Meet Marty Strenczewilk | Managing Director of Creative Nations and Ojibwe Storyteller

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marty Strenczewilk and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marty, how does your business help the community?
Creative nations gives native artists the ability to both create and share their work with the Boulder and greater Colorado community in a way that wasn’t as accessible before. There are shows here and there across Colorado, but few places with dedicated Indigenous work’s being the sole focus.

By having a dedicated space, we can focus more on the work itself and supporting the artists, rather than finding a place to have the work displayed. Native specific issues, such as land rights, water protection, missing and murdered indigenous women, and accurate representation of native culture are some of the areas where we can tell the stories accurately and from the voices who should be telling them.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
For me personally, I’ve never seen stories on stage that made me felt like someone got me. It took until 2021 when I saw my first episode of Reservation Dogs to be able to say “wow that was what was missing from theatre/film/tv”.

So I write those stories that I see missing. I write native stories and stories that dig into identity, especially around being mixed ethnicity and all of the burdens society puts on us because of it.

It was a long road to figure out what stories I needed to tell, but eventually the stories found me.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m an outdoors person so I’m a big fan of rollerblading all of the city bike paths throughout Boulder. Thrive is my favorite spot to get lunch, with excellent salads and smoothies. And of course I’d want to finish it off by seeing some art at The Dairy, maybe even a production by Creative Nations!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The original founders of Creative Nations are why we are able to do the work we are doing today:

JayCee Beyale
Danielle Seewalker
Kelly Holmes
Walt Pourier
Tanaya Winder

Website: https://creativenations.art/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativenationsarts/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NationsCreative

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CreativeNationsArts

Image Credits
Raymundo Munoz