained in mele oli from some of Hawaiʻiʻs master chanters.  Mehana brings a breadth and depth of relationships with Native Hawaiian communities, leaders, schools and organizations that is hard to match.  She has extensive experience in the University of Hawaiʻi and Community College systems, Charter Schools, Native Hawaiian non-profits, Immersion schools, and other Native Hawaiian-serving organizations and Trusts. ​​

Evonne Gallardo ILI Host Facilitator - Texas

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Evonne Gallardo ILI Host Facilitator - Texas​

Evonne Gallardo is an arts and culture management 
specialist 
dedicated to honoring and valuing artists as critical components of a successful society. Evonne works to advance and resource artists and the organizations that serve them and has held leadership positions in a wide range of arts organizations, including museums, community-based art centers and artist-led ventures.  Passionate about the role that arts and culture play in society, Evonne has over 20 years of hands-on leadership experience including Self Help Graphics & Art, Boyle Heights, CA; Artists for a New South Africa, Los Angeles, CA; the Claremont Museum of Art, Claremont, CA; and Dia Center for the Arts, New York, NY.  During her tenure at Self Help Graphics & Art, Gallardo worked to create and implement sustainable leadership and fundraising strategies, as well as art programming that emphasized relevance, innovation, and integrated cross-sector and community-based approaches. Evonne received a B.A. in American History at Columbia University and an M.A. in the Sociology of Art from the New School for Social Research in New York City.  For more information including a list of past and current clients, visit https://evonnegallardo.com. 
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Social Impact Studios, Creative Collaborator

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We Communicate Good

Philadelphia, PA
Since 1996, the people at Social Impact Studios have combined artistry & activism to engage the public in important social issues. We believe positive, proactive messages should get more attention than anything else. And we are committed to thoughtful, beautiful, meaningful communication as the best way to engage and move people to action. Through the lens of art, history and culture, Social Impact Studios is a place where creative activists collaborate, learn, and do the work. From concept to the material, we create action plans, visuals, messages and moving grassroots experiences to make a better world – together.

Mississippi Center for Cultural Production, Documentation

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Mississippi Center for Cultural Production

Utica, PA
The Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Sipp Culture) is honoring the history and building the future of Utica, MS. Our work weaves together research, development, local agricultural, with contemporary media & storytelling to promote the legacy and vision of our hometown. Our place-based model program will promote economic empowerment and self-sufficiency of low- and moderate-income people through education, technical assistance, training, and mentoring in agribusiness. Additionally, it will work with the community to create an advocacy base to lobby and establish increased broadband access in this rural community – a key to sustainable community development in the 21st century.

​ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many, many people played a part in the development of ILI. We are thankful for the guidance, support and hard work of the following individuals.

Core Partners
Thanks to the staff at all our core partner organizations, and especially the leadership of:
• María López De Le.n, President & CEO, National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures, San Antonio, TX
• Lori Pourier, (Oglala Lakota) President, First Peoples Fund, Rapid City, SD
• Vicky Holt Takamine, Executive Director, PA’I Foundation, Honolulu, HI
• Carlton Turner, Executive Director, Alternate ROOTS, Atlanta, GA

Facilitation Team
• Carrie Brunk, Program Manager & Facilitation Team, Clear Creek Creative, Clear Creek, KY
• Stephanie McKee, Facilitation Team, Junebug Productions, New Orleans, LA
• Vickie Oldman-John (Navajo), Facilitation Team, Seven Sisters Community Development Group, LLC, Albuquerque, NM
• Tufara Waller Muhammad, Facilitation Team, Datule’ Artist Collective, Little Rock, AR

Curriculum Development & Advisors
• ​Maribel Alvarez, Curriculum Team Lead, Associate Research Social Scientist & Associate Research Professor, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• Sherry Black (Oglala Lakota), Chairperson, First Peoples Fund, Fredericksburg, VA
• Adrienne Maree Brown, Writer/Facilitator, Octavia’s Brood, BOLD, Detroit, MI
• Dudley Cocke, Director, Roadside Theater, Whitesburg, KY
• Claudio Dicochea, Visual Artist, Educator, and Communications Associate for NALAC, San Antonio, TX
• Timothy Dorsey, Poet, Consultant, New York, NY
• Aisha D. Fletcher, MPH, Program Manager, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Brandon, MS
• Adriana Gallego, Deputy Director, National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures, San Antonio, TX
• Gayle Isa, Executive Director, Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, PA
• Maria Rosario Jackson, Consultant, Los Angeles, CA
• James Kass, Executive Director, Youth Speaks, San Francisco, CA
• Ron Looking Elk Martinez, Board Member, First Peoples Fund, Isleta/Taos Pueblo, NM
• Keryl McCord, Alternate ROOTS, Atlanta, GA
• C. Liegh McInnis, Instructor of English at Jackson State University, Jackson, MS
• Jody Naranjo Folwell Turpia, Community Spirit Award Honoree, Santa Clara/Tewa, NM
• Meena Natarajan, Executive Literary Director, Pangea World Theater, Minneapolis, MN
• Leslie Newman, Partner & Co-Manager, Seven Sisters Community Development Group, LLC, Lawrence, KS
• Vickie Oldman-John, Partner & Co-Manager, Seven Sisters Community Development Group, LLC, Rio Rancho, NM
• Rosalba Rolon, Artistic Director, Pregones Theater, Bronx, NY
• Kalima Rose, Senior Director Center for Infrastructure Equity Policy, Policy Link, Oakland, CA
• Theresa Secord, Independent, First Peoples Fund, Waterville, ME
• Clinnesha D. Sibley, Playwright, Professor of Arts and Letters, Piney Woods, MS
• Makani Themba, Chief Strategist at Higher Ground Change Strategies, Detroit, MI
• Malia Villegas, National Congress of American Indians
• Miranne Walker, Director of Programs, First Peoples Fund, Rapid City, SD
• Tufara Waller Muhammad, Datule’ Artist Collective, Little Rock, AR

ILI 2015 Pilot Participants
• Jason Arag.n, Tucson, AZ | Nominated by NALAC
• Jose Nicolas Cabrera-Schneider, Boulder, CO | Nominated by NALAC
• Rodney Camarce, Philadelphia, PA | Nominated by Asian Arts Initiative
• Juliana Clifford, Porcupine, SD | Nominated by First Peoples Fund
• Kapalaiula de Silva, Kailua, HI | Nominated by PA’I Foundation
• Tara Dorabji, San Francisco, CA | Nominated by Youth Speaks
• Alexander Gibson, Whitesburg, KY | Nominated by Appalshop
• Chris James, Little Rock, AR | Nominated by Alternate ROOTS
• Brandie Macdonald, Rapid City, SD | Nominated by First Peoples Fund
• Busi Peters, Houston, TX | Nominated by Alternate ROOTS
• Davis Price, Honolulu, HI | Nominated by PA’I Foundation
• Shey Rivera, Providence, RI | Nominated by NALAC
• ST Shimi, San Antonio, TX | Nominated by Alternate ROOTS
• Jeremy Staab, Rapid City, SD | Nominated by First Peoples Fund
• Ka’iu Takamori, Honolulu, HI | Nominated by PA’I Foundation
• Alejandra Tobar Alatriz, Minneapolis, MN | Nominated by Pangea World Theater
• Warren Guss Yellowhair, Allen, SD | Nominated by First Peoples Fund
• Bethany Yellowtail, Valley Village, CA | Nominated by First Peoples Fund

Communications Support
• April Silver, Akila Worksongs, Brooklyn, NY
• Talamieka Brice, Brice Media, Ridgeland, MS
• Shannon M. Turner, StoryMuse, Atlanta, GA
• Ennis Carter, Social Impact Studios, Philadelphia, PA

Thanks to Our ILI Funders
The Intercultural Leadership Institute has been made possible thanks to generous support from American Express, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Bush Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Southwest Airlines., and Surdna Foundation. We appreciate the support of these primary ILI contributors as well as all of the funders, members, donors, and volunteers of our four ILI core partner organizations.