CPCP Catalyst Initiative: St. Paul

Catalyst Initiative ROUND 3

Oskar Ly, multi-disciplinary artist and organizer, worked

with Pakou Hang of the Hmong American Farmers Association outside of St. Paul, Minnesota. Their work together focused on their shared cultural heritage and Oskar’s skills as a creative producer and artistic facilitator to explore how weary staff members can be artfully reinvigorated to continue their work of community organizing and supporting Hmong farmers. Their story over a year of collaboration is one of stillness, listening, flexibility, building trust, sharing appreciation for tradition and cultural heritage, and valuing learned experience.

St.Paul

CENTER FOR PERFORMANCE AND CIVIC PRACTICE S T. P A U L - i

Question —How can an artist use arts-based facilitation to support and reinvigorate the staff of a not-for-profit farming cooperative in their work to advocate for the financial stability of small-scale Hmong farmers?

THE PARTNERS 2 HMONG PEOPLE IN MINNESOTA

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HMONG AMERICAN FARMERS ASSOCIATION

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THE IMPULSE 8 THE PLAN 10 SHIFTS 14 MORE SHIFTS 15 THE PROCESS | THE PROJECT

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DISCOVERIES 26 RIPPLES 28 S T. P A U L - 1

The Partners

Oskar Ly

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Pakou Hang

T H E PA R T N E R S

Oskar Ly is a Queer Hmong French American multi-disciplinary artist, cultural producer, and community organizer from the Twin Cities, Minnesota. The deep inquiry and exploration of her people and identity centers her artistic and cultural practice. Themes in her work span across Hmong LGBTQ identity, social enterprise, and community building. She is driven by the curiosity of preservation/reappropriation, a political will to exist, healing from intergenerational trauma, and creating more sustainable alternatives. Her approach is informed through immersing herself in the process and community, to intimately understand complex landscapes, root causes, unravel iterative discovery, and connect to more collaborative solutions. She is the founder of ArtCrop, a limited membership art subscription modeled after Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), aimed to support artists, farmers, and other cultural makers.

Pakou Hang is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA), a social justice organization that was created to build community wealth among Hmong American farmers and their families. In 2014, she was appointed by the Mayor to the Minneapolis Food Council and is a former member of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Citizens Board. Her previous professional experiences include providing civic engagement and strategic consulting to national non-profits and philanthropic partners through her firm, WGH Consulting, and serving as the Deputy Vice President of the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington D.C. Pakou completed her Masters in Political Science from the University of Minnesota in 2008 and her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in 1999. She is a recipient of the Hubert H. Humphrey Public Leadership Award, the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, and the Bush Fellowship affiliated with the Bush Foundation.

T H E PA R T N E R S

Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA) advances the prosperity of Hmong farmers through cooperative endeavors, capacity building, and advocacy. HAFA is a non-profit started and led by family farmers. HAFA’s work is grounded in strong communitarian values and based around a Whole Food Model, acknowledging all aspects of the farm-to-fork system must be addressed simultaneously to truly build intergenerational and community wealth. HAFA uses five interrelated components in their model: land access, new markets, trainings and capacity building, financing, and research and data collection. HAFA is a unique model working with cohorts of experienced Hmong farmers using community organizing tactics and a holistic approach to truly create systems change.

ArtCrop brings together artists who make art/work and experiences inspired by their cultural roots to foster real connections in their community. ArtCrop partners with HAFA in a Community Supported Agriculture program combining art and food; members who purchase shares receive boxes that contain food and a piece of artwork from artists and farmers in the Hmong community.

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Hmong People In Minnesota Beginning in the 1970’s, as a result of the Vietnam War, many Hmong people from Laos and Thailand began resettling in Minnesota as political refugees. Many of the people who fled were farmers living in rural villages and agricultural communities and brought with them their knowledge and heritage of agriculture.

By the late 1980s, Hmong farmers revitalized the Twin Cities Farmers Markets and fueled exponential growth of farmers markets into suburban and urban neighborhoods. Hmong farmers directly contributed to the explosion of interest in local foods and small-scale farming by increasing the supply of nutritious and affordable food.

Today, there are now more than 77,000 Hmong Americans in Minnesota. Hmong American farmers make up over 50% of all the farmers in the Twin Cities metropolitan farmers markets. They are at the center of a Minnesota-based local foods economy, which generates over $250 million in annual sales (per AgStar Financial Services). Many Hmong families rely on their agricultural heritage to make a living at local farmers markets.

After more than 40 years in the Twin Cities area, Hmong farmers continue to face many barriers to accessing land, financing, training, research and markets, and building sustainable family businesses.

(Source, in part: hmongfarmers.com)

“There are no Hmong words for art. Hmong people faced generations of genocide, displacement, and colonization where documentation of Hmong language was destroyed. Thus to create words, we must first reclaim ways. We have no country so assimilation has been our key to survival.�

Oskar

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H M O N G P E O P L E I N M I N N E S O TA

H M O N G P E O P L E I N M I N N E S O TA

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Hmong American Farmers Association HAFA was founded in 2011 by Hmong farmers and organizers who grew up working on the land. It took two years for HAFA to locate land, but then an anonymous donor purchased the land the farm is now on and offered HAFA a long-term lease with a future option to buy. As part of an integrated approach to community wealth building, HAFA manages a 155-acre farm in Dakota County where member families can lease land, hone their business and agricultural practices, and sell produce to the HAFA Food Hub, which aggregates and sells members’ produce through community-supported agriculture (CSA) shares, schools, retailers, and institutions. Currently 17 Hmong American families farm the land. For many Hmong farmers, securing permanent land is difficult, making it a challenge to grow long-term crops such as fruit trees. HAFA’s cooperative model allows farmers to have multi-year leases on land with an option to buy.

These farmers are some of many people who have stewarded this land. Historically, the land HAFA farm is now on was stewarded by the Očeti Šakówin Lakota people. After they were forced out of the area, the land was in the hands of a family of European descent for several generations.

(Source, in part: hmongfarmers.com)

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H M O N G A M E R I C A N FA R M E R A S S O C I AT I O N

“Food and art are core parts of Hmong culture.”

Pakou

H M O N G A M E R I C A N FA R M E R A S S O C I AT I O N

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The Impulse Oskar and Pakou first met in 2011 at a training Pakou led in organizing.

They connected over their shared interest in working to support the Hmong community. A few years later, Oskar became a member of HAFA’s Community Supported Agriculture and wanted to explore a similar economic model for artists. Pakou immediately invited Oskar to partner with HAFA on this initiative. Through the initiative, called ArtCrop, Oskar worked through the summer with a cohort of artists and HAFA farmers to learn about the farmers’ stories, challenges, and the uncertainty of Hmong farming futures. This work led to the artists painting a mural on an abandoned silo on the farm and creating artwork inspired by the stories and Hmong embroidery patterns that were distributed in shares along with fresh produce for Thanksgiving, which coincides with the Hmong New Year and a celebration marking the end of the harvest season.

“Oskar brings a wealth of knowledge as an artist organizer with creative placemaking, economic and community development experience. We are excited to explore with her relevant solutions for issues we face at the HAFA farm.”

Pakou

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THE IMPULSE

“I love being able to reconnect to my Hmong roots and to elders.

The opportunities become more rare as we assimilate. Growing up, my parents farmed in excess to provide food because we were poor and undocumented. It was their agricultural roots that showed me the heavy work that farming is, making partnering with HAFA a natural choice.�

Oskar

THE IMPULSE

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The Plan

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T H ET HI M E PPUL LASNE

The Catalyst Initiative cohort convened for two days in December 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. Pakou was out of the country during this time, so HAFA staff member Mee Thor attended the convening with Oskar. Together they began conversations about visions and challenges voiced by HAFA staff and started work on an initial plan for their collaboration.

After the convening, Oskar and Mee began the work of sharing with HAFA staff the conversations and learnings from the Catalyst Initiative convening. Mee then left HAFA because of another job opportunity, and Oskar spent time with HAFA senior staff members to continue conversations about civic practice and the process of co-designing a collaborative arts-based project.

An initial idea discussed for their work together was to explore how to increase the effectiveness of HAFA’s training programs. During the winter season, HAFA planned to offer the farmers trainings on how to grow and process their food to meet specific safety guidelines for larger contracts with public schools and other institutions. Several of the farmers are elders who primarily speak Hmong and voiced some resistance to adopting approaches different from the methods they’ve used throughout their entire lives. Pakou and other staff members were interested in how Oskar could approach these trainings with artistic strategies that recognize the value of traditional farming methods while meeting the technical requirements of these types of contracts.

They also spoke together about how to involve more second generation Hmong folks in farming. Many second generation Hmong grew up helping on their parents’ plots of land, but few are considering farming as one of their career choices.

THE PLAN

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“How do we approach our work in a more creative way while still meeting some very specific technical deliverables that running an agricultural cooperative requires? How do we think of our work creatively and how do we reframe how we think about our work?

How do we use different modes of engagement to lift up people’s learning?”

Pakou

Before moving forward with this idea, better understand the ways in which the staff currently worked together before introducing any alternative arts-based ways of working.

“Before I can think about the potential project, I need to spend more time speaking with HAFA staff as a group. I need to take more time listening before I can think about what the project itself might look like.”

Oskar

In January, 2018 Oskar began to attend HAFA’s staff meetings to listen and learn how the team worked together. To help staff think about how to approach their technical work in a creative way, Pakou was interested in working with Oskar to guide staff through an internal reflection process, something that often proved challenging because of the time-based demands of growing and harvest seasons. In conversation with senior staff, Oskar learned that there were some challenges between the newer staff members, who had different ideas and potential approaches to the work, and long-term staff members who had shared experience on what they considered effective approaches to the work.

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THE PLAN

− What does the role of a community organizer look like in

this organization?

Oskar began to introduce artful activities over several staff meetings that would invite the staff to think about their work in a more imaginative way. Some of these activities included: asking the staff members to write an intention for themselves and their work; and posing questions to ask the staff to reflect on their role at HAFA. In other activities Oskar would lead staff members in movement based work that would help shift the energy in the room to one of playfulness and reflection.

“Where can I push and where can I step back? Where can I encourage people to step outside of their typical routine?

How deeply committed are people to their work? Staff spends time talking about quality of soil and program codes and certifications and food safety, necessary technical and program specific knowledge.”

Oskar

“What I’m thinking about is facilitation to get folks thinking outside of their typical realm, drawing from different parts of their lives and experiences.”

Oskar

THE PLAN

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Shifts In early February, Oskar learned that Pakou would be traveling out of the country for several weeks. Pakou was completely on board with Oskar’s artful facilitation work with staff; however in her absence, Oskar needed someone on HAFA’s staff who could collaborate with Oskar as her primary partner while Pakou was gone.

Oskar spoke with Rebecca Martínez at Center for Performance and Civic Practice about the situation. Rebecca worked with Oskar and HAFA to help identify who this person could be.

“Through the multiple arts-based civic practice partnerships we’ve supported around the country, we’ve learned that these partnerships and collaborative processes are strongest when the artist is able to have a partner within the organization who has decision-making ability and the capacity to spend time thinking and working, both with the artist and with all key stakeholders in the partnership.”

Rebecca Martínez, Catalyst Initiative Program Director, Center for Performance and Civic Practice

After discussion with Pakou, Oskar began conversations with Mat Kristeya, HAFA Operations Director and Cindy Koy, HAFA Executive Assistant and Operations Manager. Oskar then spent time sharing the conversations she had with Pakou with Mat and Cindy, to ensure they were all working together with shared goals and values, something Oskar spent significant time thinking about during the initial Catalyst Initiative convening. However, because of the demands of their individual jobs, it was unclear to what extent either of them would be able to be Oskar’s partner in the collaboration.

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SHIFTS

More Shifts During this time, HAFA was experiencing staff turnover while navigating upcoming organizational changes. The organization was also trying to learn how to best support the farmers who may be interested in becoming land owners. In speaking with HAFA staff, folks decided that the most effective way of supporting staff would be to have Oskar artfully facilitate portions of two upcoming staff retreats.

“For the most part, the staff is excited and engaged, but they are really exhausted with grassroots organizing and working in a non-profit. I’ve been spending a lot of time being still and listening.”

Oskar

MORE SHIFTS

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The Process | The Project

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THE PROCESS / THE PROJECT

− What do we personally bring to this work? − What values do we share? − How did you come to work at HAFA? − What calls you to this work? − How do you gently hold each other accountable? − What will help you show up individually? − How can we honor each other’s labor?

In March, Oskar and ArtCrop artist collaborator, Christina Vang led the first staff retreat focused on helping navigate their internal shifts and to invite staff to make more personal connections to and investment in their work and HAFA farmers.

In the retreat, Oskar invited staff members to team up with other staff who they rarely interact with; for example, seasonal employees on the farm paired with folks in the administrative office in St. Paul. Oskar led them through a series of spoken and written activities, inviting staff to reflect.

“How do we, as a staff, understand how important the future of HAFA is to the Hmong farmers?”

Pakou

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THE PROCESS / THE PROJECT

The staff spent time sharing food and their cultures with each other.

Each staff member was asked to write a letter with their personal intentions for their work. These letters were sealed, to be mailed back to each person later in the year.

In April, Oskar and Christina Vang received funding to create a public art work at HAFA. Because of their continued work with the farm, they were named by HAFA as artists in residence, deepening their existing relationships with staff and farmers.

“This is new for us, we did something last year, but we didn’t name it. Art is definitely not our territory. Our preoccupation has been about selling, this activity will add a different nuance on the farm. All the staff for our upcoming retreat will be relatively new.

Seeing Oskar using art to facilitate, will help the staff think about their work in this new way.”

Mat Kristeya, HAFA Operations Director

THE PROCESS / THE PROJECT

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Later in April, Rebecca MartĂ­nez from Center for Performance and Civic Practice and Danya Sherman, documentor for the Catalyst Initiative visited HAFA farm to meet with Pakou, Mat, Cindy, Oskar, Christina and Teeko. Pakou gave the group a tour of the farm, while sharing the history of the land, the founding of HAFA, and their work supporting the farmers on the land. The visit also afforded the opportunity for the full team to spend in-person time together planning the upcoming June retreat.

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THE PROCESS / THE PROJECT

“A lot of the work we’ll be doing needs to be internal, so the external work of HAFA can transcend. How do we all show up as our full selves? How do we design a retreat with strong cultural connections? How do we hold our humanity? How do we tell our story?”

Oskar

“How can we integrate this type of thinking into the work we do everyday? Every other week we bring food and eat all together.

This has helped develop relationships, but can we build on this?

How can we use food to do this?”

Mat Kristeya, HAFA Operations Director

In this meeting held on the farm outside under the trees, Mat expressed that hearing Pakou speak of HAFA’s origins made him think more about his own immigrant Japanese agricultural heritage and how significant it will be for staff to make these personal connections regardless of their ethnic heritage.

Throughout April and May, Oskar spent time listening to and in conversation with HAFA staff, to clarify goals for the June retreat.

HAFA senior staff shared that many of the workers were dealing with a sense of exhaustion, and they wanted to learn if this was due to the demands of working in a non-profit organization focused on community organizing or if it was due to the large staff turnover.

“We’ve experienced a lot of changes, we will have lost six people, moving away or getting other jobs. Younger folks are feeling that the organization is in transition; we gave people a lot of warning, but it’s still stressful.”

Pakou

THE PROCESS / THE PROJECT

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THE PROCESS / THE PROJECT

In June, the second staff retreat was held. Several of the staff members in the retreat were new to HAFA, so part of the focus was to honor the knowledge each staff member brought in.

“Holding a group conversation with the full staff was useful. One of our challenges is that there are new staff who come in with new ideas. Some of the staff who has been with us for a while can be resistant to these new ideas, because they’ve done it before.”

Mat Kristeya, HAFA Operations Director

During the retreat, Oskar invited staff to write their personal goals for the year, with the intention of mailing these notes back to each individual at the end of the year. − How will you listen? − What does listening look like at HAFA? − Who will you listen to?

Staff members were invited to contribute to a hope chest that will live at the HAFA farm.

Each staff member was given a wooden placard. They spent a portion of the afternoon together painting wishes or blessings for each other and for the farm and the community, with the promise that staff members would have a time scheduled to bring these blessing placards back to the farm at the end of the year as a closing to the conversations they held together. − What do you carry with you? − What do you carry from your ancestors? − What are you keeping for your children?

THE PROCESS / THE PROJECT

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Discoveries

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D I S C OV E R I E S

“When we invoke with playful ways, people can think that artists only have fun and don’t address hard work. The way we talk about things can be really vague, many of the staff members at HAFA are very tactical and measured, they appreciate tools and things you can hold in your hand. And people are really busy. It’s a challenge, asking them to do this kind of brainwork with us, to think differently about their work and [to believe] that the arts have a way to tackle problems they may be facing.

I had to really think about how I framed this work when speaking about it, because it’s more process-based, it’s different from completing a tangible project. Once I was able to spend time with people in person, I was able to engage them. But if I physically wasn’t there, it became harder for people to grasp what I was talking about.”

Oskar

D I S C OV E R I E S

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Ripples “I had a lot of support from leadership that helped me be able to navigate the different parts of the organization, and having a strong footing with senior staff was helpful.”

Oskar

“The art on the farm has made a difference in that many people stop by and look at it, ask about it, and get their picture taken with it. HAFA is becoming a place where people go to learn about local foods, the Hmong people and culture, and see it as more than just a farm. The artwork created by the staff, Oskar, and ArtCrop has really brightened things up.”

Cindy Koy, HAFA Executive Assistant and Operations Manager

“We spend time every month reflecting. When I think about this past year, I go back to that very first time Oskar had us write letters to ourselves with our intentions. I think about how powerful that retreat was in June. We have a lot of young staff, this might be their first job out of college or first office setting and they don’t yet know what a gift these meetings are. The older staff had a chance to reflect on their work, the younger staff reflected on what brought them to this work, everyone really loved it. This is a great way to center our own team and ourselves.”

Pakou

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RIPPLES

RIPPLES

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Center For Performance + Civic Practice © 2019

Written by Rebecca Martínez Designed by Tanya Rubbak Additional support by Soneela Nankani, Michael Rohd, Sara Sawicki, & Shannon Scrofano THE ANDREW W.

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