Invite Contemporary Native American Teaching Artists to Classroom

Contemporary Native teaching artists demonstrate the significant contributions of Native peoples’ who exist in the past as well as the present through their performances, demonstrations, and lectures. Accurate and authentic voices in your K-12th grade students’ learning experiences.

The Utah Division of Arts and Museums (UDAM) has curated a Native American Teaching Artist Roster that lists Native Artists that you can invite to your classroom or school. Talk with your principal, or District Fine Arts Curriculum Specialist about funding, to appropriately compensate these artists for their time, knowledge, and expertise. For further assistance, a grant can be written to UDAM to help secure funding for the artist.

A few new Native Teaching Artists recently added to the roster:

• Adam Conte – Filmmaking, photography. adamconte@gmail.com
• Alan Groves – Native American beadwork and quillwork. Email: agroves@alpinedistrict.org
• Anna Benally – Weaving, jewelry making, language presentations. lovewholewheat@gmail.com
• Crystal Begay Beadwork moccasins, cultural presentation. crystaltewa@hotmail.com
• Dovie Thomason – American Indian storytelling. dovie.story@gmail.com
• Elias Gold – Navajo arts, cultural presentation. goldesignandart@gmail.com

Bringing an artist to the classroom is a great way to amplify the authentic voices of Native Americans in your learning space. More artists and lesson plans are available at Advancing Arts Leadership.