ARTIST TALK: WUNETU WEQUAI TARRANT, ANDRINA WEKONTASH SMITH, AND AYIM KUTOOWONK

$15.00 ($10.00 Members)
Free for Members of the Shinnecock Nation

Join Guild Hall Community Artists-in-Residence, Wunetu Wequai Tarrant, and the members of Ayim Kutoowonk (She Speaks), a Shinnecock language revitalization collective, as they discuss the formation of Ayim Kutoowonk and the works they developed, currently on view in Guild Hall’s exhibition, First Literature Project.

Ayim Kutoowonk (She Speaks) is a collective of three Indigenous Shinnecock Women, Cholena Boyd-Smith, Kaysha Haile, and Ahanu Valdez, working towards the reclamation and revitalization of the Shinnecock Language. Facilitated by Shinnecock Linguist, Wunetu Wequai Tarrant, and guest lecturers, Christina Tarrant, Conor McDonough Quinn, and Kaylene Big Knife, Ayim Kutoowonk works to bridge the divide between academic linguistics training and contemporary Indigenous culture, easing anxieties and building a language-learner focused pedagogy through multi-media projects and learning tools. The collective was founded in Spring 2023 as part of Guild Hall’s Community Artist-in-Resident program, sponsored by the Library of Congress’s Connecting Communities Digital Initiative.

The conversation is moderated by Shinnecock writer, actor, storyteller, and Guild Hall Academy of the Arts Member, Andrina Wekontash Smith.

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Ayim Kutowoonk. Photo: Rebekah Phoenix

SPONSORS
The exhibition First Literature Project is supported by The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.

Guild Hall’s Community Artist-in-Residence Program and collaboration with Wunetu Wequai Tarrant, Christian Scheider, and the Padoquohan Medicine Lodge was made possible through support from CRNY’s Artist Employment Program. Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY), a project of the Tides Center, is a three-year, $125 million investment in the financial stability of New York State artists and the organizations that employ them.

Additional project support was provided by the Long Island Community Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and an anonymous donor.

The formation of Ayim Kutoowonk was made possible through the Library of Congress’s Connecting Communities Digital Initiative, part of the Library’s Mellon-funded program Of the People: Widening the Path. The program provides funds to projects that offer creative approaches to the Library’s digital collections and center Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic or Latino studies.

First Literature Project’s VR installation was developed by Khora, a leading Scandinavian virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) production studio, creating cutting-edge content within multiple application areas.

Guild Hall’s Learning + New Works programs are made possible through The Patti Kenner Arts Education Fellowship, Vital Projects Fund, the Glickberg/Abrahams S. Kutler Foundation, Stephanie Joyce and Jim Vos, the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Endowment Fund, and The Melville Straus Family Endowment.

Museum programs are supported by Crozier Fine Arts and funding from The Michael Lynne Museum Endowment and The Melville Straus Family Endowment.

Free gallery admission is sponsored, in part, by Landscape Details.