Native American Artists

John E. Echohawk

When considering the protections of the U.S. Constitution and what it can mean to Native Americans, it’s impossible not to think about Native American civil rights lawyer, John E. Echohawk, who was awarded the Thurgood Marshall Award by the American Bar Association in 2023.

A member of the Pawnee tribe, Echohawk has worked with the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, Colorado, since its inception in 1970; he has served as the executive director since 1977, fighting, advocating, and litigating for full equity, inclusion, and self-determination for Native Americans.

In addition to this award, Echohawk was also recognized as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal.

You can learn more about this trailblazing pioneer by listing to a fascinating public radio interview with him here.

Mark Baiza

When we make a land acknowledgment, we’re not only talking about Native Americans that once lived on and stewarded this region; we’re also celebrating our friends and neighbors who still work and create art here today. One of those individuals is Mark Baiza, who has worked backstage on many CPH productions as a wardrobe supervisor, most recently Amadeus.

Mark is a descendant of the Chiricahua Apache nation, which covered parts of the southwestern United States and Mexico. His father was a full-blooded Native American and often spent time as a child visiting his grandmother who resided on the Eagle Pass reservation in Texas. Earlier in life, this grandmother had been sent to a white school as part of an acculturation project; given the tragic end of many Native Americans who were put through this experience, Mark considers himself very lucky to be alive. More humorously, he notes that — when investigating his family tree — he came across an ancestor with the last name Geronima, leading him to wonder if he’s related to a famous chieftain.

As a child and teenager, Mark went to powwows in San Diego with his father and three brothers, and was inspired by the pageantry of these gatherings: the music, dancing, singing, storytelling, and food. This and other experiences — serving as an altar boy, going “all out” with Halloween decorating, and falling in love with fairy godmother characters in Disney movies who could magically fabricate dresses out of nothing — cemented his dream of going into fashion and costuming.

Mark’s father had learned how to sew parachutes while in the Navy, so he was the first one to teach Mark how to use an antiquated, dusty sewing machine. From there, Mark learned more of the fine handiwork of the sewing craft from his grandmother. After that, the die was cast, and it was an easy decision to attend college for Fashion Design at FIDM in Los Angeles.

Mark worked in the fashion industry for eight years, but then turned his attention to other things. He worked at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego for many years, where he became a jack of all trades: wardrobe, stitching, draping, designing, making wigs, serving as first hand, and more. He’s been self-employed at points, setting up a studio where he does alterations and even designs special costumes for Halloween and gala celebrations. And of course, he’s worked backstage in multiple capacities here at CPH where, he notes, it’s been so exciting to work alongside the resident costume staff and to “never stop learning.” Mark’s curiosity and vivacity have served him well, and will surely guide him on his next adventures in life.

Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate

Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (photo by Shevaun Williams)

While we often think of classical music as the historical product of western European culture, there are in fact classical composers and musicians today who are transforming the genre to include influences from other cultures and traditions. For example:

Meet Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate

• A native of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma — 2022 Chickasaw Hall of Fame inductee
• A 2000 graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music — 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient
• A composer and conductor, who most recently returned to Ohio in September 2023 to conduct his composition “Clans” with the Akron Symphony Orchestra
• He was selected by The Washington Post as one of 22 for ’22: Composers and Performers to Watch This Year, raving that “Tate is rare as an American Indian composer of classical music. Rarer still is his ability to effectively infuse classical music with American Indian nationalism.”
• Grew up among a lot of art, as his father was a classically trained pianist and baritone, and his mother was a choreographer and dancer
• Tate’s middle name, Impichchaachaaha', means “their high corncrib” and is his inherited traditional Chickasaw house name. A corncrib is a small hut used for the storage of corn and other vegetables. In traditional Chickasaw culture, the corncrib was built high off the ground on stilts to keep its contents safe from foraging animals.
• Initially struggled to see the connections between his identities as a classical musician and a Chickasaw man, but was invited by his mother to compose a score for her ballet based on American Indian stories - and suddenly everything began to align
• Some of his work incorporates orchestral music, storytelling, mythology, children’s choruses, and dancers dressed in traditional Chickasaw regalia.
• Inspired — in part — by the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, who was one of the founders of ethnomusicology (the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it)
• As part of his practice, Tate listens to and gathers music from members of his nation and then transcribes the sounds and melodies into his compositions.
• Also a dedicated teacher, Tate works with American Indian students as the founder of the Chickasaw Chamber Music Festival and the founding instructor of the Chickasaw Summer Arts Academy.
• Appointed Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State in 2021
• In 2024-2025, will be a composer-in-residence with CityMusic Cleveland to premiere a new work for solo soprano and chamber orchestra titled “Kokumthena (Our Grandmother)”
• Records regularly with Azica Records, a Grammy Award-winning label based here in Cleveland
• For more information, check out his website.