On Becoming an Arts Activist
On Becoming an Arts Activist
By Julie Tollefson
Novelist, playwright, and poet Marcie Rendon’s prolific body of work is impressive. Just as impressive are her accomplishments as an advocate for underrepresented voices in the arts. Here, she shares five tips for using art to create change in society.
1) Fire your inner critic — Get rid of all the doubters and naysayers living in your head. Instead, listen to your heart, Marcie says. Where do you want to go? Where do you feel you can make the biggest impact? Where can you make your voice heard? Let those questions guide you.
"Not everybody's going to listen," she says, "but there are so many issues that art can be used to address."
For Marcie, an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation, much of her arts activism arises naturally from issues facing Native people.
“When you’re Native, I don’t think it's possible to separate the political and spiritual from all of the rest. Everything we do is political. Everything we do is spiritual,” she says.
2) Look for spaces where your voice is needed and venues to get your message out — When Marcie didn't see much Native theater, she created Raving Native Theater and curated performances by Native artists for Twin Cities Public Television. When she didn't see Native representation at spoken-word events, she decided to give it a try herself. During the pandemic, she had the opportunity to create a series of one-minute messages on hope for a community-based radio station. Some of those messages have since been published in literary journals.
All of those endeavors equaled opportunities to make her voice heard.
"Even though I'm a writer, I did this for a radio station. Even though I'm a writer, I curated a show for public television," she says. "It's seeing where we're not and showing up with the attitude that we belong everywhere."
3) Write your truth — When Marcie began writing crime fiction, her primary intention wasn't to make an educational or political statement. "I just wanted to write a good crime story that people were entertained by and wanted to read," she says.
But if readers learn something in the process? All the better. For one anthology project, she mentioned a staggering statistic in her bio: 5,000 missing or murdered Native women in the United States and Canada. The editor pressed her to write more.
"In that instance, I was writing a story from my life, my background, my reality, and I wasn't thinking other people don't know. I just assumed everybody knew," she says. "What I found is that as long as I’m writing my truth, there are things in the books that people learn or are interested in. I think it's nonthreatening."
4) Promote other people’s work — "If someone has opened a door for me, it’s my job to hold the door open for others so that they can come along, too. That’s the attitude that I have in my head," Marcie says. She rejects the “scarcity model” — the one that says there’s not enough to go around, whether that be food or housing or a reading audience. “It’s part of what keeps us pitted against each other.”
Instead, she says, “use your art to make change, and then really work with and for other people so that they can change and so that their work can create change.”
Support can be big — like Marcie’s advocacy for Native theater — or it can be as simple as posting calls for submissions or residency applications on your social media accounts.
5) Act with integrity and courage — Marcie decided 30 years ago that she would make her living as a writer, a decision that meant she structured her life based on needs versus wants. “I’ve been able to do the work that I want to do. I haven’t had to wear myself out for eight, nine, ten hours a day doing a job for someone else, so I’ve had the space to really focus my creative energy,” she says.
She has a long list of accomplishments — including an Edgar nomination — to show for her efforts.
She’s also met with her share of resistance. “Not everybody is going to be happy with what you’re saying or doing,” she says, “but if you’re writing your truth and putting your truth out there, there’s a greater chance that you can effect change.”