Letter from the President: Learning from Artists
Image credits: 1. Installation view of Jeffrey Gibson’s The Body Electric at SITE Santa Fe, 2022; photo by Shayla Blatchford. 2. Raven Chacon’s Silent Choir (Standing Rock) (2017–22), which was part of the 2022 Whitney Biennial. 3. Nathan Young arranges bracelets, cups, flasks, lighter covers and other objects for his installation, Activation/Transformation at the Wheelwright Museum. 4. Video still from Cannupa Hanska Luger’s The Mirror Shield Project at Standing Rock Indian Reservation, on view in Water Memories at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Dear Artists and Friends, This summer, Creative Capital connected with artists all over the country from New York’s Creative Capital Carnival with 800 artists and guests in-person and online to our Los Angeles Artist Gathering with dozens of artists and patrons to Santa Fe’s 100th Anniversary of Indian Market—which brings together 1,000 Native artists from more than 100 tribal communities.
Creative Capital artists in Los Angeles.
In Santa Fe, the sky seemed bigger, the air bluer, and the adobe buildings felt more human—there was a spiritual quality in the land. It was inspiring to be surrounded by our grantees, Jeffrey Gibson (Choctaw/Cherokee), Raven Chacon (Diné), Nathan Young (Delaware Tribe of Indians, Pawnee, Kiowa), and Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota, and European descent), and to meet so many Indigenous curators, philanthropists, and artists, including Hollywood film director and producer Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho) and the cast of Dark Winds.
Skies in Santa Fe
Over dinner with friends and artists, Luger said to me, “Place doesn’t belong to us; we belong to place. If we could just start with that idea.” His words resonated with me. We urgently need to shift away from the belief that we own this Earth (and everything on/in/around it), and to listen and learn from artists who challenge us to reorient our thinking.
Creative Capital Grantee Cannupa Hanska Luger, Christine Kuan, and Candice Hopkins in Santa Fe.
On September 20, Creative Capital continues its mission of amplifying the voices of trailblazers at our first Artist Benefit + Banquet honoring Lorraine O’Grady, Guadalupe Maravilla, JiaJia Fei, and Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota), the first female Indigenous playwright to have a play on Broadway. I am so excited that longtime and new patrons are coming together to celebrate these powerful visionaries, our unique community, and the transformative ideas which continue to move us and change us.
Discover more electrifying Creative Capital artists’ ideas in our Fall Preview and on our Calendar!
In solidarity with stewards of lands and cultures,
Christine Kuan
Cast of Dark Winds with Tamara Bates in Santa Fe.
More News & Stories
Creative Capital Awardees at Sundance Film Festival 2025.