Artists as Honest Witnesses: Lance Foster

Lance M. Foster (Irogre: Finds What is Sought, Bear Clan), b. 1960, is a member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, of the Ioway Nation. Raised in Montana, he received a B.A. in Anthropology and Native American studies from University of Montana as well as an M.A. in Anthropology and an M.L.A. in Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University. He’s an alumnus of the Institute of American Indian Arts. He was the Director of the Native Rights, Land and Culture division of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a Historical Landscape Architect for the National Park Service, and an archaeologist for the U.S. Forest Service. He taught at the University of Montana -Helena College of Technology.

Lance currently serves his tribe as THPO (Tribal Historic Preservation Officer), consulting for the tribe on environmental and cultural compliance, founded the tribal museum, is an Ioway language advocate, and NAGPRA officer. He serves on the Indian Advisory Council of Iowa’s Office of the State Archaeologist. He is the author of The Indians of Iowa (University of Iowa Press, 2009), and has appeared in the documentaries America’s Lost Landscape: The Tallgrass Prairie (2006), Lost Nation: The Ioway series (2007, 2013), and Life Before Fairfield (2017). An artist and educator, he resides with his wife in White Cloud, Kansas. He was elected Vice Chairman of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska in the fall of 2019. He led the effort in establishing Ioway Tribal National Park (Baxoje Mowotanani) in Kansas-Nebraska and the return of our tribal boarding school, the Presbyterian Mission in Kansas, both of which were achieved. He is on the board of NATHPO as Southern Plains member, and on the board of the Nebraska Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

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Visit The EcoTheatre Lab's website at ecotheatrelab.com for links to Lance's work and how to connect with him, the transcript for this episode, and more information about the podcast, production team, and The EcoTheatre Lab.

This podcast series is all about finding ways to talk about climate change with each other. The EcoTheatre Lab wants to also be in dialogue with our listeners!  Please let us know your thoughts on this episode through this brief feedback form (tinyurl.com/artofclimatedialogue)! 

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Thank you to our podcast funders:

Johnson Center for Land Stewardship Policy Emerging Leader Award and North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program Graduate Student Grant.*

This podcast is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number 2021-38640-34714 through the North Central Region SARE program under project number GNC22-345. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this podcast are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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Thank you to our podcast production team:

Vivian M. Cook - Producer, Host, and Editor

Rosie Marcu-Rowe - Editor

Moselle Nita Singh - Cover Artist

Omar de Kok-Mercado - Musician

Charissa Menefee, Taylor Sklenar, and Mary Swander - Consultants