Finding Kinship Through Shared Leadership Convening

Boston, Massachusetts 18-19 November 2025

The Finding Kinship Through Shared Leadership Convening, which took place in Boston from 18-19 November, 2025, was a continuation of the Black and Indigenous Futures convening, which took place in 2023 at Emerson College. The convening was produced by HowlRound in collaboration with ArtsEmerson's Black and Indigenous initiative and co-facilitated by Deen Rawlins-Harris and Malia'Kekia Nicolini.

The goals of the 2025 convening:

• Spend intentional, radical time together;
• Be emergent and responsive to what arises in the room;
• Build upon the 2023 work exploring seeds of Black and Indigenous co-leadership and what has grown since;
• Acknowledge that ArtsEmerson and Howlround can act as interventionists without centering ourselves;
• Turn our attention to a Northeast regional, rather than our 2023 national, focus; 
• Identify who and what will carry this work forward beyond this convening.

The gathering began The Gathering: A BBQ-PowWow at Comfort Kitchen, an evening of food, performance, and connection hosted by Comfort Kitchen + Beya Jiménez, ArtsEmerson, and HowlRound Theatre Commons. The menu was designed and prepared by renowned Chef Sherry Pocknett in collaboration with the Comfort Kitchen team.

The full day of convening consisted of group sessions intended to build connection and conversation between participants through activities like journaling, mapping roots, and thoughtful creative practice. In their facilitation style, Deen and Malia'Kekia use elements of play, creativity, and collective creation to encourage participants to share their full selves. Attendees also participated in a learning session with BLIS collective, a "cross-movement Solidarity & Action Hub braiding narratives and growing movements to win policy and shift culture." 

Learn More

• Co-Facilitator, Staff, and Participant List
• BBQ-PowWow Agenda
• Convening Agenda
• 2023 Black and Indigenous Futures Convening
• Read the Black and Indigenous Futures Journal Series
• Check out the photos!

About ArtsEmerson + HowlRound Theatre Commons

ArtsEmerson is the professional presenting and producing organization at Emerson College, based in the heart of downtown Boston. Founded in 2010—the year the U.S. Census confirmed there was no single cultural majority in Boston—we set out to foster positive change in this historically segregated city. ArtsEmerson aims to tear down traditional cultural divisions and connect people across difference. In addition to presenting work on stage and screen, ArtsEmerson seeks to advance civic discourse in our city by producing impactful opportunities for conversation and connection.

Alongside the leadership team at ArtsEmerson who are championing this gathering with input from the Black and Indigenous Initiative advisory body, this convening was a collaboration between ArtsEmerson and its sister organization in the Office of the Arts, HowlRound Theatre Commons. HowlRound is a free and open platform for theatremakers worldwide that amplifies progressive and disruptive ideas about the art form and facilitates connection between diverse practitioners. HowlRound functions as a knowledge commons, a social structure that invites open participation around shared values. HowlRound regularly produces convenings that bring folx together around critical field issues.