SmokeSygnals

01/22/2025

This administration may not see the value in DEI, but we do. We know the value of new perspectives, opinions, beliefs, and genders. We see the value in every DEI employee relieved of duty today and feel for them deeply and personally. We see the value in the relationships we've built with our federal government partners and the great work we've done to amplify communities of color over the past four years. We understand the fear of a future under a hostile administration because of a status - women-owned, native-owned, disadvantaged business - that we will continue to carry proudly. All this has done today is reaffirm why we must work harder and longer to build our story in our voice.

Trump has called the diversity and inclusion programs “discrimination” and insisted on restoring strictly “merit-based” hiring.

12/18/2024

We’re excited to have added this beautiful bulrush mat by Aquinnah Wampanoag artist Leah Llanes to the traveling Wampum Belt exhibit currently at Little Compton Historical Society.

11/30/2024

The U.S. Small Business Administration have opened up so many opportunities for us over the past few years - from training programs, and mentor programs to contracts with National Parks and Smithsonian - allowing the exhibits and educational content we create to reach people across the country. And now they have shared our business on its social media channel. Thank you for the continued support.

For over a decade, Paula Peters, a Wampanoag Tribe of Mashpee citizen, championed Native American voices through journalism, activism, and publishing. In 2007, she transitioned to public relations, founding SmokeSygnals with her son, Steven.

Their mission? To tell powerful stories, like the acclaimed exhibit "Our Story: 400 Years of Wampanoag History," which redefined narratives about the Pilgrims’ arrival in 1620. Despite the pandemic challenges, the team adapted, earning 8(a) certification and landing major contracts with institutions like the Smithsonian.

In 2023, SmokeSygnals was honored as SCORE Cape Cod’s Small Business of the Year, continuing to inspire through impactful storytelling.

Learn more: https://www.sba.gov/success-story/native-american-owned-creative-company-sending-smokesygnals-broader-impact

11/24/2024

Thanksgiving: a celebration or a National Day of Mourning?

It's a complicated question, which is why we created an exhibit and this video to explore it. We hope you enjoy it and learn more about how Native Americans perceive this holiday.

Don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.

This is "National Day Of Mourning" by SmokeSygnals on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

11/18/2024

We created this video about traditional harvest festivals to provide a deeper context for what occurred in 1621. Cranberry Day with the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah is a beautiful example of these traditions. We hope you enjoy it and find lessons to carry forward as you approach the Thanksgiving holiday.

Produced by SmokeSygnals for the National Museum of the American Indian and featured in the inquiry resource: The “First Thanksgiving”: How Can We Tell a Bet...

11/11/2024

Around this time of year, teachers, parents, and students constantly ask how to approach Thanksgiving. We now have a toolkit to help answer that question. The curriculum we worked on with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian is an excellent, free resource. We hope you enjoy it, and be sure to check out the Cranberry Day Video - it's one of our favorites.

https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/Thanksgiving/

Full Service Marketing and Communications Company Based on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

11/05/2024

Mark your calendar to visit a new traveling exhibit at the Little Compton Historical Society open from November 30, 2024 to January 20, 2025.

"Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America,"

shares the history and cultural significance of wampum for the Wampanoag people and was created by SmokeSygnals, an Indigenous creative agency founded and run by the Peters family.

The centerpiece of the exhibit is a magnificent wampum belt recently created by Wampanoag community members and displayed throughout the United Kingdom in 202o in the hope of finding Metacom's lost wampum belt, a war trophy once in the possession of Benjamin Church and later sent to the King of England but never acknowledged as received.

Learn more with this fascinating video.

https://vimeo.com/399335744?autoplay=1&muted=1&stream_id=Y2xpcHN8MjkwODY1ODh8aWQ6ZGVzY3xbXQ%3D%3D

09/11/2024

08/29/2024

This weekend is your last chance to visit “1st Peoples: Portraits of the First Light” at CAM Green!
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On view through Sunday, September 1, the exhibition features contemporary photographs by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip Tribes) of the original stewards of what is now known as New England including photographs of Nipmuc, Wampanoag, Shinnecock, Passsamaquody, and Penobscot peoples. The photographs are accompanied by poignant excerpts from real conversations around identity, culture, and sovereignty.
Pulling both from Wilbur’s “Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America” and from a week-long residency at the Cape Ann Museum, this exhibition celebrates the diversity and resiliency of modern Indigenous identity and addresses the importance of honest representation. During her CAM residency in the spring of 2024, Wilbur traveled across Eastern Massachusetts to take new portraits of Native people from the region.
“1st Peoples: Portraits of the First Light” was made in consultation with SmokeSygnals, a Native creative agency based in Mashpee, MA, and is presented as part of the CAM Native Initiative, an ongoing series of programs, installations, and exhibitions at the Cape Ann Museum. The CAM Native Initiative is dedicated to centering and expanding the histories and contemporary stories of Native people from across Eastern Massachusetts.
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The Cape Ann Museum Green is located at 13 Poplar St., Gloucester, MA.
Learn more and plan your visit at https://www.capeannmuseum.org/exhibition/1st-peoples-portraits-of-dawnland/.

08/09/2024

Join us at CAM Green this Saturday, August 10, from 1-4 pm for an Opening Ceremony to celebrate the opening of “Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not,” an outdoor installation that explores and interprets the history of slavery on Cape Ann.
The opening ceremony will include a blessing from Dr. Tony Van Der Meer, music and dancing from the Akwaaba Ensemble, and free food from Butter Ur Biscuit.
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“Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not,” on view at CAM Green August 10–September 1, 2024, is a collaboration between artists Susi Ryan, Christle Rawlins-Jackson, and IlaSahai Prouty. Using their collective expertise in community-based art and engagement, quilting, historical research, and individual artistic practices, these artists have conducted research and held several community conversations over the past two years.
Their public history project has moved through four cycles, each rooted in a week-long stay on Cape Ann: Reclamation, Trade Winds, Persistence, and Honoring. The cumulative research and stories on display will feature six large “sail-quilts.”
During each cycle, the artists conducted intimate investigations in the Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives and invited the community to consider the stories of the enslaved people of Cape Ann and the legacy of the slave economy for Cape Ann’s seaports.
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“Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not” is coordinated and funded by the Cape Ann Museum with support from the MassHumanities Expanding Massachusetts Stories Grant and the Essex Heritage Partnership Grant. The residency stays at Manship Artists Residency are funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Prometheus Circle of the Manship Artists Residency, the Revered Anne Deneen, and the Bruce J. Anderson Foundation.
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Parking is at O’Maley Middle School, a shuttle will be provided to CAM Green.
On-site parking is reserved for those with accessibility needs.
Free and open to all, registration required. Learn more and register at https://www.capeannmuseum.org/event/opening-ceremony-vessels-of-slavery/.

08/05/2024

Come one, come all!

Mark your calendars - you're invited! Join us for the fourth annual celebration of Wampanoag culture at Heritage from 10 am-2 pm on Saturday, August 17. This fun-filled day will feature a performance by the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers who will perform songs and dances (with audience participation encouraged!) and enjoy hands-on activities. Explore the wetu, a reproduction of a historic dwelling, the mush8n, a reproduction dug-out canoe, and the Three Sisters demonstration garden, all created in collaboration with SmokeSygnals a local Native American creative agency.

All activities are free with museum admission or membership. This event is rain or shine. To learn more, visit https://hmg.social/WHD.

07/17/2024

There is a lot to do this Saturday at the Cape Ann Museum!

07/17/2024

We are thrilled to finally share this resource with the public. Educational resources in the very image and voice of the communities being referenced make such a positive impact. We spent the better part of two years working with a fantastic team at the National Museum of the American Indian, and it was worth all the effort.

This NK360° inquiry resource provides evidence in multiple formats to help teachers and students dispel misconceptions and misunderstandings of the “First Thanksgiving,” especially in regard to the Wampanoag who have been largely absent from this national story.

06/10/2024

Excited to have a short in Provincetown Film Society & Festival this weekl! Grateful for this collaboration with Lise on it.
Shorts 3: New England
Friday, June 14, 1:30pm, Art House
Sunday, June 16, 4pm, Fishermen Hall

Executive produced by SmokeSygnals with funding from the Mellon Foundation for our exhibit at Mystic Seaport Museum curated by our friend Akeia. The film was produced and directed by Lise Balk King and Steven Peters, written by Paula Peters, associate produced by Nathan Balk King.

05/15/2024

Please join us tomorrow evening at the Quashnet School for the grand opening of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's Cultural Courtyard at the Quashnet School. The event begins at 5:00 PM. Guests may visit until 7 PM. Light refreshments will be served.

05/08/2024

Cape Cod is home to many wonderful small businesses and today we were honored to be named the 2023 Small Business of the Year awardee by SCORE Cape Cod & the Islands!