Gwen Leaffe Carr

Gwen Leaffe Carr is an award winning artist, musician, singer, writer, storyteller advocate and activist on American Indian and Social Justice issues.

Gwen is an enrolled member of the Cayuga Nation of New York, Heron Clan. She is an alumni of Interlochen Arts Academy, the Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University.

She is currently serving as the executive director of the Carlisle Indian School Project, which honors the students of the first government-run boarding school for Native Americans.

Gwen is the founder of the Wisconsin American Indian Democratic Caucus. Ms Carr has turned out the greatest number of American Indian voters in the history of Wisconsin. Her political expertise has successfully elected numerous officials locally and nationally. Gwen has been a senior advisor to Congressional, Senate and Presidential elections since 1991.

Gwen is a tireless advocate for social justice and American Indians in particular. She has also had over 30 years of experience in working with American Indian Tribes. Some of her achievements include; working in Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House in the Clinton Administration and being the first National Political Director for American Indians at the Democratic National Committee in Washington D.C. Gwen also served as the Deputy Secretary for the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission.

Gwen was first Tribal Liaison for the State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Gwen was also the Business Development and Outreach Director for US 41 Project, a $1.6 billion transportation project in NE Wisconsin.

Her artistic vision created the national award winning Lake Butte de Morts Causeway project, the largest Native American designed, engineered and built transportation project in the United States. Ms. Carr is the first American Indian recipient of the WI Virginia Hart Award for Excellence in state service.

Previously, Ms Carr was also the first American Indian Executive Director of the Arizona Democratic Party.

Gwen has been a senior advisor and political consultant on statewide, local congressional and presidential races since 1996.

Ms Carr has authored numerous articles on politics, business development and Indian affairs for such publications as the Falmouth Institute, The Institute on Poverty and Race, News from Indian Country, Indian Country Today and National Native News. She authored the first White House Report on Urban Indians in 1995.

Gwen lectures at various Universities and organizations across the country with an emphasis on Native women. Gwen performs her one women show" Relentless" for Native and non Native Women in prison and drug and alcohol rehab. Gwen has been fortunate to have almost 40 years of sobriety, one day at a time.

Gwen has been singing with a variety of bands and theatre productions since she was 16. She has performed with a wide variety of musicians, among them, members of the Jazz Orgy, Jazz legend, John Harmon, WAMI Award Winner Janet Planet and Internationally known guitarist, Fareed Haque. She currently performs around Wisconsin with her accompanist, Jim Faz.

Sub-specialties:
American Indian issues, Native American Womens Issues, Urban Indian issues, Native American boarding schools, politics and advocacy in Indian Country