Indigenous Public Interest Design

Indigenous Public Interest Design Institute

October 24th, 2025

Attendance is free but an application is required: We are seeking interested Indigenous voices to participate in the discussion.

Meet our Committee

The seven members of the Committee are leaders and representatives of diverse Indigenous communities.

Mission

Indigenous People have the right to live in socially, economically, and environmentally healthy communities grounded in cultural heritage and the sacred lands we called or call home.

Join the Discussion

Discussion topics include: Indigenous Public Interest Design, Heritage, Storytelling, Many Spirits, Homelands, Know Your Place, Off the Rez, Culturally Responsive, Leading with Confidence, Procurement Acrobatics, and Interrelated.

Desireé Ibinarriaga

Speaker: Storytelling - Diversities in Language & the Art of Cultural Memory

Dr Desiree Ibinarriaga is an Indigenous Mexican woman with Mayan, Nahua, Basque and Spanish heritage. Desiree is an educator, researcher, creative practitioner, collaborative and social design maker and thinker. She is Lecturer at Monash Art Design and Architecture, and Coordinator for Indigenous Higher Degrees by Research being part of Wominjeka Djeembana Indigenous Research Lab.

Wanda Dalla Costa, FRAIC, AIA

Speaker: Culturally Responsive - Incubating Ideas to Reality

Wanda Dalla Costa, FRAIC, AIA (she/her) is an architect, member of Saddle Lake Cree Nation, and an advocate for Indigenous peoples. A graduate of SCI-Arc and the University of Calgary, she balances practice and teaching: at Arizona State University she founded and directs the Indigenous Design Collective, while leading Tawaw Architects, a firm licensed in California, Arizona, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia.