Guest Curator Series

In His Own Words

The cult classic film Smoke Signals, directed by Chris Eyre, opens with phrase, “It’s a good day to be Indigenous,” uttered optimistically over the airwaves from a tiny radio station on the Nez Perce Reservation. I view that film, released in 1998, as the beginning of a slow tide, an emergence of Native storytelling in popular culture. That sentiment is one of my favorites now, because while 1998 might not have been the year it all happened, it was the first year I went to a movie theatre and could relate to the experiences of the characters on screen.

Today there is a groundswell of Native American creative work emerging into the world, and there is a movement that seeks to replace centuries of narratives, written from the frame of colonialism, with our own stories. The storytellers that you will see in this series are part of that movement.

In the process of creating this series, I met, consulted, and had lunch and dinner with so many people. The land on which Virginia Tech is built is storied, and I read about the great civilizations who built great mounds, the Tutelo and Monacan Tribes who still call this area home. It was important that the content for this series go some way to fulfilling the needs for education in the community, the interests of the campus Native community, and the interests of the people of the land. There was deep reflection and significant dialogue to find how to do this job, of building this series — the right way — with intention and reflection.

We are all on journeys of understanding. The world is changing, and it is incumbent upon us to understand, to what degree we can, the past — our context — reflect upon the present, and work to make a better world for our children. I would like to invite you to take a journey of discovery through these shows drawing from leading Native artists from across the U.S.: with storytelling from three master writers in nonfiction, poetry, and theatre in Voices from the Indigenous Campfire and from the social justice activist and multimedia artist george emilo sanchez’s reflection of storytelling, U.S. law, and Indigeneity, In the Court of the Conqueror.

These two engagements promise to take us on such a journey if our hearts and minds are open.

— Andre Bouchard

Ticket Information

Whether you want to catch all of Bouchard's curated shows or build your own experience, we have you covered.

North Carolina artist Shirlette Ammons served as the center's first independent guest performing arts curator. See her selections from the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons below. Please note: these events have already occurred.