The talent is out there. So are the fans. Problem is, for many artists it’s a question of finding those fans, or more accurately, having those fans find THEM. You could be a playwright, a traditional dancer or a rock band, but the challenges remain the same—building an audience for what you do and securing the funding necessary to underwrite your concert, play, or dance tour.  

Enter Gordon Bronitsky. Since 1994, his Albuquerque-based marketing firm has helped promote Indigenous artists in North America and throughout the world offering what he refers to as “one stop shopping.”  Gordon works closely with clients, he says, to learn “who makes it, who does it, who wants it, sometimes how to make them want it, sometimes how to find the funding."

That being said, don’t get the idea that he interferes with the artistic content. “Indigenous people choose the message. Whether the message is a very traditional Navajo music/dance group, an Australian Aboriginal rock band, a Navajo designer, my job is not to tinker with the message. My job is to crank up the volume.” 

What makes Gordon unique is that he isn’t your typical marketing guy. In fact, his background is about as far as you can get from a typical marketing guy—a Fulbright professor and archeologist who came to appreciate the depth and variety of Native talent through his academic role. 

“I taught about American Indians at the University of Frankfurt, Germany, as a Senior Fulbright Professor in 1984-5 and saw the great European interest in Indians,” he says. “Several years later, I taught in the Department of Cultural Studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and saw the great wealth of talent.  So I began to think about linking the demand with the supply, and educating audiences about talent beyond powwow and flute, and I've been doing it ever since.” 

And busy. Very very busy. This past year Gordon was the Senior Consultant at the International Indigenous Business and Entrepreneurial Conference in Albuquerque and organized an Indigenous Playwrights Panel in Edinburgh, Scotland.  He also coordinated the Mongolian trip of Inuit statesman and drum-dancer Peter Irniq and the international tours of other Indigenous performers. 

If it seems that much of his work is overseas, that’s hardly by accident. “European audiences still come from a fascination with tipis and drums, but I think overseas audiences are more willing to experience contemporary Indigenous performance—theatre, modern dance, fashion, music—than US audiences.” 

For that reason, many of his clients find fans far away from their home base. For example, the upcoming Singsing Festivol in New Guinea will be hosting the Navajo musical-dance group, Chinle Valley Singers and the rock band Red Earth, adding even more miles to Gordon’s frequent flier tally. 

Not that this bothers this Fulbright Scholar-archeologist turned impresario. No, not at all. Gordon will continue showcasing Indigenous performers to audiences from Beijing to Mongolia to New Guinea to Taiwan to New Mexico. Yeah, even New Mexico. And lovin’ every minute of it. 

Cranking up the volume never sounded so good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   

Bronitsky and Associate publishes a monthly eNewsletter, “From All Directions.” To subscribe and find out more, please visit their website at: www.bronitskyandassociates.com