Zeke Crofton-MacDonald

/

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Wolastoqey

PANEL: Centering Wabanaki Voices in America's 250th

BIOGRAPHY
Osihkiyol (Zeke) Crofton-Macdonald is a Wolastoqey person from the Houlton Band of Maliseets in Maine (Metaksonikewiyik) and the Oromocto First Nation (Welamukotuk) in New Brunswick, Canada. Zeke has spent his life advocating for Native rights in the United States and Canada. He is currently serving as the Tribal Ambassador for the Houlton Band of Maliseets in Maine. He serves as the President of the Wabanaki Alliance and as Tribal Commissioner for the Houlton Band on the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission (MITSC). Zeke graduated from the University of Maine in 2015 where he received a BA in History and attended graduate school at the University of New Brunswick to continue his work in History. He focused his graduate studies on Wabanaki Treaty History. Before assuming his duties as Ambassador, Zeke worked for the Welamukotuk First Nation in Resource Development Consultation, with the Wolastoqey Nation New Brunswick as a co-researcher documenting treaty hunting and harvesting rights, as a research associate at the Atlantic Canada Studies Centre at the University of New Brunswick, and worked for the Houlton Band of Maliseets with the Indian Child Welfare Act.

 

Ty Defoe

/

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Ojibwe + Oneida Nations

PANEL: Native Arts, Culture, & Technology

BIOGRAPHY
Ty Defoe (giizhig) – he/we – is a citizen of the Oneida and Anishinaabe Nations and a proud member of the Indigiqueer/Two-Spirit community. A Grammy Award-winning interdisciplinary artist, writer, and sovereign story trickster, Ty moves fluidly across mediums and movements. His work has been recognized with fellowships from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, MacDowell, Sundance Institute, and as a Trans Futurist with the Pop Culture Collaborative. Ty is also a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Award, a Grammy Award, and the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award. Ty creates across landscapes—from rural communities to Broadway stages to the metaverse—building relationships that center Indigenous and decolonial futures. He currently serves as Professor of Practice at Arizona State University and Writer-in-Residence at PACE. Deeply rooted in indigi-futurism and cultural traditions, Ty has learned storytelling, hoop dancing, and flute playing from his mentor, the late Kevin Locke. He considers himself a shape-shifter, bending in and out of artistic forms to challenge Western binaries and honor the celestial force of rainbows. Ty loves the color clear and mood rings.

 

Connect with Ty

 
 
 

Tyler Everett

/

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Mi’kmaq

PANEL: Wabanaki Forest Futures

BIOGRAPHY
Tyler is a citizen of Mi’kmaq Nation and a PhD Candidate in the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik (APCAW) lab at the University of Maine in Orono. His research prioritizes methodologies that result in Tribal led science. He is a PhD student in the School of Forest Resources here at the University of Maine and his current research focuses on the impacts of emerald ash borer (EAB) on Tribal ash resources and identifying innovative management and mitigation strategies for this forest health issue that Tribal Nation partners support and have interest in better understanding. This includes developing a Tribal supported integrated pest management strategy for EAB; one that considers silviculture and other adaptive management strategies, climate change, and most importantly Tribal cultural values.

 

James Eric Francis Sr.

/

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Nation

PANEL: Centering Wabanaki Voices in America's 250th

BIOGRAPHY
James Eric Francis Sr. serves as the Director of Cultural and Historic Preservation, Tribal Historian, and Chair of the Penobscot Tribal Rights and Resource Protection Board for the Penobscot Nation. As a historian, he explores the relationship between Maine Native Americans and the land. Before his current roles, James contributed to the Wabanaki Studies Commission, assisting with the implementation of Maine’s Native American Studies Law in schools. He co-produced the documentary *Invisible*, which highlights the racism faced by Native Americans in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. James is a member of the Abbe Museum’s Board of Trustees and Abbe Council, and he is a co-founder and Chair of Local Context, an initiative dedicated to supporting Indigenous communities in managing their cultural heritage and intellectual property. Additionally, he serves on the UMaine Hudson Museum Advisory Board and chairs the Maine Archives Board. James is also a visual artist, working as a historian, photographer, filmmaker, painter, and graphic artist.

 

Emma Hassencahl-Perley

/

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Wolastoqey

PANEL: Native Arts, Culture, & Technology

BIOGRAPHY
Emma Hassencahl-Perley is a Wolastoqey visual artist, arts writer, educator and curator from Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) in New Brunswick. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Mount Allison University in 2017. In 2022, she completed a Masters of Art in Art History from Concordia University. Emma's artwork reflects her identity as an ehpit (woman) and a Wolastoqiyik citizen of the Wabanaki Confederacy. Her artistic themes explore water, the cosmos, Wabanaki feminisms, and the Wabanaki double-curve motif, symbolizing life cycles and relationships, including nationhood and community. These motifs serve as both a cultural and aesthetic foundation in Emma's practice, connecting ancestral Wabanaki material culture with contemporary digital storytelling techniques.

In addition to her art practice, Emma is the Curator of Indigenous Art at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

 

Chuck Loring

/

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Nation

PANEL: Wabanaki Forest Futures

BIOGRAPHY
Chuck is a citizen of the Penobscot Nation. In his work duties, he provides oversight to the Nation’s natural resources department.  His background is in Forestry, and he is a UMaine alum who graduated in 2012.  He has worked for the Nation’s natural resources department in various capacities since then.  Though his path has been through forestry, Chuck feels a deep connection to not only the forest, but the animals within it.  When he isn’t in the office you can find him on any one of the various Penobscot territories with his daughter doing anything from collecting shed antlers to hunting moose.

Richard Silliboy

/

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Mi’kmaq Nation

MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash

PANEL: Wabanaki Forestry Futures

ARTIST STATEMENT
Richard Silliboy is a Mi’kmaq basketmaker. He has been harvesting ash and weaving potato baskets, pack baskets, and other traditional styles for decades. Growing up in Houlton, Maine, Richard’s mother taught him basketmaking. Richard often conducts workshops on basketry. He served as the President of the Maine Indian Basketmakers’ Alliance for ten years and now serves on the Board of Directors. He also has made presentations at various conferences about the significance of tribal history and traditions. Richard has been invited to attend various conferences. He is highly respected for his knowledge of brown ash and his concern for the threat of the emerald ash borer, an insect that has decimated brown ash trees in the Midwest.  He has also been asked by the Maine Arts Commission and the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance to take on apprentices to learn brown ash basketmaking. Integral to the Micmac culture is the belief in giving back to the Creator, and there has been a tradition among Micmacs who harvest a natural resource to leave something behind after the harvest, such as tobacco or some other item. Richard continues to harvest brown ash trees, and his giving back has taken on an even broader meaning through his willingness to share his knowledge of brown ash basketry with others.

 
 
 

Cassius Spears

/

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Narragansett

PANEL: Indigenous Farm to Table

BIOGRAPHY
Cassius Champlin Spears Sr. has dedicated his life to the preservation of Narragansett culture throughout New England and the world. He has served as Cultural Advisor for numerous educational projects, including the PBS documentary “We Shall Remain – After the Mayflower.” Spears has remained active in the practice of ethnobotany, traditional home building, and has demonstrated eastern woodlands culture at powwows, museums, college campuses, and film sets across North America. In 2014, Cassius and his wife formed the Narragansett Food Sovereignty Initiative, a farm-based organization devoted to reclaiming food and cultural ways for Narragansett people. They currently own and operate Ashawaug Farm in Ashaway, RI.

Spears’ passion for healthy traditional lifeways led to the establishment of the Narragansett Food Sovereignty Initiative­ in 2014, a farm-based organization with a primary focus on sustaining a healthy community through traditional lifeways and relationships inherent to Tribal people. He currently owns and operates Ashawauf Farm in Ashaway, RI. Spears represented the Narragansett community in Marrakech, Morocco, at the COP22, UNESCO preconference, sharing the effects of climate change from the Narragansett perspective. He was appointed to serve on the Regional Tribal Conservation Advisory Committee(RTCAC) and the National Association Conservation District (NACD) Tribal Policy Group for the Eastern Region. He is a 2017 Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) Fellow and a fellow of NACD’s Next Generation Leadership Institute (NGLI). In addition, he also serves on the Native Land Conservancy and is President of Rhode Island Association Conservation District (RIACD).

Dawn Spears

/

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Narragansett

MEDIUM: Clothing, Diverse Arts, Painting/Illustration

PANEL: Indigenous Farm to Table

ARTIST STATEMENT
Dawn Spears (Narragansett), the Director of the Northeast Indigenous Arts Alliance (NIAA), is a multimedia artist whose work is infused with cultural symbolism and the vibrant colors of our natural world, and farming is part of her art. She also supports the Indigenous artist community through facilitating art markets and other opportunities that increase the visibility and vitality of Indigenous arts and culture. For more than twenty-five years, Dawn has worked to support Indigenous arts as an artist, educator, demonstrator, and organizer. Dawn produced two of the largest and most significant markets in New England, the Indigenous Fine Arts Market East in 2016 and the inaugural Abbe Museum Indian Market in 2018. She returned to the production area in 2024 with the Abbe Museum’s inaugural event, the Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas. She is a 2020 Assets for Artists grantee, a 2015 RI State Council for the Arts (RISCA) Master Apprenticeship grantee, and was the Community Artist in Residence at the New Bedford Art Museum in 2021. Dawn has exhibited at the most prestigious Indian art markets across the country, including the American Indian Arts Marketplace at the Autry Museum in Glendale, CA, the Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market in Phoenix, AZ, and the SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market in Santa Fe, NM. In 2024, her art was featured on the USDA’s National Native American Heritage Month poster. Dawn currently sits on several advisory’s (Brown University, Yellow Farmhouse, Tomaquag Museum) and serves on her town’s Conservation Commission and the State’s Farm Service Agency County Commission. She continues to work consulting regionally and nationally, supporting arts programming and business training for artists.

An active member of her tribal community, Dawn served as the Narragansett Indian Tribe’s Tribal Secretary for two terms and currently serves as chair of the Narragansett Indian Tribal Election Committee and vice chair for the Economic Development Commission. In 2014, Dawn and her husband formed the Narragansett Food Sovereignty Initiative, a farm-based organization devoted to reclaiming food and cultural ways for Narragansett people. They currently own and operate Ashawaug Farm in Ashaway, RI. Dawn also enjoys her role as mother and grandmother. Dawn's work within her family, community, and in the arts is driven by her belief in the preservation and education of culture and traditions.

 

Connect with Dawn

 
 
 
 
 

Dr. Anthony Sutton

/

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy 

PANEL: Indigenous Farm to Table

BIOGRAPHY
Anthony Sutton, PhD, is Passamaquoddy from Sipayik. He is an Assistant Professor of Native American Studies and Food Systems at the University of Maine and Faculty Fellow at the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions. Tony’s work focuses on historical and contemporary aspects of Wabanaki foodways, both unpacking the histories that have shaped lands, waters, and species central to Wabanaki foodways, to the present by centering Wabanaki visions for the restoration of foodways and fisheries.

Dwayne Tomah

/

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy

PANEL: Native Arts, Culture, & Technology

BIOGRAPHY
Dwayne Tomah is a Language Keeper, he is a teacher of the Passamaquoddy language and culture. He is the youngest fluent speaker of the Passamaquoddy Tribe and has served on the Tribal Council.

He has also worked with Animal Planet on a segment called Winged Creatures, highlighting the history of the Thunderbird. His life has been dedicated to working on the language and culture preservation, he has edited the Passamaquoddy dictionary and worked to help create the Apple ~ Passamaquoddy Language App. He shares Native legends through song and dance.

Dwayne is currently  working with the Library of Congress on translating the Passamaquoddy Wax Cylinders. These recordings are the first recordings in the world of Native languages. They were recorded in 1890 by Jesse Walter Fewkes, who borrowed the device from the inventor Thomas Edison. Dwayne has also been involved in repatriation and Land Back issues. He shares historical truth regarding The Doctrine of Discovery by an Indigenous perspective.