Theresa Secord Keynote

Download a MP3 file of this keynote. (53 min, 27.6MB)

Theresa Secord is a member of the Penobscot Indian Nation. In 1993, Theresa led the founding of the Maine Indian Basketmakers 
Alliance. At the time, the average age of basketmakers was 63. Today there are more than 200 basketmakers in four tribes (Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot) with an average age of 43. In October 2003, Secord became the first U.S. citizen to receive the Prize for Women's Creativity in Rural Life from the United Nations Women's World Summit Foundation in Geneva for her efforts to sustain tribal basketry. In 2004, she received the Maine Governor's award for Arts and Heritage Tourism, the 2004 Governor's Award for Excellence in Tourism and the 2004 Small Business Minority Advocate of the Year Award. Theresa has won several national Indian artist awards for her own traditional basketry and published several articles on Maine Indian basketry. She has served on Maine Arts Commission and currently serves 
on the Board of the New England Foundation for the Arts and on several national advisory groups for native arts and tribal basketry, including The Ford Foundation and the National Native American Basketry Organizations.