A note about this place

The Tank acknowledges that our physical space on 36th Street exists within unceded land stewarded for generations by the Lenape that was taken by European settler-colonizers whose ancestors continue to occupy it while the Lenape diaspora has been displaced and separated across the continent.

We recognize too that our digital work is streamed throughout the United States, a nation built on Native land and paid for with the lives of Black and Indigenous people, via digital infrastructure that remains unevenly distributed along lines of race and class.

The Tank is an arts presenter and producer: we endeavor to be a steppingstone for emerging artists but recognize, too, that we may have also served as a gatekeeper, including to Indigenous and Black artists. We cannot progress as an organization, as an industry, or as a society without first acknowledging this historical and ongoing violence, genocide, theft, and erasure.

Please join us in considering our own roles in reconciliation and decolonization and honoring the lives of all who have endured and who continue to struggle against settler-colonialism and white supremacy, in our communities and throughout the world.

In addition to acknowledging the land on which the work was created, we issue a call to action.

Our country has a dark and complicated past. And our history books and national holidays do not recognize the genocide that took place in the form of violent land theft, and the removal and restructuring of indigenous communities. The fight for Native sovereignty and land rights continues across our country today.

We encourage you to join us in learning more about the land you inhabit, about the history of the people on that land, and current efforts around land preservation and sovereignty.

Research the native land on which you were born, where you live and work and travel. Start here: native-land.ca. From there, research, educate, discuss, protest, donate, and support.

Take action by donating and learning more about the programs offered through:

American Indian Community House
Manna-hatta Fund
The Lenape Center
Native Governance Center

The education, conversations and actions that happen now may not impact you today but will have lasting effects on future generations.

Inspired by and adapted from a text developed by Adrienne Wong
Call to action originally researched and developed by Dara Malina based on conversations with Lilah Akins