K'aree CHEROKAREE Tsalagi
The Sankofa Award
2025
For those lighting the way through knowledge and mentorship. The educators, mentors, and teaching artists who don’t just inform — they empower. This award honors those who pass down wisdom, create liberatory classrooms, and see teaching as a revolutionary act.
K'aree CHEROKAREE Tsalagi multidisciplinary Indigenous Textile Artist, Creative Director of Tsalagi Textile Studio providing textile design based workshops for the community such as sewing, textile printing while offering restoration, creative consultancy and custom art for the apparel,home and accessories industry. Cherokaree Tsalagi has partnered with artist run spaces and arts non profit organizations to instruct indigenous textile art workshops and technical sewing/design services. An advocate for community arts, collaboration and establishing meaningful connections within the arts communities.
WHAT COMMUNITY HAD TO SAY:
"Through our Baltimore Year-Round Fellows Program, Cherokaree led a series of sewing workshops for high school students, introducing them to technical sewing skills and creative expression. In this role, he demonstrated initiative as a young teaching artist and showed a clear interest in sharing his practice with youth."