Forge Project

Thursday, May 21, 7–9pm, please join Bonney Hartley @bonnhar and Wunetu Wequai Tarrant @neenuw for an evening of readings, screenings, and conversation at Performance Space New York @performance.space.new.york as part of Forge Project’s year-long installation and residency in PSNY’s OPEN ROOM. Over the course of the evening, Bonney Hartley will read a selection of her poetic work and Wunetu Wequai Tarrant will screen “Shinnecock Succotash Cooking” and “She Sits With Me,” two short films made by Ayim Kutoowonk [She Speaks], a Shinnecock women’s language group.  Hartley and Tarrant will then join Sarah Biscarra Dilley (yaktitʸutitʸu yaktiłhini [Northern Chumash]) @sarahbiscarradilley , Forge Project Director of Relational Education, in conversation about their personal and community-based work. Language, visual media, and poetics are among methods used since time immemorial to document histories, shared knowledge, and deepen political, social, and cultural practice.  While the mediums we use may shift over time, this speaks to the ongoing nature of Indigenous ways of knowing and being - that endure and expand beyond the limitation of colonial imagination.  Highlighting the confluence of communities from what is now New York City and Long Island,  “Making the Worlds (Presence)” centers the ongoing relationships homeland communities maintain through embodied, creative, and relational practice.   RSVP for May 7 via the #LinkInBio. Photo Credits: Bonney Hartley by Thatcher Keats.

🌱 DATE CHANGE: Spring Meadow Work Day will now take place Friday, May 15 due to weather conditions. Forge Project invites neighbors from the region to join us for a seasonal opportunity to participate hands-on in remediation work onsite and learn simple restoration practices that can be folded into home spaces and gardens. Introductions will be led at 4:15pm and 5:45pm. Guests are welcome to stay for the full duration. Basic plant identification will be led by allied botanists Claudia Knab-Vispo and Josie Laing of the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program. Please bring gardening gloves, hand tools if possible, and a water bottle. Snacks and beverages will be provided. Thank you for your flexibility — we hope to see you Friday! 🌱 Please email [email protected] or Operations Director Paloma Wake [email protected] with any questions.

@forgeprojectny is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 Forge Fellowship! 🌱Jay Bellis (Haida, Kootenay), @bad.dad.2017 🌱Michael Bowman Sr. (Stockbridge-Munsee) 🌱Heidi Brandow (Diné, Kanaka Maoli), @heidikbrandow 🌱Charine Gonzales (San Ildefonso Pueblo (PoWohGeh Owingeh)), @charinepilar 🌱Robin Maxkii (Mohican/Munsee-Lenape), @indigenousndn 🌱Tiare Ribeaux (Kānaka Maoli/Kānaka ʻŌiwi), @tiareribeaux The six members of the Forge Project 2026 Fellowship cohort are reflective of a diversity of Indigenous thinkers, artists, activists, and cultural practitioners working in Native North America today. They represent a broad diversity of cultural practices, participatory research, organizing models, and geographical contexts that build Native futures through multidisciplinarity and collective engagement. Each Forge Project Fellow receives a total of $25,000 toward their practice and will have access to the Forge Project site, libraries, and lending collection of contemporary Indigenous art during a residency stay of up to three weeks.  The 2026 Forge Project Fellowship applications were reviewed by a a juried panel of four distinguished Native cultural practitioners, artists, writers, scholars and former Fellows, including: Lou Cornum (Diné); Jeanette Jemison (Mohawk); and Brittani Orona (Hupa); and Skye Tafoya (Eastern Band of Cherokee and the Santa Clara Pueblo Tribes), @r.skye.t . The two Fellows from the Stockbridge-Munsee Community were selected in a parallel process by a separate juried panel of three Native knowledge holders and practitioners and former fellows including: Joleece Pecore (Ho-Chunk, Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican, Oneida, and Menominee), @joleece.pecore ; Kristi Leora Gansworth (Kitigan Zibi Anishnaabeg); and Nicole Wallace (Second-generation Descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe), @nmwnmwnmwnmw . The Forge Project Fellowship, which received over 150 applications this year, is reviewed with consideration of each applicant’s practice, spoken or written reflections, and depth of community relations. Learn all about the 2026 Forge Project Fellows on our website via the #LinkInBio.

Thursday, May 7, 7–9pm, please join members of the 2025–2026 Forging journal cohort for a conversation on issues and opportunities facing writers working today hosted at Performance Space New York (@performance.space.new.york ) as part of Forge Project’s year-long installation and residency in PSNY’s OPEN ROOM. Forging editorial advisory committee member Joseph M. Pierce (@pepepierce ) will moderate a conversation between writers and cohort members Adrienne Keene (@nativeapprops ) and Angélica María Cuevas (@angelicamcuevas ) on working across genres, languages, and geographical contexts, from personal histories of displacement on Cherokee Nation to current fights for territorial sovereignty in the Amazon.  The writers will also discuss how they engage with and hold themselves accountable to these stories, and the role art plays in mobilizing narratives beyond cultural spaces and into broader political arenas.   RSVP for May 7 via the #LinkInBio. Images: Portrait of Joseph M. Pierce. Credit: Marcin Muchalski, The Museum of Modern Art.

While the in-person program is at capacity, we’d love to have you join us via Instagram livestream on Saturday, May 2! We will be broadcasting most of the afternoon’s celebration of the Mahicannituck Valley launch of “Native Visual Sovereignty: A Reader on Art and Performance.” ⭐Schedule ⭐ 2pm — OPENING 🌟Candice Hopkins (@candicebhopkins ) & Lauren Cornell (@lauren1cornell ) 2:20pm — PRESENTATIONS 🌟2:20–2:40 — Jolene Rickard (@jrickardmakes ) on the evolution of Native Visual Sovereignty 🌟3:25–3:45 —  Paul Chaat Smith (@paulchaatsmith ) on the performance practice of James Luna 4pm — SCREENING 🌟4:00–4:30 — Screening of Sky Hopinka’s  “Sunflower Engine Siege” (@skyhopinka ) 4:30pm — PANEL 🌟4:30–5:15 — Conversation between renowned scholars and artists Jolene Rickard (@jrickardmakes ), Paul Chaat Smith (@paulchaatsmith ), Kite (@kitekitekitekitekite ), and Sky Hopinka (@skyhopinka ), moderated by Candice Hopkins (@candicebhopkins )  Readings by Candice Hopkins (@candicebhopkins ) and Brandee Caoba (@brandeecaoba ) will be interspersed throughout. **Please note: The day’s programming includes a performance of Kite’s score “Iktómiwiŋ”. This performance will not be livestreamed due to the nature of the performance and its setting. ***Please also note: Professional recordings of the entire day’s program (including Kite’s score) will be uploaded to Forge’s Vimeo (vimeo.com/forgeprojectny) in the coming weeks for those unable to join us and those who wish to revisit the programming in the future.

Join us at Forge Project on Friday, May 8 for a staff-led Site Visit. These two-hour visits (10am + 2pm ET) are small group gatherings designed as introductions to the team, the spaces, the art, and the land we are in relationship with. The visit begins with an invitation to share coffee, tea, and light snacks around the dining table, where we ask visitors to share a bit about themselves as we get to know each other. The Forge team then shares an introduction to Forge and our approach to cultural work, care, and sustained support. We then move through the spaces together — the main residence, the guest residence gallery space, and the meadow, weather permitting — to spend time with the work and talk a bit more about what programming looks like at Forge. RSVP via the #LinkInBio.

Meadow Work Days are an invitation to spend time with the land — learning and working alongside one another. 🌱Spring Meadow Work Day: Thursday, May 14 🌱Summer Meadow Work Day: Thursday, June 4 🌱Fall Meadow Work Day: Thursday, September 17 Introductions are led at the beginning of each session, two sessions per workday.  🌞Paloma Wake, Operations Director, will introduce the group to Forge and share about our approach to relational land stewardship.. 🌞Allied botanists Claudia Knab-Vispo and Josie Laing of the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program will share basic plant identification.  Participants will then spend an hour or so in the meadow alongside Paloma, Claudia, and Josie  learning to recognize what’s growing, removing invasive plants, and making space for native ecologies to return and thrive.  You don’t need to arrive with expertise — just a willingness to learn and participate how you can. We recommend bringing gloves if you have them, a water bottle, and anything you like to work with. We’ll have snacks and drinks to keep us going. Options for engagement are available to those with limited mobility. Please reach out to [email protected] for details. Come join us for an afternoon in the meadow! RSVP via the #LinkInBio.

Join our team! @forgeprojectny is hiring a part-time Administrative Associate. Forge Project is seeking a highly organized communicator with exceptional project management skills. The position will coordinate meetings, communications, and administrative projects with the internal team at Forge Project.  This position reports to the Operations Director and works closely with other director level staff including the Executive Director and Chief Curator and the Director of Indigenous Programs and Relationality. This position will also coordinate projects directly involving the Indigenous Steering Council (ISC), Board of Directors, and select outside consultants. Forge is a dynamic organization and our Programs, Collections, Editorial, Development, and Operations departments work collaboratively. This role will work directly with staff across the organization to refine and maintain administrative systems.  The role encompasses logistical, communications, technical, and administrative work, as well as creative thinking around organizational, strategic, and financial goals. This position requires a high level of accountability and discernment while having a great deal of latitude for personal time management.  Compensation: Part-time non-exempt (statutory benefits only); $30-35/hour, part-time 20-hours/week Location: This is a hybrid position, primarily remote with flexible in-person schedule, located near Taghkanic, NY (not accessible by public transportation). Candidate must be based in the broader Mahicannituck (Hudson) Valley region, or willing to commute onsite on occasion​​, and have a valid driver’s license. To apply, submit your cover letter and resume to [email protected]. This position will remain open until filled and applications submitted on or before May 5, 2026 will receive a full review. Forge Project is committed to developing a barrier-free recruitment process and work environment. If you require any accommodation, please email Operations Director, Paloma Wake, at [email protected] and we will work with you to meet your accessibility needs. Read the entire job description via the #LinkInBio.

Saturday, May 2, 2–5pm, please join us for an afternoon of readings, presentations, a performance, and a screening to celebrate the Mahicannituck Valley launch of “Native Visual Sovereignty: A Reader on Art and Performance.” Reader editor Candice Hopkins (@candicebhopkins ) will moderate a conversation between renowned scholars and artists Jolene Rickard (@jrickardmakes ), Paul Chaat Smith (@paulchaatsmith ), Kite (@kitekitekitekitekite ), and Sky Hopinka (@skyhopinka ), tracing the throughlines of visual sovereignty in their research and practices. The program will also include focused presentations on the development of visual sovereignty by Jolene Rickard and the performance practice of James Luna by Paul Chaat Smith; a performance of Kite’s score “Iktómiwiŋ”; a screening of Sky Hopinka’s “Sunflower Engine Siege”; and a reading by Brandee Caoba (@brandeecaoba ). While at Forge, visitors are invited to take time to see the art collection and walk the land. Light refreshments and snacks will be served. Copies of “Native Visual Sovereignty” will be available for purchase on site. Please RSVP via the #LinkInBio to attend in person.  Please note: This program is free, but space is limited. We kindly ask that you RSVP thoughtfully and, if your plans change, please update your RSVP so we can offer your spot to someone else—we’d love to welcome as many people as possible. *** This event will also be livestreamed on the @forgeprojectny Instagram and professional recordings will be uploaded to Forge’s Vimeo. Details forthcoming.

“Many summer weekends of my childhood were spent gazing out the backseat window while my parents drove along Kamehameha Highway toward the northern coast of O‘ahu,” writes Connor Arakaki.  “Acres of pineapple, sugarcane, and coffee harvested by the Dole Plantation stretched in either direction, shooting from the red dirt I always associated with my maternal grandparents’ backyards in Mililani and Wahiawā. “When they were teenagers in territorial Hawai‘i, they worked on these fields, like many locals of their generation, implicated in the oligarchy of agricultural corporations known as the ‘Big Five.’  “Such corporations dispossessed Native Hawaiians of their land and wielded economic power by investing in and controlling shipping, banking, and wholesale distribution, simultaneously accruing political authority. Company executives cycled through territorial offices, advancing pro-business policy and ultimately statehood in 1959.” In a new essay for #ForgingJournal, Connor Arakaki, a Kanaka Maoli writer, reviews filmmaker Anthony Banua-Simon’s (@anthonybanuasimon ) newest experimental short “World Enterprises,” which “considers what counternarratives could emerge from Hawai‘i’s Hollywood film archive once unbound from its original form.” . Arakaki studies Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and English at Yale University, and their writing focuses on Indigenous politics and media. They are currently a 2026 fellow for the Indigenous Journalists Association. Read the entire piece online via the #LinkInBio. Photo Credit: Film still from “World Enterprises” (2026). Courtesy Anthony Banua-Simon.

@forgeprojectny is pleased to announce that it has received an additional grant award from the @ruthfoundationforthearts for $50,000 as further investment in Forge’s meaningful work, and with the understanding that capacity enables organizations to be ambitious, dedicated and nimble. The Ruth Foundation for the Arts (Ruth Arts) is dedicated to meeting the evolving needs and lived experiences of artists, communities, and arts organizations whose work is anchored by the visual and the performing arts. Forge Project is part of Ruth Arts’ current “In Dialogue” cohort — their national multi-year program of collaborators and thinking partners. The program is structured around convening, collective exchange, collaboration, and knowledge sharing.

Please join us on Friday, April 10, for ticketed site visits at 10am and 2pm. These two-hour guided visits include light refreshments, introductions to our work at Forge, and time to walk the land and experience the space we steward. Our 10am tour is filling up quickly, but we have lots of space for 2pm! Click the #LinkInBio to confirm your slot now.