Stages of Equity 2023

Minnesota-based, Liberian-American singer Snoti is a songwriter whose musical style combines the soulfulness of R&B, the fluidity of Pop and the authentic rhythms of Afro-pop music. 

She won the award for “Female Artist of the Year” at the annual Liberian Music Awards. With the release of her project "A Jappah  Legacy," Snoti showed her versatility by including sounds from various genres. 

She's won “Star Power” of the year at the annual African Girls Rock awards. Snoti continues to grow as an artist, writing, collaborating, and performing on stages across the country. 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of FREDDY Photography & mshale.com

Videos by Snoti:

• L.O.V.E (Official Video)

• Cupid (Official Video)

“Feel-good sounds from the heart of Africa”

Back in Africa, Congolese musical artist Siama Matuzungidi recorded hundreds of songs and toured the world with popular artists, even playing for two presidents. Now based in Minneapolis, he’s an award-winning artist known for his intricate guitar, catchy songs, spirited singing and traditional instruments like Mbira, Balafon and Lokole. Siama’s music is pure healing and joy. He loves his audience to feel like they’re gathered under the stars in his rural home town in Bas Congo.

Photo Credit: courtesy of the artist

Siama Matuzungidi's website

Videos by Siama Matuzungidi:

• Malembe by Siama Matuzungidi (2004)

• "Mombasa"

• Siama's YouTube Channel

A documentary on Siama by Twin Cities PBS:

• "Siama Matuzungidi | Live Performance | Lowertown Line"

Kealoha Ferreira is a Kanaka Maoli, Filipino, Chinese dance artist from Nuʻuanu, Oʻahu. She began her performing and teaching career with Ananya Dance Theatre (Minneapolis) in 2013, becoming the Artistic Associate and a Co-Leader of the Shawngrām Institute for Performance & Social Justice in 2018.

A practitioner of Yorchhā, and an emerging student of Oli, Kūahu, and Hula, Kealoha works at the intersection of these transnational feminist and aloha ʻāina embodied practices to create space, classes, and performance that dig into the tensious and expansive nature of relationality while remaining rooted in cultural and kinesthetic specificity.

Her journey in reclaiming ʻike kupuna and nā mea Hawaiʻi is sustained by a collective of diasporic Kanaka Maoli based in Minnesota, Iowa, Texas, New York and Hawaiʻi. She is grateful to deepen her learning through the Lonoa Honua programming led by Kekuhi Kanahele Kanakaʻole. Kealoha mahalos the people, lands, and waters (chosen and ancestral) that teach her daily to dance with aloha and complex solidarity.

Yorchhā™, is Ananya Dance Theatre's contemporary dance technique that intersects the forms of Vinyasa Yoga, the classical Indian dance form Odissi (from the eastern Indian state of Odisha), and the martial art form Chhau (also from eastern India) to articulate stories of women, womxn, and femmes from Black, Indigenous, and communities of color around the world.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Mark VanCleave and Threesixty at St. Thomas

Tufawon (2 for 1) is a Dakota/Boricua recording artist, singer/songwriter, and producer from Minneapolis. His name is a representation of his mixed identity, and his music is an honest reflection of his life experiences and personal struggles, his hopes and dreams for the future, spirituality and connectedness to the land, love, and the realities of the world we live in. He has put his life on the line to protect water and our planet. He has recently reinvented his style and sound, and you can hear this clearly in his recently released album Until The Sun Comes Up, a full length album of love songs he wrote through his experience with heartbreak. He sang over every song and produced the entire record. The production style is a blend of dancehall, reggaeton, and afrobeats influenc- es. This was a defining moment in Tufawon's career as he can now call himself a singer/ songwriter and not solely a hip hop artist.  

The past few years have been incredibly active for the hip hop artist and activist. He was recently awarded the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, one of his biggest accomplish- ments to date. He participated in the inaugural First Nations SongHubs, where he recorded with Indigenous artists from around the globe at the world-famous Abbey Road Institute in Melbourne, Australia. He was also featured on the Breakfast Club and Hot 97 “Ebro In The Morning” speaking on issues that affect Indigenous communities. He completed his first headlining hip hop tour in Europe "Resilience," and he continues to stay active in his community. From fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock to organizing efforts to Stop Line 3, to speaking at the United Nations in Geneva Switzerland and doing several hip hop tours around the world, Tufawon continues to live out his message and impact the world in a profound way.

In 2021, Tufawon - along with a crew of incredibly talented Indigenous artists - released the LandBack album, a 21-song full length record executive produced by NDN Collective and led by Nataanii Means and AntoineX. This album features 10 Indigenous artists from around Turtle Island showcasing beautifully well-rounded and cohesive songs that proclaim what the message of LandBack means to them. 

Photo Credit: Evan Frost and MPR News 

Tufawon's website

Videos by Tufawon:

• Tufawon - Sagepatch Kid

• Tufawon - Solstice 2 (Live at The Current)

• Tufawon - Pathways feat. Gunner Jules & Rollie Raps - Official Music Video

Read more about Tufawon:

• "ChangeMakers: Tufawon, music as an art of resistance" by MPR News

STRONGmovement, a Twin Cities-based premiere contemporary dance company, uses the universal language of dance, blending styles such as Hip hop, Ballet, Modern, and West African to tell stories related to society and humanity as a way to bring communities together.

STRONGmovement Dance Company, led by Artistic Director Darrius Strong, is known for their versatility in styles within their choreography and storytelling method. The company features professional dancers and performances, focused choreography, residencies, and training. STRONGmovement believes in the universal language of dance and making it accessible to provide a powerful impact on our lives.

Photo Credit: courtesy of the artist

STRONGmovement's website

About STRONGmovement:

• STRONGmovement mini-doc on YouTube

Terresa Moses (she/her) is a proud Black queer woman dedicated to the liberation of Black and brown people through art and design. As a designer and illustrator, her work focuses on race, identity, and social justice. She advocates for positive change in her community using creativity as tools of community activism like her recent solo exhibition, Umbra.

Terresa is the Creative Director at Blackbird Revolt, a social justice-based design studio. She is also an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at the University of Minnesota's College of Design (CDes) and the Director of the CDes Design Justice Network. As a community engaged scholar, her design research interests include; Project Naptural, which creates spaces to educate, connect, and empower Black women about their natural hair and self-identity, and Racism Untaught, a curriculum model that reveals ‘racialized’ design and helps students, educators, and organizations create anti-racist concepts through the design research process.

She earned her BFA in Fashion Design and African American Studies at the University of North Texas in 2008. In 2015, she earned her MFA in Design Research and Anthropology. She is currently a PhD candidate in Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto.

She serves as a core team member of African American Graphic Designers (AAGD) by helping to organize and craft organizational structure. She also works as a collaborator with the Black Liberation Lab to co-create solutions that support Black liberation.

Previously, she served on the executive committee of the Duluth NAACP as the 2nd Vice President, Young Adult Committee Chair, and Charter Advisor to the UMD NAACP Chapter. She also served on the board of the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial, and on the board of AIGA Minnesota as the Director of Diversity & Inclusion.

Photo Credit: Works in Process Podcast

Terresa Moses' website & gallery of her graphic design work