MARQUETTE — Northern Michigan University hosted its inaugural Indigenous Perspectives Symposium on Friday that focused on art.

Local and regional Indigenous artists attended the event and hosted a variety of panels designed to inform the public and elevate Indigenous voices concerning a variety of artistic mediums.

At this event, Indigenous attendees and participants were given center stage. As a representative from the local Anishinaabe community, T.J. Derwin of the Teal Lake Singers welcomed all those present.

“We’re used to imposing ourselves into the community, into the non-native community, to hopefully bring our culture into what has been a colonized culture, but here we get to welcome you — non-natives, anybody — to be with us in our land,” Derwin said. “This is where we’re from. It’s kind of flipping the switch a little bit and we really appreciate that.”

David Nyberg, the executive director of business engagement and economic development in the office of university President Brock Tessman, delivered the land acknowledgement that is read at NMU-hosted events.

Echoing the sentiments of Derwin, Nyberg said, “It is important to acknowledge the relationship between Northern Michigan University and the land upon which it exists, what is currently recognized by many as the central part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It is also important to recognize the cultural traditions from which the university originates and how it has since evolved. Long before the existence of the United States of America and Canada, the indigenous peoples of this continent had their own names for this place they call home.”

Recognition of the presence and impact of Indigenous tribes in the area directly support NMU President Brock Tessman’s grand challenges of the university’s strategic plan as revealed at this year’s fall convocation. These challenges are supporting our people, partnering with our place and realizing the potential of all our students.

Tessman in his welcoming remarks acknowledged the active and ongoing legacy of the Anishinaabe people of the area and the importance of including them in the university’s many partnerships and collaborations.

” … I bring up that number 125 (years) for a reason,” he said. “We’ve accomplished so much as a university in those 125 years, including in the arts, across the spectrum in all types of arts. If you think about the longer term and you think about the way in which Indigenous populations and communities have been creating, sharing, understanding, communicating through art over the centuries, it puts the university’s time span into pretty clear perspective.”

Tessman contextualized the lifetime and achievements of NMU, especially considering it’s within the scope of Indigenous cultures.

“We’ve been here a long time,” he said. “I love 125 years but it’s important to acknowledge that arts in the Upper Peninsula, art in this region between Presque Isle and the Chocolay River, have been growing and flourishing for so many centuries.”

One member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and NMU Board of Trustees member, Brigette LaPointe-Dunham, who also provided opening remarks, praised the awareness and consideration of the university’s employees in creating a space for Indigenous people and teachings.

“As someone rooted in both Indigenous traditions and the world of higher education, I have long felt the need for spaces where Indigenous knowledge, lifeways and art forms can flourish. Art has always been more than an expression for our communities,” she said. “It’s a way of being, a way of storytelling and a way of healing. Creating a platform like this symposium allows us to foster a deeper connection between NMU and the Indigenous peoples and nations whose lands we occupy.”

Art can be a tool, LaPointDunham said, to navigate trauma loss “and the complexities of our life experiences, offering an outlet for healing.”

One attendee, William Johnson, had significant thoughts about choosing art for the symposium’s focus. Johnson is a member of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, serves as a tribe designee for the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, as well as the curator of tribal cultural resource management at the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinaabe Culture & Lifeways.

“Through the American Indian boarding school era, traditional art was kind of lost … when the ancestors were attending boarding school,” Johnson said. “There was a loss of not only language and culture but the art as well. That’s why it’s so important that the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan works cooperatively with the Ziibiwing Center so that we can perpetuate cultural art for the future and we work with master tribal artists and work with the next generation of culture keepers in order to perpetuate the art for the future.”

Efforts like the Indigenous Perspectives Symposium support Johnson’s goal of preserving any given tribe’s art while it’s still possible. He cited some of the guiding forces behind his efforts as the Gifts of the Seven Grandfathers. This is an Indigenous philosophy that guides its followers on how to live with respect and learn from the last seven generations in order to live well and ensure prosperity for the next seven generations.

“I love the idea that Dr. Tessman, as the president of Northern Michigan University, is making that concerted effort to be more inclusive of Native American tribes, especially the tribes of the Great Lakes region,” Johnson said.

Going forward, Tessman said the university has “clear-eyed” and “ambitious” goals concerning the way it supports Indigenous students, employees and future partnerships with tribal nations and communities by fostering an aware and accepting community on campus.