Indigenous Performance Productions

Help Us Culminate the Final Chapter of The Aunties: Women of The Salish Sea II

We are seeking your support to help fund the the final chapter of The Aunties: Women of The Salish Sea project. Your contribution will help us complete three documentary films of featuring stories by local Indigenous women leaders to be shared at a local film screening and local outreach at Olympia's high schools.

What is The Aunties?

 The Aunties is an invitation to come together to honor the women who shape, heal, and uphold Indigenous communities—the aunties—through an evening of contemporary storytelling. These stories are shared live from the stage alongside familial and archival photographs and works of legacy. 

The storytelling from these live performances is preserved on film, becoming part of a documentary series that captures the community and place from which the auntie stories emerge. The films serve as a cultural resource intended for the benefit of future generations.

The live gathering of The Aunties: Women of the Salish Sea II is part of a nationwide series across Turtle Island, featuring women from different territories at site-specific locations. In Olympia, at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts on May 16, 2024, we featured stories by three aunties who call our area home: Rhonda Lee Grantham (Cowlitz Nation), Indigenous midwife and herbalist, Sara Marie Ortiz (Pueblo of Acoma), Native educator and culture specialist, and Danica Sterud Miller (Puyallup Tribe), Associate Professor of American Indian Studies at UW Tacoma.

This live performance created a dedicated space for Indigenous storytelling traditions, which encompass a wide range of purposes, complexities, and customs. As part of the series, storytelling is honored as a living art form that continuously shapes identity, facilitates healing, and builds solidarity across and within communities. 

Outreach

Our outreach offers Indigenous-led storytelling and provides Native students with role models who reflect their own experiences, through the work of culture bearers and auntie role models. This ensures that Indigenous students see themselves represented, while intercultural students gain access to Indigenous stories and practices led by Indigenous people. During our last visit, we offered outreach through Olympia High School and Nova Middle School.  For this engagement in Fall 2025 we plan to offer community-led initiatives alongside Olympia High School, with the possibility of adding Capital High. 

Through community-responsive outreach, we will offer storytelling sessions and hands-on workshops in Indigenous filmmaking. 

Film Screening

The film screening TBD Fall 2025 is a way to celebrate the culmination of the project with community. The films’ stories emerge from their community and land and when told and shared,  return back into the hands of the community. The screening will bring together the storytellers, the director, and the director of photography behind the films to celebrate the project's collective journey.

In Santa Fe, we featured three aunties, including Santa Clara Pueblo culture bearer Nora Naranjo Morse. We are excited to share Nora's film with you—you will be the first to see this film.  The films from Olympia will be produced, edited, directed by the team and will align in style and form. 

How You Can Help 

The total cost for post-production ($3,000/film), live film screening and outreach portions of The Aunties is $25,680. While we are in the process of requesting funding from tribal nations and local grantees, we are asking our local community to help us fill in the projected gap of $4,350 to help bring The Aunties' journey home. Your support will directly fund:

Post-Production: Completing the editing and final touches on the films to ensure they accurately reflect the stories and traditions shared. 

Film Screening: Hosting a community event where the films can be viewed and discussed, bringing people together in a shared experience

Outreach Programs: Providing educational workshops and storytelling sessions at local schools, fostering a deeper understanding of Indigenous cultures among youth. 

Donation Tier Suggestions:

$50 covers the cost of materials for a student workshop on Indigenous filmmaking.  

$100 helps fund a storytelling session at a local high school. 

$500 supports the compensation for one of the aunties sharing her story. 

Please consider joining us in sharing and preserving the stories of local Indigenous women. By supporting this project, you are helping to ensure that the Indigenous women of our area are seen and celebrated and their teachings amplified through documentary films for the benefit of our community today and for generations to come. We welcome you to join us at the film screening to share in these stories and be part of this community journey.  Hope to see you there!

Sara Marie Ortiz/Aunty-During Filming	Film Crew
Rhonda Lee Grantham/Aunty-During Filming	Aunties On Stage-Day Of Performance