Our Team
Wunetu Wequai Tarrant
Wunetu Wequai Tarrant is a member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, located on the East End of Long Island, NY. She grew up with her family on the Shinnecock reservation peninsula. Wunetu has been inspired by her grandmother and matriarch of the ThunderBird clan, Elizabeth ‘Chee Chee’ ThunderBird Haile, to promote cultural preservation and education. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Alfred University in 2011, attended the NAMA, Masters of Native American Linguistics and Languages 2018-2019, and is currently a Linguistics Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arizona focusing on the reconstruction and revitalization of the Shinnecock dialect of Southern New England Algonquian. Wunetu has worked closely with the Algonquian Language Revitalization Project on designing curriculum and activities for teaching Shinnecock and related dialects and continues to research best practices in language research and production of materials that will be accessible to community members and teachers regardless of linguistic education experience. She has continued to advocate for Indigenous students as the Julia & Bernard Bloch fellow (2019-2022) and special interest groups through the Linguistic Society of America.
Christian Scheider
Christian Scheider is an independent filmmaker and theatermaker living between NYC and the East End of Long Island. In addition to his original film and theater work, Scheider heads video production for The Sunny Center in Ireland, the world’s only post-exoneration residential community, and produces films for the Bard Prison Initiative, his alma mater. As a theatermaker, Scheider co-adapted, produced, and directed Ray Bradbury’s short story The Murderer and Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Galápagos into fully staged productions, and premiered with his collaborators an original slapstick comedy The Summit. For film, Scheider has produced and directed the documentary ‘Sunny’ about two married death row exonerees, and co-produced and directed the documentary ‘The Tree Prophet’ about a self-identified climate prophet, which won the Audience Award at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival. Scheider is in perpetual pre-production on the quixotic feature comedy film Animal Party about human-animal rituals all over the world, the original screenplay for which was honored by the Redford Center as part of their 2016 grants program. Scheider is currently writing and producing a limited series ‘Pullman’ about the eponymous railroad baron and the epochal national labor uprising of 1894. More at christianscheider.com.
Wunetu Wequai Tarrant Curriculum Vitae
Founder Ayim Kutoowonk Shinnecock Language Collective
Co-Founder First Literature Project
University of Arizona PhD Candidate
wunetutarrant@arizona.edu
Education
University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ
2024 Linguistics PhD candidate
2019 Native American Master’s Program (NAMA), focus on linguistics and language revitalization. Pending: Master’s Thesis approval
Alfred University, Alfred NY
2010 Bachelor of Fine Arts Major: Fine Art, concentration in Ceramics, Glass & Metal
Minors: Art Education, Art History
Shinnecock Language Experience
2022 Artist in Residence at Guild Hall 2022-2024
2021 Co-founder of First Literature Project LLC, Co-Producer of “Padawe” VR adaptation
2022 Founding member of Ayim Kutoowonk Shinnecock Language Revitalization Collective, Shinnecock Reservation NY
2017 Graduate Research Assistant, Stony Brook University Algonquian Language Revitalization Project
2012 Teaching Assistant for the Shinnecock Cultural Enrichment Department Language Program 2012-2017
Grants and Fellowships
2023 Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation grant
2023 Awarded Library of Congress “Connecting Communities Digital Initiative”grant establishing Ayim Kutoowonk Language Group 2023-2024
2022 Awarded “Creatives Rebuild New York” Artists Employment Grant, 2022-2024
2019 Awarded the University Fellowship, University of Arizona 2019-2020
2019 Awarded the Julie and Bernard Bloch Fellowship, Linguistic Society of America
Seat on LSA Executive Committee 2019-2022
Teaching Experience
2010 Teaching at Hayground School 2010 – 2016 with children K-8 · Studio Art/Garden
7th Grade Math
2013 Coordinator of the Hayground Summer Camp Art Department 2013-2016
2013 Teaching: Traditional ceramic pottery workshop for the Shinnecock Nation Cultural
Center and Museum’s Wikun Village trainee program
2010 Student Teaching Practicum at Southampton High School, Southampton NY
2010 Student Teaching Practicum at Hayground School, Bridgehampton NY
2010 Home School Shinnecock Cultural Ceramics Workshop at Shinnecock Cultural Center and Museum
2010 ANA funded Shinnecock Cultural Ceramics workshop and pit firing
2009 Taught Summer Ceramics course, Ross School, East Hampton NY Summer 2009
Presentations and Publications
2024 Presented “Pawdawe” VR Shinnecock oral tradition exhibition, Guild Hall, NY
2024 Opening address at Linguistic Society of America Annual meeting, New York, NY
2024 Presented at “New York State History Conference”, Albany NY
2024 Presented at “Symposium on American Indian Languages” Conference, Tucson, AZ
2023 Presented at “Connecting Communities Digital Initiative Summer Fuse” conference, D.C.
2019 Presented at “Symposium on American Indian Languages” Conference, Tucson, AZ
2019 Presented at “Algonquian Language Conference”, Montreal, Quebec
2018 Presented at the Tohono O’odahm Language Symposium
Activities
2019 Attended Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting, NY
2018 Attended the month long American Indian Language Development Institute summer workshop at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
2017 Attended LAN112 Mohegan Language at Stony Brook University, Long Island NY, February 15 to April 30 2017 - This class is the first Algonquian language class to be taught at the university level through the SUNY system.
2016 Attended the Algonquin Language Revitalization Group meeting, Yale University
2012 Volunteer at the Hayground School’s Great Chefs Dinner 2012, 2013, 2016
2011 Attended the Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM
2010 Volunteer at the Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum
2010 Attended NAIEA Annual Conference, Seneca NY 2010.2010 NIEA Civic Education workshop, Washington D.C. Topics included the history of Federal Indian Policy and current events in Native education.
2009 CYLI Print Workshop, Bath NY Fall 2009
2009 Child Abuse Identification and Reporting seminar, Alfred University NY Fall 2009
2008 S.A.V .E. Workshop, Alfred University NY Spring 2008