Arts & Culture

The Cozacacuahtli Arts and Culture Program aims to uplift artists, creatives, and culture bearers of the global majority, with special consideration for Indigenous peoples from across the globe. Arts and culture are integral to all of our work grounded in our traditional cosmologies. In our belief, creative expression and cultural practice nourish these relationships and conceptual understandings and guide our praxis and approaches. Arts and culture are critical to communication and expression of our worldviews, language revitalization, harmonizing cultural beliefs with work, and honoring our relationships.

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The Cozcacuauhtli Arts & Culture Program offers opportunities for Indigenous artists to connect across colonial borders to develop relationships and shared understandings that strengthen solidarity, sovereignty, and self-determination. Art and culture are alive and present in all of our work including advocacy, language justice, environmental justice, and leadership development. We promote and support Indigenous talent and advocate for protections for our cultural knowledge ("intellectual property") and against cultural appropriation and exploitation.​

 

The Name: The name cozcacuahtli refers to the vulture in the Nahuatl language, a bird that holds great importance in Mexica tradition. The vulture was chosen to represent the mission of the organization because of its physical and spiritual role with transformation and renewal. Additionally to highlight the idea that our perspectives unfortunately have and often continue to be misconstrued throughout history, mainstream narratives painting the vulture as solely a beacon of negativity, death, and illness. However, traditional perspectives challenge these negative cultural attributes and honor the vulture as a relative who plays a vital role in maintaining harmony and balance in our lives.

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