On the third night of Minneapolis protests following George Floyd’s death, a fire engulfed MIGIZI, a Native American nonprofit providing media arts, green jobs pathway training, education and cultural support to hundreds of youth a year.
“One morning, you wake up and drive to the building and see it’s in flames, with a bunch of SWATteam members standing in front with billy clubs,” recalls Sam Olbekson, the architect who designed MIGIZI’s previous headquarters (and who joined MIGIZI as a participant in the third grade). “You realize an important space in the community was just lost.” He approached MIGIZI’s executive director, Kelly Drummer: “The first thing we talked about was, alright, let’s start thinking about how we’re going to rebuild.”
Drummer watched over the…