This is the final of seven posts that recount last month’s Convening Great Lakes Culture Keepers (CGLCK) Institute at the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, April 14-17, 2014. This four-day gathering of tribal librarians, archivists, and museum curators from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, as well as staff and graduate students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Library and Information Studies, was graciously funded by the Institute of Museum of Library Services. You can read more about the overview of the project here.
Thursday morning begin with checking out of the beautiful Soaring Eagle Hotel and loading our bags onto the bus. Like the other mornings, we left the hotel together together and arrived at the Ziibiwing Center for Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways for yet another delicious breakfast.
This morning was unique as we all sat together in a new space to begin our strategic planning session while a slideshow of photos from the week played on the side of the room.
We missed those who had to leave prior to the session, however felt the session was fruitful thanks to the participation of everyone who was able to join us. We started off small by answering questions with those seated at our tables. We then wrote our thoughts onto giant post-it notes.
As questions were asked of us from Ziibiwing’s staff, these post-its were moved to the wall. Our strategic plan derived from the themes and topics that emerged with each theme being named and all groupings typed up and sent to us afterward. All phrasing came from our participants through the guidance of our facilitators. A big thanks to Shannon and Judy for keeping up our level of excitement!
After strategic planning we were sent on our respective journeys through a lovely traveling song and warm hugs. We picked up our to-go lunches and were off. Those of us who arrived on the bus headed back up the lower peninsula of Michigan, through the upper peninsula, and down to north-central Wisconsin. The rest of the attendees traveled by plane or car back to their homes, bringing their new knowledge and shared experience with them.
For those of us who were participating as graduate students, our roles as note-takers and observers had come to a close and we were now tasked with reflecting and sharing what we had experienced at Convening Great Lakes Culture Keepers. We are also dedicated to seeing the Convening Culture Keepers Strategic Plan come to fruition. An upcoming step being our session at the 2014 International Conference on Indigenous Archives, Libraries, and Museums conference being held in Palm Springs, CA, June 10-12. If you’ll be at the conference, join us to assist in sharing!
Miigwech and here’s hoping we can all travel together for community, culture, and language to a second annual Convening Great Lakes Culture Keepers.
-Katelyn Martens