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Beyond the ArtThe Stories that Bind Us Author: KOSU
BEYOND THE ART is hosted by Cray Bauxmont-Flynn who strives to highlight a diversity of roles and voices across the Native American art world, from artists to museum directors and everyone in between. Language: en Genres: Arts, Design, Visual Arts Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Loyal to the Soil: Native Storytellers and Social Justice: Inside Rena Flying Coyote Collective
Episode 7
Wednesday, 8 April, 2026
On this episode of Beyond the Art, we sit down with filmmakers Ben West, alike mteuzi, and Yancey Burns from Rena Flying Coyote Collective, a Native-led nonprofit using film as a tool for social change. They share how their personal paths—from rural Appalachia and small Oklahoma communities to art school and public interest law—eventually converged through the acclaimed documentary Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascotting. Together, they unpack why mascots are not a matter of opinion but of public health, drawing on decades of research that links these images to depression, low self-esteem, and suicidal ideation among Native youth.The conversation then traces the birth of Rena Flying Coyote Collective and its four pillars: filmmaking, coalition building, education, and hands-on community workshops. Ben and Yancey describe touring Imagining the Indian across Turtle Island, building partnerships, and realizing the film needed to live on as classroom curriculum, not just as a one-time screening. They talk about their commitment to making sure Native communities are not just subjects in front of the camera but leaders behind it, and why the collective was founded specifically to help other Indigenous storytellers access tools, funding, and mentorship.From there, the group turns to the projects currently on their plates, including a powerful new documentary being filmed in Picher, Oklahoma, where Quapaw Nation is leading the cleanup of a massive Superfund site created by historic lead and zinc mining. They explore how environmental justice, land sovereignty, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous People intersect on this landscape, and share a preview of Loyal to the Soil, their film on Native military service and the disconnect between Native veterans and the systems meant to serve them. If you care about representation that moves beyond symbols into real-world impact, this episode offers both hard truths and active pathways to change.
