October 1997

Juanita Espinosa (Dakota and Ojibwe) is a community organizer, mother, administrator, radio producer, and member of the recently renamed Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota. She is a founder of the Native Arts Circle in Minneapolis, Minn., which began as the Native American Cultural Arts Program, to create a statewide Native arts agency designed to educate the public about Native art and build a support system for Native artists of Minnesota. Juanita is the Executive Director of the Native Arts Circle and the mother of four children. She is active on numerous community- and art-related boards of directors, including the Minneapolis American Indian Center, The Funding Exchange-Paul Robeson Fund, The People of Phillips Theater Task Force, and The Science Museum of Minnesota, and she is the Chairperson of the Second ATLATL Board. She was recently named to the Sundance Institute Advisory Committee. 

Image credit: Juanita Espinosa - Photograph by Katherine Fogden, NMAI