Matika Wilbur
Matika (Swinomish and Tulalip) is one of the nation’s leading photographers, based in the Pacific Northwest. She earned her BFA from Brooks Institute of Photography where she double majored in Advertising and Digital Imaging. Her most recent endeavor, Project 562, has brought Matika to over 400 tribal nations dispersed throughout 45 U.S. states where she has taken thousands of portraits, and collected hundreds of contemporary narratives from the breadth of Indian Country all in the pursuit of one goal: To Change The Way We See Native America.
The mission of Project 562, is to photograph and collect stories of Native Americans from each federally-recognized tribe in the United States. Through her lens, we are able to see the vibrancy and diversity of Indian Country and in seeing we challenge stereotypical representations and begin shifting consciousness about contemporary Native America.
Dr. Erik Brodt
Erik (Anishinaabe – Minnesota Chippewa) grew up near Chippewa Falls, WI and spent summers with family in the rural areas around Bemidji, MN. Dr. Brodt earned his M.D. from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and completed residency in Family Medicine at the Seattle Indian Health Board – Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency in Seattle, WA. Dr. Brodt is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and the founding director of the Northwest Native American Center of Excellence at Oregon Health Sciences University. Dr. Brodt has been working in American Indian and Alaskan Native health professional development for over a decade. He served as the Inaugural Director of the UW-Madison Native American Center for Health Professions (UW-NACHP) and an Associate Director in the UW-Madison Collaborative Center for Health Equity (CCHE) in Madison, WI before moving to Portland, OR. Erik works to improve Native American Health outcomes and Indigenous Health Professions programming nationally and internationally.
Robin Butterfield, President of the Oregon Indian Education Association (OIEA)
An enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska with ancestry also from the White Earth Ojibwa Nation of Minnesota, Robin Butterfield has over forty-seven years of experience as an Indian educator. Ms Butterfield has been appointed by three Presidents (President Bush, President Obama, and President Trump) to serve on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education (NACIE) that advises the Secretary of Education for the US Department of Education On all funds and programs dedicated to Indian students. She is currently the President of the Oregon Indian Education Association (OIEA), President–elect for the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) and chair of the Wisdom of the Elders non-profit Board, and Vision Maker Media Board. She is currently writing articles for the Native American Parent Technical Assistance Center (NAPTAC) that provides support to a hundred Special Education Centers across the
Ms. Butterfield previously worked as a Program Specialist in the Office of Professional Development in the Center for School Improvement within the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There she managed contracts with thirteen Tribally Controlled Community Colleges and Universities, providing staff development to 184 BIA funded schools in 23 states. In addition, she has served in the position of Indian Education/Civil Rights Speicalist for the Oregon State department of Education for nine years. She She worked for two different regional educational technical assistance centers, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in the Research and Development for Indian Education Program, and Gonzaga University’s Indian Education Center III Technical Assistance Center, supporting 127 projects in five states.
Vasant Salcedo, co-director, co-writer, editor and Sarah Salcedo co-director, co-writer, producer
Vasant and Sarah Salcedo are a filmmaking partnership based in the Pacific Northwest. They both have degrees in English Literature and Cinema Studies from the University of Washington. They have been writing and filming together for the past decade and PROMISED LAND is their first feature. Their next project after the documentary is a short musical and a female-led science fiction feature.
Claire Salcedo, composer
Claire Salcedo is composed the score for the film, played bass ukele on the recording, and directed the musicians. In addition to her musical skills, she was the assistant producer for the feature and is a published author, playwright, and recording artist. She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Washington.
Duwamish Tribe – The people known today as the Duwamish Tribe are the “The People of the Inside”. They are the people of Chief Seattle, the First People of the City of Seattle and much of King County, Washington. In 1851, when the first European-Americans arrived at Alki Point, the Duwamish occupied at least 17 villages, living in over 90 longhouses, along Elliott Bay, the Duwamish River, the Cedar River, the Black River (which no longer exists), Lake Washington, Lake Union, and Lake Sammamish. They are the first signatories on the Treaty of Point Elliot.
Chinook Indian Nation – The Chinook Indian Nation consists of the Clatsop and Kathlamet of what is now Oregon and the Lower Chinook, Wahkiakum, and Willapa of Washington State. These five tribes have existed since time immemorial in our aboriginal territory at the mouth of the Columbia River. It is here that the Chinook families welcomed Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean and helped them survive the winter of 1805 and 1806.