Larry Spotted Crow Mann
Director

Larry Spotted Crow Mann is an enrolled citizen of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Tribe of Massachusetts. He is an award-winning writer, poet, cultural educator, Traditional Storyteller, tribal drummer and motivational speaker involving youth sobriety, cultural and environmental awareness. He has served as a board member of the Nipmuk Cultural Preservation, which is an organization set up to promote the cultural, social and spiritual needs of Nipmuc people as well as an educational resource of Native American studies. Mann also serves as a Review Committee Member, at The Native American Poets Project at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology.

He travels throughout the United States, Canada and parts of Europe to schools, colleges, pow wows and other organizations sharing the music, culture and history of Nipmuc people. He has also given lectures at universities throughout the United States on issues ranging from Native American Sovereignty to Identity.

He is also the first Native American to sing the opening honor song and land acknowledgement at the 2021 Boston Marathon starting line, and the recipient of the 2021 Indigenous Peoples Award of the Berkshire County Branch of the NAACP.

Tomantha Sylvester
Resident Artist, Community Advocacy & Native Youth Outreach

In Anishinaabemowin, there is no term for 'art.' This reflects a worldview where creativity and expression are seamless parts of daily life, not isolated disciplines. Drawing from this perspective, Tomantha sees all aspects of her life as art thus having a complex and multifaceted approach to her work.

Tomantha currently resides in Massachusetts, and leverages various storytelling devices (such as songwriting, playwriting, acting, music, and beadwork)  to foster healing, insight, and connection.

Tomantha says that her cultural (Ojibwe) upbringing has helped underscore the influence of languages, narratives, and images in shaping realities. In today's media-saturated world, the delivery, origin, and content of stories are critical for promoting a world based on truth and connection. Among all these aspects, her work also seeks to promote collective memory, acknowledge the essential role of every narrative, and deepen the connection to self and community.

Anoki Matoonas Mann

Anoki Matoonas Mann is an enrolled citizen of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Tribe in Massachusetts.

Anoki was born into his tribal culture and grew up singing on the family Tribal Drum, the Quabbin Lake Singers. He is a two-time New England Junior Olympic Boxing Champion. In addition to singing on the Tribal Drum, Anoki enjoys writing his music and playing acoustic guitar. He values education and Culture and looks to continue to expand in both.

Anoki currently works full time at the Nipmuc Farm School in Orange, MA, as well as being a staff member for the Ohketeau Cultual Center.

A premiere and exclusive long term project he is working on at Ohketeau is being part of his own docu-film entitled “Anoki.” This thought-provoking film explores the life and experiences of a Native child growing up in Southern New England with all its complexities and contradictions.

Reina Antunez Mercado, MSW

Reina sees the array of possibilities to serve and support community as she continues to learn from her Taino Elders and Indigenous relatives with whom she works. She is currently a facilitator of the Ohketeau Cultural Center’s monthly Women’s Gathering and took part in co-creating the Indigenous Youth Talent Showcase in the summers of 2023 and 2024.

She is an enrolled member of Higuayagua Taino of the Caribbean Yukayeke (Tribe) and proudly represents her Taino community working diligently to provide opportunities for learning and connection. She is a Matunhero which means regional leader and advisor to the Kasike (regional chief). She serves as Ehibu’no (guide) and co-founder to both a bi-weekly Book Club that focuses on Taino subject matter and the Higuayagua Taino Women’s Circle, which focuses on all the nuances of being a Taino woman in today’s colonial society.

Reina is a graduate of Westfield States master’s in Social Work program. Reina’s volunteer efforts, community relationships, and her over twenty years of extensive training in trauma-informed care, domestic violence, reflective practice, lifelong development, group work, youth work, and an array of evidence-based programming are a testament to her dedication and passion for her work. As a mother of four, she understands the need to create more culturally humble and inclusive  society focused on trauma healing that will benefit future generations.

Gabrielle "Willow" Daly

Gabrielle "Willow" Daly is a Nipmuc Tribal citizen. She has strong ties to her ancestors and continues to walk the path they laid before her to revive the traditions of her people. She is a member of the Nipmuc Women’s Group. Together, they organize and attend community events and pow-wows, and meet monthly to collect medicines and other herbs and exchange recipes that revolve around traditional foods. She is learning the Nipmuc language to deepen her understanding of her people’s ways and keep the language alive culturally as part of the language resurgence.

A coordinator for the Eastern Woodlands Rematriation, Willow administrates the local food purchase assistance (LFPA), food share project. This project broadens access to fresh, nutritional, and culturally relevant foods for tribal families in Massachusetts by actively engaging producers and consumers in conversations and solutions for sustainable and equitable food systems. Through this project, Willow participates in the harvest and processing of food that goes to solve food instability in our Native communities.

Additionally, Willow attends pow-wows and workshops, vends for Native-led company Four Winds One Breath, and works with other indigenous organizations, representing them at community events.

Devoted to her People, she has pledged to continue walking the Red Road for those who have passed, those who are present, and those who are yet to come.

Jasmine Rochelle Goodspeed

Jasmine Rochelle Goodspeed [She/They](Nipmuc) is a Massachusetts-based actor, singer/songwriter, playwright, and director. Before the pandemic, she produced free Shakespeare in the Park at Look Park for five years under the name “Billy Shakes Free Shakespeare.” She graduated from Umass Amherst with degrees in Theatre and English and a certificate from the five colleges in Native Studies. Most notably, Jasmine has written, produced, and acted in a musical about her tribe, the Nipmuc people of Massachusetts. This musical was titled 1675 and told the story of King Philip’s War and the tragedy of Deer Island. Recently, Jasmine has performed in collaboration with the Wampanoag Nation and Theatre Royal Plymouth in the UK. In the past, she has done work with Double Edge Theatre, Safe Harbors, Silverthorne, and WAM, and is currently working with Plays in Place, writing as a “Pulling at the Roots” playwright with Historic Northampton.

Kim Pevia

For more than 2 decades, Kim Pevia has found a way to weave all of her passions, learnings and gifts together creating a container for the challenging and necessary conversations required where we are now on the timeclock of the world.

She has a sense of humor and a twinkle in her smile that facilitates the work with more ease. As a practitioner of whole hearted living, relationality is at the core of her work.