Native Nation Building Studio

Native Nation Building Studio

For Indigenous by Indigenous. MIG supports Indigenous communities in planning your own futures. We listen, learn and translate the needs, desires and priorities of the communities we serve, to balance informed decisions in setting direction—to help strengthen communities’ cohesiveness, self-determination and assertion over their Nation’s sovereign status.

We bring together professionals who have a passion for collaborating on Indigenous community-building, each with a desire to share their gifts and knowledge, support the well-being and long-term success of Indigenous communities, and help accelerate equity-based actions for Indigenous communities.

Our goal is to help strengthen Indigenous people’s connections to land and community, make those connections visible, and physically reconnect Indigenous people to the land.

The Studio is more than a series of projects. It is a journey with you. We wish to invest our time and resources to provide a comprehensive set of planning and design services that are sensitive to your cultural heritage and respectful of your community’s aspirations.

Our Team

José Leal
Director/ Landscape Architect
Spanish, French, Nahua

Paul Fragua
Architect/Planner
Pueblo of Jemez

Jennifer Salazar
Landscape Architect
Lower Mohawk First Nation

Davin Dawson
Landscape Architect
Cherokee Nation

Nathaniel Willing
Landscape Designer
First Nation Annishinaabe / Ojibwe

Sou Garner
Planner

Audrey West
Landscape Architect

Dakota Fragua
Designer
Pueblo of Jemez

Alex Dupey
Planner

Our Work

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Related Articles

MIG News

An ASLA grassroots effort, led by members of MIG’s Native Nations Studio, aims to help ASLA make a pivotal change in how it supports Native Nations and the landscape.

MIG News

“We are in an Indigenous Renaissance…but there are still many circles of harm to break.” José de Jesus Leal, Director of MIG’s Native Nation Building Studio, shared his powerful perspective about Indigenous people and land at the recent National ASLA Conference in Minneapolis.

MIG News

The US has had a fraught history in educating Native American children. “Growing Ute Futures” can profoundly change the future for the children of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.

Partner With Us

We’d be happy to meet, discuss your projects and opportunities, and determine how we can help. Or just have a friendly chat! Let us know how best to contact you.