Crushing Colonialism Joins the Kennedy Center’s Culture Caucus

WASHINGTON, DC. – Crushing Colonialism, an Indigenous-led organization in the so-called United States, is expanding its social impact by joining the prestigious Culture Caucus at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Crushing Colonialism is serving a two-year residency as part of the Culture Caucus. WIth the support of the Kennedy Center, the organization will expand its creative endeavors through a series of activations on Piscataway lands – including the upcoming Decolonized Beatz Indigenous World Pride taking place in the nation’s capital in 2025.

“As a new member of the Culture Caucus, we are proud to join a vibrant cohort of 10 individuals and organizations in an area that Indigenous peoples have called home since time immemorial,” said Jen Deerinwater, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and Founding Executive Director of Crushing Colonialism.

“Throughout our two-year residency, Crushing Colonialism will continue to support culture innovators and their creative endeavors at the Kennedy Center and throughout the greater Washington, D.C., area,” said Deerinwater.

Among its social impact initiatives, Crushing Colonialism launched a flagship publication called The Magazine. The inaugural issue, published in December 2023, focused on the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit Relatives with a story detailing community responses in Baltimore, Maryland, in the so-called United States.

And in preparation for Indigenous World Pride, Crushing Colonialism published the Pride Edition of The Magazine in June 2024. The issue features stories on the Amazonas warrior women of Yaxunah, a dispatch from a Pride Festival in Aotearoa and an honoring for Nex Benedict, a non-binary youth whose life was lost to anti-queerness.

Being a fellow at the Kennedy Center’s Culture Caucus is an immense addition to Crushing Colonialism’s great partnerships. Alongside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History as a partner, the Kennedy Center fellowship will enhance Crushing Colonialism’s impact on Indigenous, Two-Spirit, Queer, Multiply-Disabled, and LGBTQIA+ members of our communities across the globe.