Sovereign Futures

April 4–7, 2024

Presented by the University of Tulsa, Sovereign Futures is a four-day symposium organized and presented by visiting curator Allison Glenn as “a constellation of artists’ projects, performances, meals, and panel discussions that provoke dialogues on sovereignty through the lens of contemporary practices” (sovereignfutures.org).

Convening Sites

• The Osage Nation’s Harvest Land Farm: the historically Black pioneer town of Boley, Oklahoma, and home of the first Black-owned electric company and the first Black-owned bank in the United States
• Guthrie Green: Tulsa’s urban park and performance space
• Kalup Linzy’s Queen Rose Art House: a social and critical art space that hosts performances, exhibitions, and short-term artist residencies

Participating Artists

1. Lex Brown
2. Shane Brown
3. Ashanti Chaplin
4. Annie Ellicott
5. Brittany Herman
6. Elisa Harkins
7. Sterlin Harjo
8. Chelsea Hicks
9. Ulysses S. Jenkins
10. Olivia Komahcheet
11. Mark Kuykendall
12. Kalup Linzy
13. Tahila Mintz
14. Natani Notah
15. Zebadiah NoFire
16. Sondra Perry
17. Luis Rincón Alba
18. Jacolby Satterwhite
19. Gina Soto
20. Nathan Young

Thursday, April 4, 2024

• For Tvlse (in the manner of Pauline)
  • 5:30-6:30 pm
    • Guthrie Green, 111 Reconciliation Way, Tulsa, OK 74103
• Reception/Open Studios/Exhibition Preview at Tulsa Artist Fellowship
  • 6:30-8:00 pm
    • Tulsa Artist Fellowship – Flagship, 112 N Boston Ave, Tulsa, OK 74103
    • Archer Studios, 109 M.L.K. Jr Blvd, Tulsa, OK 74103
• Film Screening: Lex Brown “Carnelian”
  • 8:00-9:00 pm with a filmmaker Q&A from 9:00-9:30 pm
    • Circle Cinema, 10 S Lewis Ave, Tulsa, OK 74104

Friday, April 5, 2024

• 3K Run/Walk led by Yatika Starr Fields
  • 9:00-10:00 am
    • Begins and ends at the Sovereign Futures HUB
    • Fulton Street Books & Café, 21 N Greenwood Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74102
• Afrofrontierism, Speculative Futures, and Oklahoma’s All-Black Towns
  • 12:30 am–5:00 pm
  • Busses depart Fulton Street at 11:00 am
    • Fulton Street Books & Café, 21 N Greenwood Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74102
• Opening Reception: We Have Arrived
  • 7:00–11:00 pm
    • Territory Indigenous Art, 1317 E. 5th Place, Tulsa, OK 74120
      Group exhibition co-curated by Yatika Star Fields (Osage, Muscogee, Cherokee) and Allison Glenn

Saturday, April 6, 2024

• Breakfast and Opening Reception: Ancient.Modern.Futuristic
  • 10:00 am–12:00 pm
    • Kalup Linzy’s Queen Rose Art House, 843 N Birmingham Pl, Tulsa, OK 74110
  • Busses depart Fulton Street at 9:45 am
    • Fulton Street Books & Café, 21 N Greenwood Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74102
• Meal and Panel Discussion: Food Sovereignty
  • 1:30–5:30 pm
  • Osage Nation’s Harvest Land Farm
    • 102 Midland St, Pawhuska, OK 74056
• Continued: We Have Arrived
  • Territory Indigenous Art, 1317 E. 5th Place, Tulsa, OK 74120
    Group exhibition co-curated by Yatika Star Fields (Osage, Muscogee, Cherokee) and Allison Glenn
• Chant Down Performance
  • 7:30–8:30 pm
  • Notion Tulsa
    • 321 S Frankfort Ave Suite 3B, Tulsa, OK 74120

Sunday, April 7, 2024

• Panel Discussion: “Iterative and Itinerant: Models for Public Art”
  • 10:00 am–12:00 pm
  • Fulton Street Books & Café, 21 N Greenwood Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74102

Generous support for Sovereign Futures is provided by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The University of Tulsa, the City of Tulsa, Halona Development LLC, and Village Travel. Support for Territory Indigenous Art is provided by Hugh Pickens and Travis Moore. Support for Ashanti Chaplin’s Dust to Dirge: Earth Elegy is provided by Katie Kruger and Louise Short. Special thanks to the Tulsa Artist Fellowship (TAF).

Press

• Maya Pontone, “In Tulsa, Artists Mine Local History Through an Afro-Indigenous Lens,” Hyperallergic, April 17, 2024
  Alicia Chesser, “‘We Have Arrived’: Envisioning Sovereign Futures,” Independent Review Crew, April 14, 2024
• Maya Pontone, “Lex Brown’s Mythical Characters Confront Earthly Problems,” Hyperallergic, April 11, 2024
• Felix Clary, “Osage chief continues push to reclaim lost traditions through farming and bison ranch,” Tulsa World, April 13, 2024 (Paywall)
• “The University of Tulsa presents Sovereign Futures,” Museum Confidential, Season 8, Episode 13