Tag Archives: Tracy Rector

Arts & Culture

Globalizing Hope: Luck Isn’t Enough — It Takes a Lot of Hard Work

A conversation between Jona Luna and Tracy Rector on Luna’s film ‘Buscando las Marcas del Asho´ojushi / Searching for the Marks of the Asho´ojushi’

When organizer, filmmaker, and Emmy award-winning producer Tracy Rector was founding the 4th World Media Lab in Seattle, she sought out an Elder, and he told a story about a time when the world would be in need of healing due to human environmental impacts and that Indigenous stories would bring forth healing for the whole planet — this time would be called the “4th World.”

Now about to welcome its ninth cohort, this fellowship has been strengthened through multiple generations of storytellers, organizational partners, deep roots in community, and belief in the power of narrative sovereignty — where stories by Indigenous people (rather than about them) are uplifted. The 4th World Media Lab is a yearlong fellowship for emerging and mid-career Indigenous filmmakers that provides opportunities for networking, workshopping, and developing skills to get their films ready for industry pitches and funding meetings. They travel together to the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Montana, the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), and Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) in Maine, and have additional support from ITVS and Nia Tero. While the year is memorable, the work each fellow brings to it spans years of development.

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Voices

Joy Is an Act of Reciprocity

Native American Heritage Day calls forth a full array of emotions in its celebration.

by Tracy Rector and Taylor Hensel (Cherokee Nation)

For many, this time of year brings up an array of emotions and personal experiences. Oftentimes there are complicated feelings related to loss, genocide, cultural appropriation, broken treaties, and theft of land in addition to a sense of cheer related to time spent with family and loved ones, tasty foods, football games, and rest. There is no one narrative at this time of year that is standard for all who live in the lands now known as the United States. Either way, it is a time of preparation and reflection; a time to give thanks and to be humble and hopefully experience joyful moments.

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Community

Reimagining Brilliant Black and Indigenous Futures

by Tracy Rector

(This article was originally published on Nia Tero’s website and has been reprinted with permission.)

Growing up as a child of the ’70s in the western United States, families like mine were rare. We were a spectrum of skin tones, languages, histories, let alone the lived experiences inherent to being people of mixed heritage. Our reality was constructed over multiple centuries, circumstances, and regions. We were different, and we were special — special because we were encouraged to embrace all our ancestors. I was raised to feel pride in the stories of Black resistance and Indigenous knowledge systems, and to know that this interweaving of our multiple backgrounds helped our family to survive.

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Voices

Seedcast: Indigenous Storytelling as Environmental Justice

by Tracy Rector

Since time immemorial, Indigenous people have celebrated storytelling as a way to connect the present to past lessons and future dreaming. Narrative sovereignty is a form of land guardianship, and Nia Tero supports this work through its storytelling initiatives, including the Seedcast podcast, as well as in this column for media partner the South Seattle Emerald.

Indigenous peoples often share that throughout the world, storytelling is a foundational part of culture and kinship, a way to express and share knowledge across generations and communities. Indigenous stories are also a form of environmental justice work. Stories are culturally and bioregionally rooted parts of knowledge-bearing systems that tell us about ourselves, each other, where we’ve been, who we are, and even where we may be going, as seen in a number of “futurism” movements. Stories can also shine a spotlight on histories and lineages, draw us into each other’s ways of being, and provide a guide for treating the Earth with respect.

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Voices

Seedcast: Storytelling Is Guardianship

by Tracy Rector

Since time immemorial, Indigenous people have celebrated storytelling as a way to connect the present to past lessons and future dreaming. Narrative sovereignty is a form of land guardianship, and Nia Tero supports this work through its storytelling initiatives, including the Seedcast podcast, as well as in this column for media partner the South Seattle Emerald.

Many of us have known for quite a while that climate change, accelerated by human decisions and behaviors, is not only real but a direct threat to life as we know it. While the findings of the IPCC report released in August of 2021 might not have been a surprise, that didn’t make them less alarming. The report inspired urgent conversations not only at planet-focused nonprofits like the one I work at, Nia Tero, but on a global scale and in individual homes: What can we do to heal the planet? What role can we play? Where are the solutions?

The good news is that human decisions and behaviors can also heal the planet, as evidenced by the land guardianship carried out by Indigenous peoples around the world in the form of tending to the land with fire, seed saving, or not taking more than you need. Indigenous land stewardship shows us not only the ways of the past and present but also the ways of the future. As an extension of that work, Indigenous storytelling links a millennium of knowledge with current day action. This is why Indigenous storytelling is an integral part of climate justice today.

Nia Tero Storytelling Fellow Jonathan Luna (Huila) connects Indigenous land sovereignty and narrative sovereignty in this way: “As part of creating the world, a place with more justice and liberation for all, historically oppressed and marginalized people, which include Indigenous peoples, need to create our own narratives regarding our lived experiences, be it historical or contemporary. The role of storytelling in these struggles, in all of its multiple forms and media, is fundamental and necessary; there are no imitations, fast-forwards, or shortcuts. The narratives of the people who dedicate their lives on the frontlines of defending the most biodiverse, water-rich yet fragile ecosystems that contribute to help sustain the world’s climate are the stories that policymakers need to be seeing and hearing.” 

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