Traveling and a virus kept me from sending this note to you but I wanted to share my three acts for April with you because there’s some important work happening at the studio and beyond. I hope your start to Spring has been blooming wonderful!
Act One, just Dumb!
No time to sugarcoat this one.
The New Hampshire House of Representatives has voted to defund the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Since its inception in 1965 under RSA 19-A, the Council’s mission has been to “promote the arts to protect and enrich New Hampshire’s unique quality of life.” It operates under the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and collaborates with national partners like the National Endowment for the Arts.
So, as the Council marks 60 years of advocacy, economic development, and creative expression, we find ourselves not celebrating—but fighting for its survival.
And let’s be honest: Rep. Joe Sweeney (in my opinion) is a dumbass.
I almost fell off my couch—mid-recuperation, coughing and sneezing—when I heard Sweeney’s comments during debate on Floor Amendment 1553h. This bipartisan amendment, led by Rep. Matt Wilhelm, was an effort to restore the Arts Council’s funding after it was gutted from the proposed budget. What started as a debate on “wants” versus “needs” quickly revealed Sweeney’s real agenda.
He said:
“If I know that the state of New Hampshire, or governments in total, do not have any interest in funding state-run arts programs—or you may call them propaganda pieces—would I now press the red button?”
Yes. He said that. Out loud. On the record [you can watch it here].
Let’s make something very clear: this is not about fiscal responsibility.
This is a direct attack on our right to safeguard creative expression—on the role of artists to reflect, question, entertain, and educate. When a public official uses the word “propaganda” to describe state arts funding, what they’re really saying is that only certain stories, values, and viewpoints deserve support.
If it were about economics, I’d remind you that in 2024 alone, the NH State Council on the Arts awarded over $1.5 million in grants to 180 projects across more than 60 towns. The arts sector in New Hampshire contributes $3.4 billion annually and supports 21,000+ jobs.
But this isn’t about numbers. It’s about narrative.
And that’s why we fight—to protect the freedom to tell our stories, to imagine better futures, and to build a state where everyone’s voice matters.
📣 What You Can Do
- Email DNCR Commissioner Sarah Stewart
Urge her to advocate for full restoration of the NH State Council on the Arts during the Senate Finance Committee meeting. Share your story—how have the arts changed your life in New Hampshire?
- Contact members of the Senate Finance Committee
Speak from the heart. Share your personal and/or organizational story. Let them know that public arts funding isn’t “propaganda”—it’s a public good.
🗓 When: Friday, April 25 at 3:00 PM
📍 Where: State House Room 103 or Watch the livestream
📋 Full agenda: Available here
Let’s show up. Let’s speak up.
Let’s make sure New Hampshire remains a state where creativity is valued, not vilified.
Dumbass (n.): A person who mistakes propaganda for poetry, satire for sedition, and fiscal cowardice for moral clarity.
Act Two, just Fashion!
I’ll keep this brief—Act One was a doozy, and I want to leave you time to act on it.
Since the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013, I’ve had persistent visions of a play. And now, over a decade later, it finally has a name and a spine:
In her darkened Atlanta atelier, aging fashion icon Dani Rah struggles to design a final collection. Her legacy unravels as a night of creative genius becomes a deadly reckoning with her empire's human and environmental cost. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, plans are made to replace her—with a marketable, malleable young man.
America’s Unraveling is a suspense-filled thriller that confronts the hidden toll of the luxury garment industry. Blending fiction with real accounts from contemporary garment workers in the U.S. and abroad, the play threads together the personal and the political, the glamorous and the grotesque.
I can’t share full details just yet, but I’ve received a year-long commission from a LORT theatre to develop this piece alongside an incredible team of collaborators. It’s the start of something big. More soon—I promise.
But first…
It’s Fashion Revolution Week, a global call to rethink what we wear and who pays the price. Explore their resources and start building a closet that honors both people and planet.
As for me? I’m starting a year-long no-new-clothes initiative.
If you want to join me or follow this process—through creative prompts, camaraderie, and closet inspiration—click below. Let’s put our money where our mouths are and stitch real change into our daily lives.
Act Three, just Justice!
History isn’t set in stone. It’s told, retold, and—when we’re lucky—reexamined.
I’m proud to share that Retracing Footsteps: Hannah Dustin and the Abenaki, a short documentary I created in collaboration with an incredible group of Indigenous scholars and cultural historians, is now available for community screenings. This film reframes the story of Hannah Dustin through an Indigenous-centered lens—challenging dominant narratives and opening space for deeper conversations about colonization, memory, and justice.
Whether you’re an educator, librarian, nonprofit leader, or community organizer, this is a meaningful opportunity to bring critical history into the present. Screenings are available now—to request one and receive a copy of the film, reach out to INHCC.
Want to go further? We’ve also created a free resource guide with lesson plans and discussion prompts to help facilitate community dialogue. You can download it here.
And if you're hoping to deepen the exchange, the creative team—including myself, and our Indigenous collaborators—are available for talkbacks and panel discussions. These events offer a chance to connect the film’s themes to your local community and reckon with what stories we choose to carry forward.
Later this spring, Retracing Footsteps will also be released for individual viewing on INHCC’s YouTube channel—stay tuned for those details soon.
This project was made in partnership with the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People and the Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective, with generous support from The William H. Donner Foundation, Inc. My deepest thanks to collaborators Barbara Cutter, Anne Jennison, Mary Ellen Lepionka, Denise Ortakales, Denise Pouliot, Paul Pouliot, and composer Charlie Jennison.
Let’s keep asking: Whose stories have we heard? And whose stories do we still need to hear?
To host a screening or talkback, email: contact@indigenousnh.com
See you next week!
