The Indigequeer Tour

Hi there :)

My name is Howie Echo-Hawk (aka theres more the Indigequeer aka the evening star), I am the founder of Indigenize Productions and the INDIGEQUEER Party in Seattle, WA, and this Spring/Summer 2024 I am taking the Party on tour with dreams of continuing on through the end of the year!

Indigequeer is a dance party with live music, drag, burlesque and more!

Indigequeer is space for joy, safety, love and unapologetic celebration.

Indigequeer is Home.

I decided to take Indigequeer on tour at the end of last year after taking it back home to Alaska and seeing the need for Native/PoC Queer/Trans community spaces across Turtle Island.

When I began Indigequeer, I just wanted a place to dance and have a good time with my friends, and I never imagined that three years later it would not only still be going, but become a place of healing and belonging the way it has.

The stories of the people who come to Indigequeer are the reason I keep doing it. From a boarding school survivor who never imagined he could be in a space like this, to young Native Queers looking for community, to community – Indigequeer has become more than just a dance party, it has become a home.

And after the death of our relative Nex Bendedict, I have a renewed sense of purpose, as a former rural closeted, suicidal trans Native kid in Alaska, I know that seeing someone who looked me could have changed the trajectory of my life. I had to leave Alaska to figure out who I was, but unfortunately so many like Nex dont get that chance.

This and more is why I am asking for your support.

I am self funding, self booking, self everything-ing this tour, and to be successful I am going to need your help!

Please share and donate to this fundraiser, you can also join my Patreon (patreon.com/indigequeer), where I will be posting remixes, songs, dj sets, comedy sets, and more, please like and share the @IndigenizeProductions instagram posts, and tell your friends to support this journey.

I am fundraising for all the basic necessities of life on the road, but my hope is to be able to buy a camper van, and bring Indigequeer to the communities who need it most. $5000 is just a start towards all the things I need, and the cushion I will need as issues arise. I hope I can actually raise more like $30k, but I had to start somewhere.

(also if you want to donate your time and help out with the tour in other ways, please reach out!)

I founded Indigenize Productions in 2017 with the single goal of creating more spaces for Native/Indigenous performers spaces to perform–we started out with variety shows in the Annex Theatre, and eventually after the pandemic created the Indigequeer Party! An average Indigequeer will feature live music and performance, with myself as host and DJ, featuring primarily Native drag, burlesque or dance performers, all followed by a dance party.

Indigequeer is, above all else, about community. It has become a place for the Queer Native community to come and just be. My greatest joy is when both young and old Native people will come to me and say they never thought they could be in a place like this, where being Native and Queer is the norm, even if only for a few hours.

Indigequeer began because I wanted to make a space for myself, but it has become more than I could have imagined. And throughout this journey I have had many Native people from throughout Turtle Island express the need for an Indigequeer in their city/community, and I now feel ready and confident to take this show on the road.

The tour itself is a chance to take what I have created here in Seattle with my production company, Indigenize Productions, and bring it to the Indigequeers everywhere I can.

And it doesn't stop with just the party, I also have been producing burlesque, comedy, drag, festivals, playing music and performing in Seattle since 2017 and have become an established part of the city, and I want to take those shows to your city, as well as hopefully show that the need for events like this is there, and encourage and even guide others on how to create their own events in their city.

Thank you for your support, and if you're still reading, here's a bit more about myself:

I am currently an Artist In Residence at the Seattle Rep Theatre, I have been recognized by UPROXX as one of the top Native Comedians, my poetry has been published, my writing has gone viral and even (hilariously) been referenced by various universities and colleges, and directed an award winning circus film featuring a jazz fusion song I also made, among many other things that I often forget. I also have opened with my music for The Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Ya T'seen, and The Halluci Nation (FKA A Tribe Called Red).

Basically, I'm your average eclectic queer/trans ndn.

My work is super multidisciplinary, I am a musician, i host, produce, perform, dj, standup comedy, burlesque, curate––I love finding new ways to challenge myself. Beyond showing off, I also started Indigenize as a way to book other Native performers, both established performers and brand new ones. When I started Indigenize in 2017, I was essentially the only Native performer I knew in the city, and so I found and grabbed and coerced as many talented Natives as I could, and we put on our first show, and it sold out 3 times in a row.

I never expected for Indigenize and myself to take the trajectory it has, but I am now an established part of the Seattle nightlife and performance scene. I have been able to guide other performers and help them establish themselves as well, and I can say proudly that Indigenize has left a lasting impact on Seattle.

Thank you