Grantee Database
Luke Madrigal Indigenous Storytelling Non Profit
Grant Year
2026-27
Grant Program
Impact Projects
Award Amount
$17,500.00
Project Description
With California Arts Council support, the LUKE MADRIGAL INDIGENOUS STORYTELLING NONPROFIT will develop, produce, and premiere “The Aanjikiin Riverbank,” a new play written by Sophia Madrigal. This performance work examines the impact of the Indian Child Welfare Act, and its intersection with the recent Luke Madrigal Child Welfare Act, legislation focused on bringing additional protections for Indigenous foster youth in California. This Indigenous cultural revitalization storytelling project advances awareness of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous foster youth issue and recent legislative protections.This play will be premiered at a cultural venue in the Riverside/San Bernardino Area, in collaboration with the Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, with outreach to Riverside/San Bernardino County and Tribal Department of Social Services. Audiences will participate in community talkbacks with arts based educational handouts.
Organization Summary
We support a wide range of storytelling modalities, including theater, film, and arts workshops, to amplify Indigenous voices and foster community healing, balance, and resilience. Founded in 2020 by Sophia Madrigal (Cahuilla/Chippewa) during the COVID-19 pandemic to honor her father’s legacy, the organization began with virtual workshops titled Healing Through the Indigenous Art of Storytelling. In that same period, Sophia wrote and released Wildflower: Indigenous Spirit, a film exploring grief and loss in Native communities, which has reached over 10,000 viewers online.
Her sister, Isabella Madrigal, writer of the acclaimed play Menil and Her Heart, serves as co-director of the organization. Menil and Her Heart first began as a grass-roots effort to highlight Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People. The theater ensemble that performs Menil and Her Heart consists of eighteen community members, mostly Indigenous people. The winner of the 2020 Yale Young Native Storytellers Contest, Menil and Her Heart has been performed at 16 venues across the nation and was featured at the United Nations’ Girls Speak out Event in 2019 and at the California State Capitol in 2022 for legislators. In 2024, Isabella received a grant from the Center for Cultural Power to go towards the creation of a short film version of Menil and Her Heart.
Since Menil and Her Heart, we have produced the play Dragonfly, which explores the harmful legacy of boarding schools, and the multimedia performance piece Skywoman, which centers Indigenous women in climate justice conversations.
We also offer arts and culture workshops, which have been hosted in educational spaces, including Noli and Sherman Indian Schools, as well as at the Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, a Native American community center. Additionally, the LMISN recently served as the Master of Ceremonies for the Tribal Ecological Knowledge Region Nine Tribal EPA Conference.
Organization
Luke Madrigal Indigenous Storytelling Non Profit
Address
31805 TEMECULA PKWY NUM 552
TEMECULA
92592-8203
County
Riverside
Region
Inland Empire
Congressional District
48
State Assembly District
71
State Senate District
32
