Wisdom Circle
Tony Abeyta
Tony Abeyta is a Diné (Navajo) contemporary artist known for mixed-media paintings drawing on Southwest landscapes and ancestral Navajo iconography. Tony is a contemporary Navajo Diné artist whose work is most well known as mixed media paintings and oil landscapes of the American southwest, with subject matter including the New Mexico landscape, ancestral Navajo iconography and American Modernism.
Mario Essig
Mario Essig is a values driven professional with a multidisciplinary approach to life, work, and community, blending interests in business, technology, finance, and spiritual exploration. With a focus on thoughtful stewardship whether in business, nonprofit operations, or personal growth he brings a systems-oriented mindset alongside a desire to align practical decisions with deeper meaning.
Dr. Lyla June
Rescheduled from June 17: now Wednesday, October 21
Dr. Lyla June Johnston (Diné, Tsétsêhéstâhese, and European lineages) is a poet, musician, and scholar whose work bridges Indigenous wisdom, ecological healing, and intergenerational repair. Her PhD research explored how pre-colonial Indigenous Nations cultivated abundant food systems across Turtle Island, and she carries that knowledge into stages, classrooms, and communities through music, poetry, and spoken word.
Dr. Tommy K Begay
Dr. Tommy K. Begay (Diné) is originally from Dinétah, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and a Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. A cultural psychologist with a Master of Public Health, his work addresses Native American health, historical trauma, and the cultural strengths that support healing and resilience in Indigenous communities. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Shonto Begay
Shonto Begay is a Diné (Navajo) artist, author, and educator, born in Arizona in 1954 to a Navajo medicine man and weaver. One of sixteen children, he grew up herding sheep in Kletha Valley before being sent to Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools across the reservation. He holds an Associate of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from California College of Arts and Crafts. A celebrated painter, illustrator, and storyteller, his work is held in more than fifty galleries and museums worldwide.
Dr. Lyla June
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Dr. Lyla June Johnston (Diné, Tsétsêhéstâhese, and European lineages) is a poet, musician, and scholar whose work bridges Indigenous wisdom, ecological healing, and intergenerational repair. Her PhD research explored how pre-colonial Indigenous Nations cultivated abundant food systems across Turtle Island, and she carries that knowledge into stages, classrooms, and communities through music, poetry, and spoken word.
Kat Nelson
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Kat Nelson (Penobscot Nation) is an artist residing on Indian Island, Maine. Trained at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Kat's creative journey has been shaped by resilience, healing, and a deep connection to her culture. Guided by Elder artisans, she carries forward the living traditions of her people through sweetgrass weaving, beadwork, and jewelry each piece a testament to the enduring beauty of Penobscot artistry and her own gratitude for life.
Sherry Hicks
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Sherry Hicks is an internationally acclaimed performance artist, storyteller, and musically inspired ASL artist whose work bridges Deaf, hearing, and Coda worlds through movement, humor, and heart. Born into a Deaf family with ASL as her first language, she brings language to life as ceremony, rhythm, and shared experience. Sherry’s performances invite audiences into joy, connection, and the deep wisdom held in embodied language and community.
Hayden Conner
Hayden Conner is a Division I–bound volleyball athlete whose journey is rooted in discipline, resilience, and purpose. Through years of training, competition, and self-reflection, she has learned that true strength comes from alignment - mind, body, heart, and spirit moving together. Hayden carries her path with humility and intention, offering a grounded perspective on growth, balance, and becoming. She shares her story as a young leader learning to trust the process and honor the wisdom gained along the way.
Gibraltar Farrell
Gibraltar Farrell is a young artist from Memphis, TN, currently living and working in Santa Fe, NM. In his free time, he studies film, dance, music, and circus arts to further his artistic growth and nurture his passions. He attended the New Mexico School for the Arts as a dance major and is continuing his higher education at Santa Fe Community College, focusing on film studies.
Sage Bond
Hailing from the Four Corners region within the Navajo Nation, Sage Bond, Diné/Nde (Navajo/San Carlos Apache), writes with the influences of personal life, culture, and heavy metal. These aspects can be found in her singer-songwriter career as well as her compositions during her time with the Native American Composers' Apprentice Project.
Summer Crider
Summer Crider is a cultural studies educator, certified Forest and Nature Therapy guide, and founder of The Wild Cypress, a company offering retreats and educational programs for Deaf, Disabled, and marginalized communities. With degrees in Expressive Arts Therapy and Deaf Cultural Studies, Summer bridges academic insight with lived experience as a Deaf, Disabled, Queer woman whose recent journey reshaped their identit(ies) and commitment to healing.
Cara Romero & Diego Romero
Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) is a contemporary fine art photographer whose powerful images explore Indigenous identity, memory, and culture through a Native female perspective. Her work bridges traditional and modern worlds, redefining how Indigenous stories are seen today.
Diego Romero (Cochiti Pueblo) is a celebrated ceramic artist known for blending Pueblo traditions with pop culture and classical influences. His narrative vessels use humor and storytelling to highlight Indigenous resilience and history.
Mateo Romero
Contemporary Pueblo painter Mateo Romero was born and raised in Berkeley, California. Although his cultural background is an urban one, through his father Santiago Romero and his connection to their Southern Keresan Cochiti people, this experience includes much of the Rio Grande Pueblo world as well. Mateo attended Dartmouth College and studied with acclaimed artists Ben Frank Moss and Varujan Boghosian.
Ernie Tsosie III
Ernie Tsosie is a comedian and actor, a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild. His professional acting credits include the Netflix film Rez Ball, as well as notable appearances on AMC’s Longmire, Better Call Saul, and Dark Winds, and NBC’s Rutherford Falls.
Rose B. Simpson
Rose B. Simpson is a mixed-media artist from Santa Clara Pueblo, NM. Her work engages ceramic sculpture, metals, fashion, performance, music, installation, writing, and custom cars. She received an MFA in Ceramics from Rhode Island School of Design in 2011, an MFA in Creative Non-Fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2018, is collected in museums across the continent, and has exhibited internationally.
Weyhan “Moon” Smith
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Weyhan “Moon” Smith is a proud member of the Shinnecock Nation of Long Island, NY, now living in Rio Rancho, NM to raise his three teenage sons. In long-term recovery since 2018, he is a Certified Peer Support Worker, Narcan and MHFA trainer, and Talking Circle facilitator. His healing work is rooted in the belief that culture is medicine.
ShanDien Sonwai LaRance
ShanDien Sonwai LaRance is a champion Native American hoop dancer, choreographer, and instructor from Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico. Growing up immersed in the Native American arts and traditions, ShanDien dreamed of sharing her unique culture with the world. She learned to hoop dance from her older brother, Nakotah LaRance (1989-2020) at eight years old.
Julia Keefe
Julia Keefe (Nez Perce) is an internationally acclaimed Native American jazz vocalist, bandleader, actor, and educator currently based in New York City. Her professional career has spanned nearly two decades, and she has headlined marquee events at the John F. Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., NMAI-NY, as well as opened for the likes of 20-time GRAMMY Award winner Tony Bennett and 5-time GRAMMY Award winner Esperanza Spalding.
Montana Miller
Montana Miller, a proud Diné actor, director, and storyteller, is celebrated for his work in Into the Wild Frontier. Driven by a passion for uplifting diverse voices, he showcases the richness and resilience of Indigenous cultures through his craft. A graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), Montana is dedicated to fostering greater representation in film and media by championing authentic Indigenous narratives.
Dana tiger
Dana Tiger, a celebrated Muscogee (Creek) artist of Seminole and Cherokee heritage, is widely acclaimed for her evocative depictions of Native women. Her impactful work has earned her a place in the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame, inspiring audiences across the nation.
Tessema Meredith-Miller
Tessema Meredith-Miller is a multimedia artist of Samoan heritage residing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Originally from St. George, a small town in Southern Utah, her work is deeply rooted in her Polynesian ancestry and cultural principles, such as the relationship with land and ocean, star navigation, and the importance of community.
Nacha Mendez
Nacha Mendez, an award-winning singer-songwriter from La Union, New Mexico, blends traditional Ranchera canción, learned from her grandmother, with contemporary influences. Performing in border towns with her cousins, the Black Brothers, she shaped her unique style. An enrolled member of the Chihene Nde Nation, her music celebrates culture and resilience.
David Player
David Player, a Louisiana Native, is a first-year lecturer in the ASL & Deaf Studies program at California State University, Sacramento. He holds an MA in Linguistics from the University of New Mexico, where his research focused on the sociolinguistics of signed language variations, language ideologies and policies, and linguistic bias.
DezBaa'
DezBaa’ is born for the Nooda’í Dine’e (Ute clan) and raised in Española, New Mexico. She is a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Writers Guild of America (WGA). She is an actor, screenwriter, director, and indie film producer. DezBaa’ began her career in the New Mexico film industry as a background actor, but soon landed speaking roles—first in Woman Walks Ahead, a 2017 film directed by Susanna White and starring Jessica Chastain.
Julia Hardaker & Julianne Croft
Julia Hardraker & Julianne Croft took positions as Australian Volunteers in Afghanistan in 2004. Together they have run their consultancy businesses providing governance, leadership training and capacity building with remote Indigenous community boards in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, with a school winning the NT Chief Ministers Award for excellence in governance.
Joy Harjo
In 2019, Joy Harjo was appointed the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold the position and only the second person to serve three terms in the role. Harjo’s nine books of poetry include Weaving Sundown in a Scarlett Light, An American Sunrise, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems, and She Had Some Horses. She is also the author of two memoirs, Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior, which invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her “poet-warrior” road.
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