A Mohegan tribal member and playwright is one of several people appointed by President Joe Biden as a trustee to the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Madeline Fielding Sayet, a member of the Mohegan Tribal Nation, is a playwright, director and performer. Sayet is one of five Indigenous members to join the Board of Trustees.
The Institute was established in 1986 by the U.S. Congress. It is one of only three congressionally chartered colleges. It is the only college in the world dedicated to the study of contemporary Native American and Alaska Native arts.
The college offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and currently serves 500 Native and non-Native students. The institute also operates its Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Sayet is the executive director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program. In the past, she has been a TED fellow and was honored as a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Hollywood & Entertainment. Sayet has written several plays and directed theater productions at Long Wharf Theatre, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Perseverance Theatre and the Connecticut Repertory Theater.
Sayet was a national directing fellow for the nonprofit National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. She was also a recipient of the White House Champion of Change Award from President Barack Obama.
Last year, Sayet premiered her solo piece "Where We Belong"at The Public in New York City. The play tells the story of her journey to find identity within her craft, culture and what it means to belong.
