Avant-garde Diné artist, composer wins big award

By Boderra Joe
Navajo Times

TWIN LAKES, N.M. – Following his recent Pulitzer Prize for music in 2022, Diné/Chicano artist and composer Raven Chacon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship of $800,000 on Oct. 4.

This honor is considered the most prominent award an artist in any medium could receive, according to the MacArthur Foundation’s records, and one in which it does not ask fellows to provide race and ethnicity information. However, the foundation’s records indicate that Chacon is the first Diné to receive the award.

“It was nice to be recognized,” said Chacon in a phone interview after he received the news. “It’s always nice to talk about where this music comes from, to talk about the support I have from family, friends, collaborators, and of course to share other Indigenous artists out there.”

Chacon is Tódích’íi’nii and born for Naakaii Dine’é. His maternal grandfather is Kinyaa’áanii, and his paternal grandfather is Naakaii Dine’é. His mother is from Chinle, and his father is from Mora, New Mexico.

Chacon is originally from Chinle. He currently resides in Albuquerque and Red Hook, New York.

An anonymous individual nominated the artist/composer. The nominees are reviewed in a multi-stage selection process by evaluators who examine how nominees have demonstrated creativity and notable work in a specific field, according to MacArthur Foundation Director of Communications Ambar Mentor-Truppa.

“Chacon’s works incorporate sounds beyond music in the Western tradition, leading listeners to discover a broader field of sound that yields new creative possibilities and ways of experiencing the world,” Mentor-Truppa said in an email.

According to Mentor-Truppa, each year, roughly 20 to 25 fellows are selected out of 2,000 nominations.

“The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world,” Mentor-Truppa said.

On-going written dialogue of music

Reflecting on his life as an artist and composer, Chacon said he spends most of his waking and sleeping hours thinking about music. If he is not doing either, he is working on music-related projects.

Those projects include mentoring the next generation of composers and artists with the Native American Composer Apprentice Project, launched by co-founder and artistic director Clare Hoffman of the Grand Canyon Music Festival.

“It’s empowering for the youth that we work with,” Hoffman said of Chacon’s fellowship announcement.

“Having Raven as a mentor is an idea of sort of aspirational to see someone from Chinle or also from the Diné nation achieving these kinds of amazing things,” Hoffman said.
Chacon explained that NACAP was designed and created to teach students how to read, write, and annotate music. Chacon introduces various elements for string quartets, which he has been doing for the past 20 years.

He said he mentors students in a few Navajo Nation schools, such as Chinle High School, Grey Hills Academy, Monument Valley High School (Kayenta), Tuba City High School, Shiprock Associated Schools, and more – all of which Chacon is directly involved.

Additionally, Chacon has been a faculty mentor for the past three years in the Master of Fine Arts Studio Arts Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.
“He (Chacon) exemplifies the kind of faculty mentor that we look for,” said MFASA Director Mario A. Caro on Chacon’s fellowship announcement. “(What) he exemplifies for us is his commitment to a variety of communities.

“Besides his teaching, the other thing that we value is his collegiality. He’s just a very supportive colleague. He’s just a great guy all around,” Caro said.

Read the full story in the Oct. 19 edition of the Navajo Times.

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