Institute of American Indian Arts to Honor Momaday, Luan, Trudell

Native News Network Staff in Entertainment. Discussion »

SANTA FE – This Friday, the Institute of American Indian Arts will bestow honorary doctorates to N. Scott Momaday and James Luna at its 2012 commencement.

Actor, Author and Recording Artist John Trudell-Santee Sioux

The Institute's graduating class has chosen actor, author and recording artist John Trudell, Santee Sioux, to deliver the commencement address.

N. Scott Momaday, Kiowa, whose father was a painter and his mother, an author of children's books, grew up on reservations in the Southwest where his parents were also teachers. After attending the University of New Mexico, Momaday won a poetry fellowship to Stanford University's creative writing program.

In 1963, Momaday earned a PhD in English literature. His first novel, "House Made of Dawn" in 1969, earned him a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Since then, he has written several award-winning books and taught at various colleges, including the University of Arizona. In 2007, President George W. Bush awarded him the National Medal of Arts for his writings and his work that celebrate and preserve American Indian art and oral tradition.

Born in 1950 in California, James Luna, Lusieño, earned a Bachelor's in Fine Arts in Studio Arts from University of California, Irvine, in 1976 and a Master's in counseling from San Diego State University in 1983. Inspired by personal experience and critical observations, Luna has created multimedia installations and groundbreaking performances that challenge perceptions and expectations of Native people in the past three decades. His many awards include the Joan Mitchell Award for sculpture in 2010 and the Distinguished Artist Award from the Eiteljorg Museum in Indiana in 2007.

John Trudell is also a man of multi-talents. From 1969 to 1971, Trudell was a spokesman for the American Indian occupation of Alcatraz Island. He later joined the American Indian Movement (AIM), and served as its national chairman from 1973 to 1979. Trudell is also a poet and recording artist, performing Native music, blues and rock. In addition to his music career, Trudell is also an actor and has had roles in feature films, including "Thunderheart" starring Val Kilmer, "Smoke Signals" written by Sherman Alexie and directed by Chris Eyre, and the Emmy-award winning "Dreamkeeper."

In addition to these three distinguished guests, the Institute will also honor three valedictorians, two of who will speak during commencement. Jamie Figueroa, 35, who is an enrolled member of the Taíno Tribe in Puerto Rico and of Afro-Caribbean and Spanish decent, will graduate with a B.F.A. in Creative Writing. Figueroa, who grew up in rural Ohio, attended five universities before moving to Santa Fe in 2005 to study with author Natalie Goldberg. After meeting an IAIA dean in the writing community, Figueroa decided to enroll at IAIA where she says she not only received the skills to strengthen her craft but found the support she needed to get through college.

Figueroa has been published in various literary journals, including Split Oak Press, ekleksographia, the Tribal College Journal and the Santa Fe Literary Review. She also created an internship for herself at the Santa Fe Reporter writing an online blog, "With This Pen," which explores race, identity and relationships. Figueroa has also taught creative writing in elementary, middle and high schools, and in the Honors Program at the University of New Mexico. She believes story-the act of telling story and listening to story-is the most powerful tool we have as human beings to enact compassion and change.

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posted May 8, 2012 7:59 am edt