Alexandra Buffalohead: Making Time for Work, Art, and Blue Dog

Transcript

Alexandra Buffalohead: It's this thing that I'm really appreciative and grateful for: To meet others who play music. Because I feel like everyone, in a way, can be gifted. Everyone can learn. Or I feel like if you have discipline, if you just put the time into it and practice, I think you can do it with the tools that are out there, with YouTube and whatnot. I'm really grateful to have it be part of my life.

Leah Lemm: Boozhoo. Hello. Welcome to Native Lights, where Indigenous voices shine. I'm your host Leah Lemm. Miigwech for joining me today. Native Lights is more than a podcast and radio show. At its core, it's a place for Native folks to tell their stories. Each and every week, we have great conversations with wonderful guests from a bunch of different backgrounds, healthcare advocates, educators, language warriors, musicians, you name it. We have a wonderful mixture of passions on the program, and we talk with folks about their gifts and how they share those gifts with their community. And it all centers around the big point of purpose in our lives. So it's another day, another opportunity to amplify Native Voices. And I am again solo hosting today. If you follow us at Native Lights, you know my co-host and brother, Mr. Cole Premo is, was, I should say, expecting a little one, and he is out snuggling that little bundle of joy. So I'm really excited to be solo hosting. It's all good because talking to a fellow musician always exciting. I'm speaking with Alexandra Buffalohead, or Alex Buffalohead. Alex Buffalohead is from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and she's the Director of Communications and Partnerships at the Native American Community Development Institute. She's also an artist, a curator and a musician, and we talk about her time in her parents’ band and her band, and more about art curating, and, of course, about her position. Hey, Alex, hello. Nice to see you.

Alexandra Buffalohead: It's good to see you. Too.

Leah Lemm: Good, good, good, good, good. Well, boozhoo, Alex Buffalohead, can you introduce yourself and tell me where you're joining us from?

Alexandra Buffalohead: I’m Alex Buffalohead. And I am speaking from St Paul, Minnesota.

Leah Lemm: Is there anything that you are thinking about these days that's kind of top of mind?

Alexandra Buffalohead: My day job is, I'm the Director of Communications and Partnerships at the Native American community development institute located on Franklin Avenue in the yellow building, where Powwow Grounds is, and we, I think, for this past year, maybe it's a little bit longer, are one of three partner Native-led organizations in the region that make up the Good Relatives Collaborative. And so right now, we're in the process of listening to folks, I believe the Good Relatives, Sacred Pipe Resource Center, who's based in North Dakota, and Four Bands Community Fund, who's in I believe Eagle Butte, South Dakota, responded to a call to help administer the Bush Prize and the Good Relatives grants. We've been hearing from community members this past week of their presentations for the Bush Prize, honoring and guiding our review panel of community members. What's on top of mind is just, how do we get more funding into these Native blood Native serving organizations in our region and across Indian country, and there's just so many people doing incredible work. So I'm just like, how do we network and bring people together and continue to support folks that are doing great work.

Leah Lemm: Have you come up with any solutions to that question?

Alexandra Buffalohead: Well, the Good Relatives Collaborative hosts a convening for good relatives grantees. And so we're trying to think of, how do we maybe invite folks that we know to meet grantees and whatnot? Questions of, how do we make it accessible to more? Whatever I can do to introduce people or folks want to introduce themselves to me, and I can help bring people together. Let's do it

Leah Lemm: Well, let's talk about you, Alex, a bit. You're the Director of Communications and Partnerships at NACDI and All My Relations arts in Minneapolis. What does that gig mean?

Alexandra Buffalohead: For me? It means being part of a team. NACDI works in arts and culture, civic engagement, food sovereignty and community engagement. And so it's working with our team to help figure out how we can try and best tell our story and uplift community members, artists, entrepreneurs, makers, to just elevate them and to. To invite community members to our programs and events and support partners and other Native orgs events. Kind of marketing, promo, communication, storytelling and working in community with community events. And yeah, I've been at NACDI for seven years now. Kind of have a background in arts. I feel like arts helped me get through school. I was kind of not like a naughty student, but for me, I had more fun drawing and paying more attention when things were kind of related to our community. And so that, I feel like, helped me graduate, kind of applying that love for art to other areas and just trying to bring that back and support other artists.

Leah Lemm: Yeah, well, I definitely see your press releases a lot. They come through. So good work. Can you maybe bring me through an example of one of those programs that NACDI works on? Maybe something that you're really proud of.

Alexandra Buffalohead: I'm proud of all of our programs, our Make Voting a Tradition program, Jolene Jones is the manager. She's Anishinaabe, and she's a community organizer and wears many hats. But what we've been trying to do is combine our arts program with our civic engagement work to get out the vote. And so what we've been finding is when we work with artists to do arts messaging work, folks are more excited about seeing images of folks wild ricing or things related to families, where it's imagery that looks like our people and community members, and they're more, I don't know, more willing to talk about voting and the importance of it, and the impacts on our communities. For those who represent us, we're just gearing up for the November elections. We held a mayoral forum. It was just really exciting to see that kind of perspective working with other partners. We worked with the American Indian OIC, and they hosted it. And so just having community members be able to ask questions of the candidates and how they're going to support a community was just a really incredible event where we were able to table. There's other community partners, Native and non-Native, who were able to table and just really bring people together.

Leah Lemm: Do you mainly focus on Minneapolis? On

Alexandra Buffalohead: Make Voting a Tradition has been working to expand statewide efforts to help folks in tribal communities for tribal elections. Trying to be more in St Paul. So we've been tabling more. We were at the food truck festival recently by Harriet Island, and that was an incredible event. So yeah, we are trying to expand our reach beyond just Minneapolis and East Phillips neighborhood.

Leah Lemm: And what are some challenges then, getting people out to vote?

Alexandra Buffalohead: Politically, how things are, people are really frustrated and continue to not trust the government, and I feel like for valid reasons. And with these upcoming local elections, it's just ways that we can hopefully elect folks that will, that are in relationship with us and hear us and will continue to be in relationship, versus other folks who maybe don't have us as part of their best interests. I mean, I feel like there's a lot of mistrust, and younger generations I think are really—I mean, everyone I feel like is really, really frustrated. And we need to continue to work together. We need to organize, continue to show up, and however we're able to hold our elected officials accountable when they are coming to our community. So not only in just election seasons, but continuing to show up for us, I think that's really important.

Leah Lemm: You're listening to Native Lights, where Indigenous voices shine. Native Lights is produced by Minnesota Native News and AMPERS, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Today, I'm speaking to Alex Buffalohead. Alex is from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and she's the Director of Communications and Partnerships at the Native American Community Development Institute. Alex is also an artist, a curator and musician. Well, tell me, Alex, how did you get into this line of work?

Alexandra Buffalohead: Seeing my mom work in nonprofits that kind of inspired me. I didn't know how or what, and so I started. I was really honored to work at the Indian Land Tenure Foundation as my first kind of grown-up position. And then I worked at the American Indian Cancer Foundation. I arrived at NACDI, and I don't know, I wanted to be part of something in community, serving our Native folks, things that are important to me, like our arts, our access to food, affordable foods, voting rights. Yeah, and in a way, NACDI, I feel like we try and support folks in their careers, of I don't know, giving them opportunities that maybe they might not have. So I feel like I've, I don't know, professionally, grown a lot, and appreciate the support.

Leah Lemm: Very cool. So maybe tell me about younger Alex. Like, what were your interests and hobbies, and have you kept them up?

Alexandra Buffalohead: So younger hobbies, I feel like making art, which I kind of on and off do. Music is, and still is a big part of my life. I joined my parents’ band when I was 15. They were playing a gig, and I was in choir and had done some, like, piano lessons, but I know my piano teacher said, like, “Hey, I don't think she's interested in it, so maybe you should stop doing the lessons.” And they're like, yeah, it's kind of expensive. So they stopped. And so with this gig, they're like, Okay. After we played it, I was just like, I had the music bug of just hearing the music and singing. I feel like there's healing properties when you sing, of like relaxing your vagus nerve, which I've been hearing more often. And so they're like, “Ask your dad to help you with some chord progressions.” And I'm like, Okay, and so from there on, I've just been fortunate to be on this journey of meeting so many different folks and musicians and community members. Having the honor to share music with folks. And it's still a big passion of mine, and in a way, I feel like it kind of leads into my day job, of the folks that I've met and trying to network and support each other, and yeah, things that I've learned has kind of transferred from the like music world to nonprofit world, of trying to find spaces for folks to have opportunities to share their art.

Leah Lemm: Why don't you give us a little like low down, breakdown, of the band.

Alexandra Buffalohead: The band's name is Blue Dog. And so my parents formed it, I believe in 2001. I think my mom wanted to use the name Black Dog for the Dakota village, but it's a common name for a Led Zeppelin song and I think a beer brand. And so she asked her aunties if she could do Blue Dog. It's the name of a lake in Sisseton, and they gave their blessing. We've actually met the Blue Dog family, which has been really cool. Yeah, my dad, I feel like, growing up, he always was in different cover bands, and he was in a band. And I think there's a point where we told our mom, like, after hearing her sing, like, “Hey, you should join the band.” And so she did with playing congas and whatnot. They write most of the music, the melodies and lyrics. And as I've gotten older, I've been able to help contribute. And we've actually received a couple of grants from the Tiwahe Foundation and First Peoples Fund to record and purchase merch. And my keyboard that I have I'm so grateful for was a grant through the Tiwahe Foundation. So I feel like we've really been blessed by different Native organizations to help support us, and so we've been able to record, and it's kind of like blues rock. Yeah, it's blues rock. I feel like we're influenced by like Santana, a lot of folks, blues players. My parents were really interested in researching kind of the similarities of how African slaves were brought over and didn't have their drum and shared it with Indigenous people here, and how their songs blended together. We're honored to be part of, I believe it's like a PBS, I don't know, fundraiser, or something celebrating Link Wray and the documentary Indians who Rock the World. And so I feel like, if folks want to learn more, that's a really great resource on the history of different Indigenous performers in the blues and how it's influenced rock and whatnot. So I feel like that has been really instrumental. I don't know my inspiration, and just growing up listening to blues and rock and R & B.

Leah Lemm: Right on. And have you written any songs?

Alexandra Buffalohead: I have written one song. It's called “Working for the Man.” It was before I worked for non-profit. So it's not about any of my current or recent jobs. But really, I just wanted to write something that was positive and just, I think, for myself and for others of like, it's okay if you're not doing what you love but or like right now, but if you can keep fighting to do something that you're passionate about, then it like works, and also, like a way to, like, stick it to the man of like a protest. So yeah, and instrumentally, I feel like I don't know my parents, we've recorded in different ways of I feel like my mom just, like, records the lyrics or melodies on her phone, and then she shares it with my dad, who then takes his guitar and then kind of pieces them together. And in our most recent album, they did that. And then we were introduced to Keith Secola, and had him come over and just kind of jam with us. And so the four of us, just like. Like, spent time, and just the songs just started coming in kind of a weird kind of jam way. And I don't know, like when we play our songs, I feel like they just keep getting better. Of like albums, yes, in a way for us, they're just, like a moment in time. We're fortunate of the more we play it, or, I don't know, there's some bands, people want to hear it exactly as how you hear it on the radio. And then I feel like there's folks like BB King. He had a quote or something, of like, it's like a special in the moment kind of thing. And so I really just connect with that of how, in a way, it's like you're experiencing this place that you go to. And I feel like that's kind of what Keith Secola would share of, like you go on this kind of place, or you're transported to a place with the musicians and listeners. Is any of that recorded? It's on our most recent album called Take a Stand, inspired by No DAPL [No Dakota Access Pipeline] and whatnot. Think it was finished either right before 2020 maybe 2019. There's an artist from Southwest who did the album cover. Yeah, I think Keith. And there's a couple other guests, Angie and I think Ted Vig, who runs Vig Guitars. They're featured on the album as guests, and there might be a couple others.

Leah Lemm: Well, what does it feel like then being a musician? What inspires you? How do you connect to your music side?

Alexandra Buffalohead: In a way, it's kind of like reading, but with sound, like it transports you to different place. And for me, in a way, it's kind of like wearing another hat. I would just get so nervous, almost like, like, pretty much sick to my stomach, because of just being in front of others. And with time, I feel like learning how to breathe better, just feeling more confident, practicing more. I still get nervous, and I feel like that's just who I am, or just a place of I'm really excited to be doing what we're doing, and want to just do my best that I can. It's this thing that I'm really appreciative and grateful for. To meet others who play music. Because I feel like everyone, in a way, can be gifted. Everyone can learn. Or I feel like if, if you have discipline, if you just put the time into it and practice. I think you can do it with, I don't know the tools that are out there with YouTube and whatnot. I'm really grateful to have it be part of my life.

Leah Lemm: Yeah, what's your practice schedule? Like rehearsal schedule?

Alexandra Buffalohead: For like decades it was every Friday, and so it's kind of gotten a little bit more relaxed, and I need to be more disciplined in practice. So yeah, I feel like in the summers, we kind of slow down with practice schedules because we're more performing, and then in the wintertime is where we practice, where we try new cover songs, or we try writing new music. So we're bunkered down in the cold, but also we're always happy to bring out our gear in a snowstorm and play a show.

Leah Lemm: Fun. Well, why don't we pivot then to some of your curator work? Is that part of your gig now?

Alexandra Buffalohead: I haven't been doing as much curation. I have, like one project kind of pending in a way. Curation is storytelling and kind of like music. I feel like there should be opportunities for everyone to have access, to tell their stories and to highlight artists. Yeah, it feels kind of like a networking tool as well. If artists are shown more, in a way, professionally, they can do better. So it's like finding opportunities to try and support others’ work. It’s an exciting thing, especially with artists that I'm fans of. I feel like all the artists that I work with, I'm big fans of their work. It's challenging. I find that I think museums are trying to do different. But I feel like they're being impacted politically. So things, I feel like they keep changing back and forth, of when it's trendy to support Indigenous artists, or if they for sure it's in their DNA of an institution to support Native artists at all levels of leadership. Yeah, depends on, depends on the place. And I feel like spaces like All My Relations Arts Gallery and Two Rivers Galleries are just so vital to our community to support emerging and artists of all ages, so that they can learn from each other, and communities can see themselves and see folks that they might know. And museums are an interesting or like preservation of art—museums are such a fascinating thing. It's kind of like a weird relationship, similar to monuments, too. It kind of has, like a weird history, European history, and how things get indigenized or changed is really fascinating to me. I think I I'm more interested in ways of how do you make people feel safe or feel comfortable in art spaces or public art? How folks can feel seen? Since I feel like often Native folks are, we're fighting to have representation.

Leah Lemm: And you've worked mainly with Native artists?

Alexandra Buffalohead: Yeah, I almost feel I've maybe only worked with Native artists. The last show I curated was with Mikayla Patton and Jaida Grey Eagle. Both are phenomenal artists, and I feel like they're continuing to just grow in their careers. Check them out if you haven't heard of them. Jaida is a photographer, and I feel like she's been a producer for documentary, among many other things. And Mikayla Patton is doing several residencies where she makes her own paper and makes these parfleche boxes and incorporates quills and beadwork and mixed media. They're just both incredible artists. It's tricky to balance and juggle things. So I'm learning I can maybe do one a year, or maybe every couple years. And it's also taught me a lot about project management, having to plan backwards, which can be fun and can be hard.

Leah Lemm: You’re listening to Native Lights, where Indigenous voices shine. Native Lights is produced by Minnesota Native News and AMPERS, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Today I'm speaking to Alex Buffalohead. Alex is from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and she's the Director of Communications and Partnerships at the Native American Community Development Institute. Alex is also an artist, a curator and musician. How would you describe what the role of a curator is?

Alexandra Buffalohead: I would hope it'd be somebody that is, in a way, just a supporter of the artist. I feel like there's different ways to approach it. I try to ask the artists how they want to be presented, what they want to show. It can depend on if the artist is making new works or if it's from their portfolio. The role of a curator should come from a place of care for the artist and for their artwork.

Leah Lemm: Is there a way that curating challenges you?

Alexandra Buffalohead: For me, it's hard writing the artist’s statement. It's like a statement that feels very permanent, where, like on websites or social media, you can sometimes edit things and change things, and with time, your ideas grow and change, and maybe you disagree with yourself in a statement. And so in a way, I feel like it's challenging of you have to write something and stand by it for at least that portion of the exhibition, which I feel can be done because it's such a collaborative thing with the artists and usually the staff of the gallery or the team there. I feel like sometimes it can be challenging working in non-Native spaces, of translating or having to advocate for the artists, which I'm happy to do, I want to do for folks, because I want folks to work with us so that can be a challenge. Time can always be a challenge. Budgeting because there's not a lot of funding available for curation. Like some typical gallery shows, artists don't even get paid to show their art, and they put years or hours into their artwork, and if they're not selling, in a way, it’s just kind of recognition. But I could be mistaken. I'm sure artists maybe have different perspectives on this.

Leah Lemm: Well, do you have any mentors?

Alexandra Buffalohead: Ooh, that is a good question. My parents are definitely mentors. I always go to them. Jim Denomie was a mentor. He passed a couple years ago. I was always inspired by his art. He really influenced me to paint with other colors, like not as kind of realist looking, but being open to different colors and just his way of storytelling, wonderful.

Leah Lemm: Well, we also like to ask, you know, if there are people out there listening, or youth and want to kind of maybe follow a similar path, maybe with curation, or, you know, working in the arts, like, do you have any advice?

Alexandra Buffalohead: Yeah, I would say I feel like this is what was kind of passed on to me, of like, if it's something you're passionate about, versus like, I don't know if you're considering maybe it doesn't make enough money or whatnot. And I feel like, go for it. Network, introduce yourself, even though maybe it doesn't feel very comfortable. Yeah, just showing up. I feel like in the arts community, just going to events, you kind of see the same suspects or folks that go to art gallery openings in the community. So, yeah, introduce yourself. I feel like school education is really important. That's something that can't be taken away. So just be open to all learning opportunities. Folks, if you like their artwork, reach out to them, ask them questions. Curation, I feel like it's this, I don't know it's this weird thing in that if you want to go like the traditional route, folks need to be open to moving across the country. I feel like folks maybe kind of stay in their positions for a while, and there's not as many openings. So you kind of see, like in our state, you see kind of similar folks, and they just kind of rotate jobs, which I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but for kind of emerging positions, I feel like folks should be willing or open to travel, which can be hard if you have family

Leah Lemm: Fantastic, yeah, cool. Well, tell me what is coming up with your work or personally?

Alexandra Buffalohead: Let's see. The rest of the summer, we have a couple of gigs coming up that I'm excited for. There's this place in St Croix called the Brookside, and I'm pretty sure it's Native. Recently, within the past couple years, Native-owned. They just started having music back this summer, and so I'm excited to play that. And then I might work weekly. On Thursdays, we have the Four Sisters Farmers Market, and so it's open 11am to 2pm, and we have different programming events happening each week. So I guess monthly, we have our All My Relations artist resident Wookiye Win. She's doing different monthly activities at the farmers market. So I encourage folks to try and see when she'll be doing a workshop with folks. I think we have, like a plant dying session, and then in the fall, October, there's going to be an exhibition at All My Relations Arts called Matrilineal. Oh no, actually, I'm saying it wrong. Hold on. Mikaela Shafer, who is Hopi and lives in Seattle, is going to be having a solo exhibition. So we're really excited to host that at All My Relations Arts Gallery, and will help folks get out and vote and make voting a tradition at our farmers market or community events. Yeah.

Leah Lemm: Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, Alex. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat today. Sounds like you live a wonderfully creative life.

Alexandra Buffalohead: Thank you. Really appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

Leah Lemm: All right! That was Alex Buffalohead. Alex is from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and she's the Director of Communications and Partnerships at the Native American Community Development Institute. And, you know, I'm just really excited, as always, to speak with a fellow musician, you know, hearing what inspires them and what kind of collaborations are going on. And yeah, how one incorporates art into their everyday life. So chi miigwech, Alex Buffalohead. I'm Leah Lemm. Miigwech for listening. Giga-waabamin. You're listening to Native Lights, where Indigenous voices shine. Native Lights is produced by Minnesota Native News and AMPERS With support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.