Native Solidarity Project

The Native Solidarity Project (NSP) is a new coalition of volunteers from several entities in the Burning Man ecosystem intent on organizing our peers to Give Back to the Indigenous people of the Great Basin. NSP is preparing a “menu” of productive ways Non-Natives can be good indigenous Allies in a variety of contexts, with a focus on mobilizing resources (volunteer time/expertise, money & computer tech) from the liberal San Francisco Bay Area to benefit isolated rural reservations in Nevada, starting with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation & the Reno Sparks Indian Colony (both chosen due to their proximity to Burning Man). This work has come out of my queer art collective, Comfort & Joy, which has been organizing a variety of solidarity projects, fundraisers and food / tech drives to benefit the Pyramid Lake Tribe since 2010. The results of these efforts have fostered a symbiotic working relationship with local native leaders and project managers. Over time it has become clear that these partnerships should be spun off into their own nonprofit entity focused directly on Native solidarity projects to reproduce these projects at scale and make a bigger impact. We also want to better include straight people who want to help, broadening scope from organizing helpful queers to mobilizing everyone who'd like to act in solidarity with native people.