Join us for a presentation exploring the history and evolution of the Institute of American Indian Arts' Performing Arts Department, followed by a panel discussion with Delbert Anderson (Diné), Jay B. Muskett (Diné), Tash Terry (Diné), and Jonah Winn-Lenetsky, Associate Professor of Performing Arts at IAIA, moderated by Sheila A. Rocha, PhD (Tarasco), Chair and Associate Professor of IAIA's Performing Arts Department.

This panel brings together Indigenous performing artists who are allies, faculty, and alumni of the Institute of American Indian Arts. As artists who have helped shape and advance the first Indigenous Performing Arts BFA program in tribal college history, they will reflect on how the program has fostered and sustained their artistic growth as musicians, playwrights, and performers. Panelists will also share their perspectives on the future of the program and its role in cultivating the next generation of Indigenous performing artists while continuing to strengthen Indigenous storytelling, creativity, and innovative cultural expression.

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
710 Camino Lejo
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504

About the Presenters

Delbert Anderson is a Diné jazz trumpet artist, composer, and educator at the forefront of a vibrant Native American jazz scene. His work, deeply rooted in his Diné heritage, seamlessly integrates Navajo “spinning songs” of love, healing, and courtship with jazz and funk. Through his Delbert Anderson Quartet, Anderson revives the improvised sounds of the Diné circle, blending them with jazz, funk, and hip-hop. As a community-minded Indigenous individualist, he is inspired by Navajo Nation landscapes, historical events, and the desire to preserve and educate about Diné history.

Jay B. Muskett (Diné́) is an Indigenous writer from Nakaibito, New Mexico. He was a finalist in the 2021 National Playwright’s Conference and awarded the Thornton Wilder Fellowship by the MacDowell Colony. Full productions include 1n2ian, produced by the University of New Mexico, and Sheepherders Special by New Native Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dance was selected to be a part of the annual reading at Native Voices at the Autry in Los Angeles, and the full-length Life Within the Cracks was invited to be a part of The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Abilene, Texas. He earned an MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of New Mexico. He has had residencies at artEquity, New Harmony Project, and twice at MacDowell. Muskett is currently an adjunct faculty member at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) and Santa Fe Community College based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Tash Terry is Tódichíinii (Bitter Water) and Tachii’nii (Red Streak Running into the Water), and French/Irish, born and raised on the Navajo Nation. As co-founder of IndigenousWays, she has grown the nonprofit from house concerts into festivals and community gatherings rooted in passion, service, and healing. Now as Artistic Director of IndigenousWays, as well as an ASL interpreter and musician, Terry draws on the lifelong values of service instilled by her masani (grandmother) to guide her work. Terry and IndigenousWays was recognized in 2025 with the City of Santa Fe Mayor’s Award of Excellence in the Arts through the Culture Connects initiative. Tash Terry is also one half of the internationally acclaimed musical duo Indigie Femme, alongside Elena Higgins (Maori/Samoan).

Jonah Winn-Lenetsky is an actor, director and scholar originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has a Ph.D. and master's degree in Theatre Historiography from the University of Minnesota and he is currently an Associate Professor of Performing Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). Winn-Lenetsky’s work explores threats to the environment and how Indigenous nations and artists are using performance to conceptualize and address ecological perils. He has written extensively on these and other topics and has a book forthcoming with Routledge Press. He is also an actor and director whose plays have been produced throughout the US and internationally.

About the Moderator

Sheila Rocha, PhD is the Chair of Performing Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Rocha is the founding Chair for the first Performing Arts BFA department in tribal college history. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska of the Pur’hepecha (Tarasco) people, she has served as a practitioner and director of social justice, Indigenous/Black & IPOC theater. A multi-award winning playwright, director, and actor, Rocha’s work has featured in numerous films, podcasts and radio shows, voice-overs, stage performances, and large-scale puppet ceremonies. She served as co-executive producer on the Alica Mteuzi independent films, Hadaya and Ciqada. She has served as a mentor for Vision Maker Native Film Makers and sits on the White Snake Activist Opera Company’s Steering Committee.

Two-part Public Program

Celebrating the ongoing legacy of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), SITE SANTA FE presents a two-part public program in collaboration with IAIA and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC). On the occasion of the exhibition Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969, curated by Candice Hopkins and on view at SITE SANTA FE through September 7, 2026.