Led by the Storytelling Department, the Chihuahuan Desert Cultural Fellowship is a hybrid of individual support, regional cultural organizing, and storytelling.  La Semilla hosts this fellowship as part of our mission of working towards a truly sustainable food system. That’s because we can’t separate food from land, from history, from family stories. Many foods are key to cultural identity. Advocating for water, soil, and air is fundamental for the health of families living amidst current geopolitical boundaries in the Paso del Norte region and for future generations. As we face climate chaos and environmental injustices, desert and desert-adapted foods and people play a key role in our collective resilience. 

The fellowship supports people whose cultural, arts, and/or advocacy practice revolves around the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. Tracks include foodways, performing & literary arts, visual arts, natural materials, advocacy, and additional types of practitioners and educators. Some examples of practitioners in these fields include cooks, chefs, seed savers, writers, musicians, performance artists, muralists, sculptors, illustrators, photographers, textile workers, food policy advocates, and environmental justice advocates, to name a few. 

This 4-month fellowship is designed as a cohort system in order to cultivate relationships, learn from other practitioners, and explore areas of mutual support. Fellows receive an unrestricted stipend of $1,500 per month for 4 months to incubate, advance, or finalize their project(s). Fellows work on their own time and gather several times in person and virtually during the course of the fellowship. Fellows also have the opportunity to uplift some aspects of their journey and practice in La Semilla’s digital platforms and potentially additional local, regional, or national publications.

Inaugural Cohort: March 2022 to June 2022

Second Cohort: September 2022 through December 2022

Third Cohort: February 2023 through May 2023 

Fourth Cohort: September 2023 through December 2023

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Watch video profiles about the inaugural cohort of fellows on the 2022 Chihuahuan Desert Cultural Fellowship Fellow Profiles playlist on our YouTube channel.

Visit this playlist to watch videos from the 2023 Chihuahuan Desert Cultural Fellowship cohorts.

Read more about some of the 2022-2023 fellows on our blog.