“Indigenizing The Valley” With Cahokia, LLC At Indigenous People’s Day PHX Fest

According to Navajo artist and nonprofit founder Eunique Yazzie, it’s about time to “Indigenize the valley.” She and her collective of fellow Indigenous artists and entrepreneurs at Cahokia, LLC have been bringing Indigenous culture, history, and innovation back to the forefront of Phoenix, Arizona. Their latest endeavor, Indigenous People’s Day PHX Fest, has been spreading the joy of Indigenous heritage and futurity throughout Roosevelt Row with music, artwork, film screenings, skateboarding, and more for two years. 

Eunique Yazzie has been a voice for Indigenous entrepreneurship in the Phoenix community and beyond. She has founded three organizations — Cahokia, LLC, IndigeDesign Collab, and Eunique, LLC — each dedicated to uplifting young Indigenous visionaries while providing them with connections and fresources. Yazzie stopped by to chat with C&I about the creation of Indigenous People’s Day PHX Fest and Cahokia, LLC’s mission to take back the narrative and give a voice to the future of Indigenous art and entrepreneurship. 

 C&I: It seems that the creation of IndigeDesign Collab influenced the creation of Cahokia, LLC. How did these two community organizations come to fruition? 

Eunique Yazzie: I’ve been on the Roosevelt Row CDC board since 2020. Phoenix is dynamically growing and has such a diverse culture, but sometimes needs get overlooked. We used to have so many galleries on Roosevelt Row, but the numbers are slowly dwindling. So, I founded an organization called IndigeDesign Collab. IndigeDeisgn Collab has been around for the last five years, and our sole mission was to collaborate with designers and creatives and to elevate their stories and get them into industries that they aren't seen or heard in.  

As I continued my work with IndigeDesign, I just kept thinking that to take back our own narratives and tell our own stories from our own perspectives, we would have to take space in urban areas. So, we did it through the arts movement. Our initiative was to bring Indigenous creatives together and take over space. We were in parking lots. We were utilizing front areas of businesses, hosting markets, just really introducing regular society to the Indigenous way of life. We did a mural and projection show and a poster show. And it just so happened that we were doing these activations around the same time in October that Indigenous Peoples Day took place, so we decided to utilize that day to amplify our voices even further.  

And so that's how Cahokia was first made. I partnered with Melody Lewis, who was able to bring in other skill sets and lend that support that’s needed when you have an enormous idea that you can't pull off all by yourself. We came together and saw the vision. We had set our grand opening to be Indigenous Peoples Day, the first year that we were in the space. So, it's sort of been our staple, the community holiday, so to say, that really allows us to not just represent ourselves but bring in the community along with us.

C&I: The slogan for this year’s festival is “Indigenize the valley.” How did that slogan come about? 

Yazzie: When we started using the term “indigenize,” we were putting it on T-shirts that were designed by IndigeDesign Collab. It said, “Indigenize design.” When you think about indigenizing things, it's not that we want to make things completely different. It just means that we are adding a layer of our vibrance and culture. We're enhancing things to make them more connected to the places that you're in. This year we wanted to say “Indigenizing the valley” because we are partnering with our title sponsor, Becker Boards, who is allowing us to utilize ten of their metro billboards along the highways in the downtown area and around the valley. So, we are now literally “Indigenizing the valley.” It’s not just Indigenizing downtown Phoenix or Indigenizing Roosevelt Row. We are all over the valley. It’s now putting a call out there to all municipalities and saying, “If you don't recognize Indigenous People’s Day, it might be time for you to look at that.” 

C&I: This year, there is an added element of film to the festival. 

Yazzie: This year, Cahokia has a partnership with the Independent Film Festival. They will be sharing an award-winning documentary called Imagining the Indians. We celebrate, but we also want to bring actual knowledge to the table about all the issues that face our communities. We wanted to have the film screening be on a Saturday so people can intentionally make it out and be a part of this conversation. I think incorporating film is going to be what's key in the way we share our stories. Film is so important to the Native community. Natives have been on screen since the invention of the film.  

C&I: How does Cahokia, LLC promote Indigenous entrepreneurship? 

Yazzie: The way that our little ecosystem works is we bring in people who have complementary skill sets. We also identify skill sets that people might not necessarily know as a skill set, because a lot of times when Indigenous people are fluctuating between urban areas, there is code switching that has to happen. And so, the space offers an opportunity for creatives to come together to begin to speak out loud and be able to share not only their stories, but their ideas, and begin to bring it to fruition. They're actualizing their ideas by collaboration. 

C&I: The state of Arizona officially declared the first Monday of October Indigenous People’s Day last year. What does that mean to you and the work you’ve done?  

Yazzie: The announcement of Mayor Kate Gallego and the Phoenix City Council recommending officially the second Monday of October to be Indigenous People’s Day really set a precedent in our community of understanding that Native peoples have been here for a long time and we have this deeply rooted history that connects us to this region. Just a few years ago, it wasn't even known as Indigenous People’s Day. To be a part of history as it's changing is really meaningful to our community, but also the work that has gone into this … I mean, we have almost 100 representatives from Indigenous owned businesses and organizations and non-Indigenous valley partners that joined together to create this symbol of unity. 

C&I: How can people support Cahokia, LLC? 

Yazzie: Every year we are faced with whether or not we are going to sustain ourselves doing the things that we do out of this space. So, we're continuously looking for community partners, collaborative partners, national partners, international partners that would allow us to continue to take space and grow. Whether it's through offering resources, amplifying anything that you think people in your network would really love. Monetarily, we accept donations. We are always looking for grant opportunities. We are doing this work out of passion, out of heart, out of our identities, out of who we are, our culture. We have this mission of being reciprocal in exchange, and so we do a lot of trade and barter.  

We are in need of volunteers. It’s the biggest way that I think people can come in and be a part of the event, but also experience the event from another perspective and get to know some Indigenous people that are organizing.

To learn more about Cahokia, LLC and lend a hand to their endeavors, check their website and social media.