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GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY — Tribal leaders in Arizona, which has become a volatile political battleground in recent years, gathered this week to discuss the importance of the midterm election and to rally the Native vote.

Some took it beyond discussion and criticized prominent Arizona candidates. The leaders met Thursday with a trio of Republican candidates seeking key positions, including gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

One tribal leader said the meeting was lip service, another said that it lacked sincerity, while a third wondered if tribes would have a role if Lake was elected governor.

“You get to a point where you know somebody is feeding you lip service. I think there was lip service that was fed to us today,” Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris Jr. said.

The Inter Tribal Association of Arizona held a news conference on Thursday at the Sheraton Grand Wild Horse Pass in Chandler, Arizona in the Gila River Indian Community. Twenty-one of 22 federally recognized tribes in Arizona are part of the association. The Navajo Nation is the only state tribe not involved in the organization. READ MORE — Dalton Walker, ICT

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The latest Indigenous A&E column from ICT brings stories of tattoos and murals, border art and a documentary about a high school mascot READ MORE — Sandra Hale Schulman, Special to ICT

On Oct. 26, President Biden announced his appointments to the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. One of the seven appointees is Phefelia Nez, the first lady of the Navajo Nation.

Part of her duties will be to honor President Kennedy’s relationship to the arts, ensure the Kennedy Center presents world-class performing arts to all and upholding the center’s education, policy and programs as well as promoting accessibility, according to the press release.

Nez has undergraduate degrees in political science and criminal justice, a Master of Public Administration, and an honorary doctorate degree in humane letters from Northern Arizona University. She has 15 years of experience serving on various boards, task forces and commissions.

She is also a member of Arizona State University’s Lodestar Center’s Nonprofit Executive Leadership Academy Class V. — ICT

Cherokee Nation hires new film commissioner

A Cherokee Nation citizen with more than 20 years experience in the film and music industry has been tapped to head the tribe’s film office and handle the multimillion-dollar program offering incentives for productions.

Tava Maloy Sofsky will head the Cherokee Nation Film Office and will also serve as the tribe’s film commissioner, overseeing initiatives that include the Cherokee Film Incentive, which pays up to $1 million annually for production expenses incurred within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation.

“There is no individual more passionate about and more experienced in growing this industry here in Oklahoma,” Jennifer Loren, director of the Cherokee Nation Film and Original Content, told ICT.

“Not only will she focus on growing the industry, Tava will now be able to use her expertise to push for more diversity and Native representation in the industry, especially for projects coming to film in Oklahoma.” READ MORE — Sandra Hale Schulman, Special to ICT

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With the Navajo Nation general election only two weeks away, the presidential candidates are making their final pitches to voters — including those who live in the Phoenix area.

Navajo voters are faced with a choice between incumbent President Jonathan Nez, a veteran of the Navajo political system who is campaigning on his experience, and newcomer Buu Nygren, who is positioning himself as someone who can shake up a government that isn’t responsive enough to the people.

With a large population of Navajo people living in the Phoenix area, the ASU Law Indian Legal Program held a Navajo Nation Presidential Debate on Oct. 23 so urban Navajo voters could hear where the candidates stand on important issues.

Nez and Nygren went head-to-head in a two-hour debate, answering questions that ranged from government reform to job implementation for college graduates. READ MORE — Arizona Mirror

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We want your tips, but we also want your feedback. What should we be covering that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know. dalton@ictnews.org.